Misericordia University welcomed Emmy-nominated TV host Chris Bohinski to present a guest lecture to students in a communications class on Oct. 20.

Bohinski, who works for WBRE-TV, visited David Thackara’s COM 102 Intro to Mass Media class to talk about his work in the field of communications, giving students a look inside his career as a TV host.

He gave an overview of his background, discussed his past career in New York City and, most importantly, discussed how he became host of the popular lifestyle show PA Live.

The class is comprised  of a diverse group of students, including students from many majors, as well as a variation of class levels.

“Although I am not in the [communications] field, I still consume a lot of media, so it was just something interesting to think about,” senior Health Science Major Kristen Swierczek said of attending the lecture.

Bohinski discussed important characteristics one should have in the field, as well as other activities besides school that led to his current career stop. It came as a shock to students to learn he did not study communications in college, but rather studied chemistry, as well as theater.

A lot was learned about the unexpected, busy, and sometimes chaotic career Bohinski leads as he shared a story about a time when the system shut down right when his show was to go live.

He prefaced the story with how he expected it to be an easy end to his day, just having the show itself left before his shift was over, when a system shutdown caused him to have to think on his feet.

The shutdown left him with no footage or prompters rely on, forcing him to run an improv segment for about 13 minutes. He shared a highlight reel of his favorite moments from that segment with the class, teaching a lesson about being prepared for the unexpected.

Students not only laughed with Bohinski about the improvised commentary, but also learned from it.

“Something I took away from the presentation is that I should always be ready for something unexpected to happen, so I have to stay on my toes,” Swierczek said.

The class ended at 1:45 p.m. and Bohinski was on PA Live at 3 p.m. that same day. On the show, he gave thanks to the class, stating, “They were just so engaging. I thought going into it, I was just going to have to talk and talk and talk, but everyone had so many questions which was so nice.”