Dr. Glenn Corillo has been teaching Communications at ECPI University for 18 years.
But teaching isn’t his only passion. In 1976 he began his career as a late-night radio DJ for WTAR Radio. After two years Glenn had risen through the ranks to become the on-air morning news anchor for WTAR-TV.
You may remember him as Glenn Corey. He changed his last name because in those days, a unique last name and a phone book meant everyone knew how to contact you.
For 20 years, Hampton Roads residents invited Glenn Corey into their homes as their most trusted news source. Five days a week, Glenn would wake at 2:30 am and drive to the TV station on Boush Street in Norfolk. “I absolutely loved it,” Glenn says. “Being an anchor is a fabulous way to make a living.”
As his career progressed, so did his personal life. Glenn was married with two children (Keith and Scott) until tragedy struck and his wife passed away from cancer in 1985. The news anchor asked a coworker (his director) for help with his new role as a single parent. “She was the absolutely the best live director I’ve ever had,” Glenn says with a smile.
Her prowess with the studio equipment extended to home life, and she quickly became a part of the family. The two married in 1987 and welcomed two additional children (Todd and Chad).
When he officially retired from anchoring in 1998, Glenn knew he wasn’t quite finished with his professional goals. “When I was an undergraduate,” says Glenn, “several of my communications instructors had never even been inside a radio or TV station. I decided then that when I retired, I would teach at the college level. Give ‘em the straight scoop!”
Glenn decided to teach at a modern institution, one for people looking to transform their lives with practical, hands-on career training. He selected ECPI University and has been happily engaged as a popular Communications professor here since 2004.
A dedicated family man, Glenn raised all four sons to be Eagle Scouts, college graduates, and to find work that makes them happy. However, one child seemed destined to follow especially close in his footsteps.
Third-born Todd Corillo grew up a curious and questioning child, who applied for a newsroom internship when he was of age. He moved and spent a few years working as a reporter-videographer after graduation, only to return to Hampton Roads for a new challenge.
Todd scored the exact same dream job as his father in 2012, fourteen years after Glenn’s final sign-off. “How cool that is, to be sitting in the chair that dad pioneered in his market,” Todd says now. “I am literally alive because of this place: Mom & Dad met while both working at WTKR.”
For ten years, Todd has been reporting the afternoon news to the same Hampton Roads residents—and now their children—as his father.
But news reporting is not his only passion. This ambitious father and son duo have even more in common than meets the eye. As Dr. Glenn Corillo instructs the next generation of communications professionals from his classroom at ECPI University, his son Todd has just graduated summa cum laude from the same school’s MBA program in 2020.
Todd selected ECPI University for his MBA because of the accelerated schedule, enabling him to continue working while studying. Although his father was a professor on campus, the pair never shared a classroom lecture. Todd preferred to take his studies online, learning when and where it was convenient for him—another reason he chose ECPI University.
Todd recently announced his impending departure from WTKR, seeking a new path in life after 10 years. Fulfilling a promise he made when hired, Todd’s final broadcast featured a very special guest: his father!
The duo were on-air together on Friday, April 22nd on News Channel 3 at Noon as Todd said his goodbyes.
Since then, the 31-year-old broadcast professional and ECPI MBA graduate began his next adventure in corporate communications at Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (HII). Todd now serves as HII’s spokesperson for the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding division.
He’ll be focusing on facilitating themes and messages to support the division’s programs, people and capabilities, community relations engagements, and respond to media queries from local and trade media.
Who knows – maybe one day we will see two Corillos sharing their passions with students at ECPI University!
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