Alan K. Austin
Alan Austin has produced, written and narrated nine documentaries for PBS’s Frontline, Nova, and the Critical Events series: "The Road To Bloody Sunday," "The Execution," "Does TV Kill?," "The Shakespeare Mystery," "Death Of A Porn Queen," "The Great Wildlife Heist," "Monsters Among Us," "Secrets Of A Bomb Factory," and "To The Last Fish."
Austin’s investigative documentaries, for WCCO-Television in Minneapolis, received two national Emmys, a Columbia University-Dupont Silver Baton, a Sigma Delta Chi Public Service award, a Peabody and two IRE awards. One of those documentaries – "The State Of Texas vs. Steven Lynn Fossum" – resulted in the exoneration of a man wrongfully imprisoned for rape.
His reporting from Vietnam, Cambodia and Northern Ireland was awarded a Columbia University-Dupont Silver Baton, two Sigma Delta Chi Public Service awards, a Peabody and two RTNDA "Edward R. Murrow" awards.
From 1982 to 1985 Austin taught radio and television news reporting at the University of Minnesota as guest lecturer.
He grew up in Arkansas City, Kansas, and attended Wichita State University (on a tennis scholarship) and Kansas University, majoring in drama.
He has a daughter, Jeni, an actress in Los Angeles, and a son, John, who attends the University of Minnesota in Duluth.