If you’re thinking you’ve seen Lynn’s face before, you probably have—she’s a FOX6 WBRC traffic anchor and sports reporter. But you may have also seen her running on the trails throughout Birmingham or down her Homewood sidewalks; her favorite thing about being in Birmingham is that there are so many ways to enjoy the city’s beauty. “After growing up next to highways and cement in Dallas, Birmingham looks like something out of a movie! Birmingham is unlike any other place. Trust me—I’ve already lived in five different cities throughout my career [Dallas, Los Angeles, Austin, Tuscaloosa, and Birmingham],” says Lynn, 24. “In what other city could I be surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscape right outside of my office? The fast-paced city lights on one side and the mountains on the other?”
Lynn says she takes as much advantage of the ease of being active in Birmingham as she can, from walking to the Little Donkey to practicing yoga at Yoga Circle in Homewood. While these things allow her to lead the lifestyle she desires, she says that she’s fallen for more than the running trails: “Oh, the people. The people who live in Birmingham are the cherry on top,” she says. “The news never stops, so I’m here for holidays while my family is in Dallas. I had so many offers from families all over the city to join them on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Christmas Eve.”
Lynn is also involved in a number of community organizations, including Northstar Soccer Club (she coaches a girls team), the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation (there are 42 Alabama children with life-threatening illnesses currently waiting for their wishes to come true.) And of course, she gets to work every morning at 4 a.m. to begin the tasks involved in helping drivers navigate safely to their own jobs. “I want to do whatever I can to make it so that our viewers get to work as safely and quickly as possible. That’s why we have worked so hard constantly tweeting on @FOX6Traffic,” Lynn says. “So when viewers email me and say they avoided being at work late from a detour, it’s a huge achievement.”
Lynn says she takes as much advantage of the ease of being active in Birmingham as she can, from walking to the Little Donkey to practicing yoga at Yoga Circle in Homewood. While these things allow her to lead the lifestyle she desires, she says that she’s fallen for more than the running trails: “Oh, the people. The people who live in Birmingham are the cherry on top,” she says. “The news never stops, so I’m here for holidays while my family is in Dallas. I had so many offers from families all over the city to join them on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Christmas Eve.”
Lynn is also involved in a number of community organizations, including Northstar Soccer Club (she coaches a girls team), the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation (there are 42 Alabama children with life-threatening illnesses currently waiting for their wishes to come true.) And of course, she gets to work every morning at 4 a.m. to begin the tasks involved in helping drivers navigate safely to their own jobs. “I want to do whatever I can to make it so that our viewers get to work as safely and quickly as possible. That’s why we have worked so hard constantly tweeting on @FOX6Traffic,” Lynn says. “So when viewers email me and say they avoided being at work late from a detour, it’s a huge achievement.”
Article in the eagle edition By Grace Trammell
When Alabama defeated Texas in the Rose Bowl in 2009, Texans all over the state mourned at the loss of the BCS National Championship. But not Britton Lynn. Her job as an ESPNU correspondent gave the ESD alumna, who graduated in 2007, the chance to have a live interview with Alabama players on the field and in the locker room about their victory.
“There have been so many memorable moments, but it was something I will never forget,” she said.
When her government teacher encouraged her to compete in the annual Youth and Government Broadcasting competition her senior year of high school, Lynn never imagined it would impact the direction of her future career. After watching their daughter make it to district, regionals, and finally to state in Austin, Lynn’s parents were convinced that she was going to be a broadcast journalist. She thought she wanted to go into politics though, so she found herself double majoring in Political Science and Broadcasting at the University of Alabama. However, she decided to drop Political Science her final semester of college.
“At that point, I knew my parents were right and Broadcast Journalism was the direction I wanted to go in,” she said. “Everything worked itself out perfectly. I had these big plans for myself and my future career in politics, but I soon found out that God’s plans for me were so much bigger and better than I had ever imaged for myself.”
Lynn spent her childhood rooting for the Cowboys with her dad, and she grew up loving sports, so as a sophomore, she signed up to be a freelance sports reporter for the school newspaper, the Crimson White. Although her beginning assignments were a test of commitment, she kept focused and turned the situation into a platform that helped her further her career.
“There were about 30 of us trying to write for the sports section of the paper, and I was the bottom of the barrel,” Lynn said. “I wrote stories about the club paintball team and the club lacrosse team who had only won one game all season. My journalism teacher inspired me to work my tail off to make those the most interesting articles.”
A year later, her hard work paid off: Lynn was promoted to the paid sports reporter position and finally became the senior sports reporter. She also began writing for the football magazines Touchdown Alabama and ‘Bama magazine, as well as the Tuscaloosa News, a division of the New York Times. In addition to writing, Lynn was given the chance to work with ESPNU as a campus correspondent covering the University of Alabama’s sports teams.
“Broadcasting is a crazy industry to get into,” Lynn said. “I love sports, as well as talking and writing about sports, so that’s when I knew sports broadcasting was what I wanted to do.”
Although it has taken her several steps to get to where she is today, Lynn’s dedication and doggedness has helped her land the position as a FOX6 sports reporter—the first woman sports reporter the station has ever had. She is also a traffic anchor on Good Day Alabama, where she works from 6 am to 9 am.
“In the mornings, I ad-lib about what is going on with the roads throughout 21 counties,” she said. “I report on accidents and use a lot of social media with our Twitter and iPad. It’s interesting, and everything is on the fly, so a lot of times I will hear about an accident as I’m about to go live on-air and will have no time to prepare.”
In the afternoons, she reports on sports throughout the state and prepares for the statewide Saturday sports show Tide and Tigers that is popular in Alabama and Georgia. Although the station has won several Emmy’s for their show Sideline, Lynn says it is not the recognition that makes her love her career.
“The best part about my job is coming up with interesting story ideas and pursing them,” she said. “I’ve come up with stories like concussions and youth sports, the big business in high school athletics, and kids as young as nine getting trainers to be better at sports. I love the art of storytelling through video and am blessed with the platform this job has given me as a public figure in the state.”
Lynn’s love for the industry helps her get through the long days of getting to work at 5 am and sometimes not leaving until 12 hours later. She has learned from each experience she has had and is still developing as a journalist.
“The biggest learning curve is being able to share people’s story in a way that will interest viewers that aren’t sports fans,” she said. “That’s something you have to constantly work at, and I still haven’t perfected it. I don’t just want sports fans to be inspired by my stories. I want all our viewers to enjoy them. I take a lot of pride in my stories, and anything that has my name on it I want to be my very best work.”
Lynn admits that there are definitely downsides to working in the television industry.
“I am traffic anchor for the #1 morning show in the state, and our viewers have high expectations,” she said. “We get emails, tweets, and Facebook posts all the time with viewers feedback that’s not always positive.”
Although some would crack under the pressure, Lynn has a healthy perspective on the negative feedback her station sometimes receives.
“It’s helped me grow as a person and in my faith,” she said. “Although my goal as a broadcaster is to better serve the community and the state of Alabama, I’m not working to please people. I’m working to glorify God. No matter how good I get or how big of a job I have in this industry, there will always be people telling me I’m not good enough, but that’s okay.”
Lynn has already accomplished a great amount since graduating college, but she has big plans for her future. Since her position has allowed her to get involved in the community and host events such as Birmingham Fashion Week, she wants to use her platform to share stories and inspire people, and not only regarding sports.
“I would love to be able to work on missions doing reporting and documentaries sharing the stories of those who can’t speak for themselves,” she said. “Mission work is important to me and after covering the breaking news of the April 27, 2011 Tuscaloosa tornado for the CW 33 in Dallas, WFAA, and ESPNU, I realized the power in the position I’d been given and how I can use it for good. I was able to share with thousands of people around the country what had happened and show them how they could help.”
Her ultimate goal is to travel to a third world country or work with a nonprofit to bring exposure to those who need it most through video journalism, all the while incorporating sports ministry into the process.
“It’s amazing what can happen when you bring people together in sports and faith gets involved,” she said. “I would love to be able to do that in addition to sports reporting because I love what I am doing now. I am doing what I am passionate about and have always wanted to do.”
“There have been so many memorable moments, but it was something I will never forget,” she said.
When her government teacher encouraged her to compete in the annual Youth and Government Broadcasting competition her senior year of high school, Lynn never imagined it would impact the direction of her future career. After watching their daughter make it to district, regionals, and finally to state in Austin, Lynn’s parents were convinced that she was going to be a broadcast journalist. She thought she wanted to go into politics though, so she found herself double majoring in Political Science and Broadcasting at the University of Alabama. However, she decided to drop Political Science her final semester of college.
“At that point, I knew my parents were right and Broadcast Journalism was the direction I wanted to go in,” she said. “Everything worked itself out perfectly. I had these big plans for myself and my future career in politics, but I soon found out that God’s plans for me were so much bigger and better than I had ever imaged for myself.”
Lynn spent her childhood rooting for the Cowboys with her dad, and she grew up loving sports, so as a sophomore, she signed up to be a freelance sports reporter for the school newspaper, the Crimson White. Although her beginning assignments were a test of commitment, she kept focused and turned the situation into a platform that helped her further her career.
“There were about 30 of us trying to write for the sports section of the paper, and I was the bottom of the barrel,” Lynn said. “I wrote stories about the club paintball team and the club lacrosse team who had only won one game all season. My journalism teacher inspired me to work my tail off to make those the most interesting articles.”
A year later, her hard work paid off: Lynn was promoted to the paid sports reporter position and finally became the senior sports reporter. She also began writing for the football magazines Touchdown Alabama and ‘Bama magazine, as well as the Tuscaloosa News, a division of the New York Times. In addition to writing, Lynn was given the chance to work with ESPNU as a campus correspondent covering the University of Alabama’s sports teams.
“Broadcasting is a crazy industry to get into,” Lynn said. “I love sports, as well as talking and writing about sports, so that’s when I knew sports broadcasting was what I wanted to do.”
Although it has taken her several steps to get to where she is today, Lynn’s dedication and doggedness has helped her land the position as a FOX6 sports reporter—the first woman sports reporter the station has ever had. She is also a traffic anchor on Good Day Alabama, where she works from 6 am to 9 am.
“In the mornings, I ad-lib about what is going on with the roads throughout 21 counties,” she said. “I report on accidents and use a lot of social media with our Twitter and iPad. It’s interesting, and everything is on the fly, so a lot of times I will hear about an accident as I’m about to go live on-air and will have no time to prepare.”
In the afternoons, she reports on sports throughout the state and prepares for the statewide Saturday sports show Tide and Tigers that is popular in Alabama and Georgia. Although the station has won several Emmy’s for their show Sideline, Lynn says it is not the recognition that makes her love her career.
“The best part about my job is coming up with interesting story ideas and pursing them,” she said. “I’ve come up with stories like concussions and youth sports, the big business in high school athletics, and kids as young as nine getting trainers to be better at sports. I love the art of storytelling through video and am blessed with the platform this job has given me as a public figure in the state.”
Lynn’s love for the industry helps her get through the long days of getting to work at 5 am and sometimes not leaving until 12 hours later. She has learned from each experience she has had and is still developing as a journalist.
“The biggest learning curve is being able to share people’s story in a way that will interest viewers that aren’t sports fans,” she said. “That’s something you have to constantly work at, and I still haven’t perfected it. I don’t just want sports fans to be inspired by my stories. I want all our viewers to enjoy them. I take a lot of pride in my stories, and anything that has my name on it I want to be my very best work.”
Lynn admits that there are definitely downsides to working in the television industry.
“I am traffic anchor for the #1 morning show in the state, and our viewers have high expectations,” she said. “We get emails, tweets, and Facebook posts all the time with viewers feedback that’s not always positive.”
Although some would crack under the pressure, Lynn has a healthy perspective on the negative feedback her station sometimes receives.
“It’s helped me grow as a person and in my faith,” she said. “Although my goal as a broadcaster is to better serve the community and the state of Alabama, I’m not working to please people. I’m working to glorify God. No matter how good I get or how big of a job I have in this industry, there will always be people telling me I’m not good enough, but that’s okay.”
Lynn has already accomplished a great amount since graduating college, but she has big plans for her future. Since her position has allowed her to get involved in the community and host events such as Birmingham Fashion Week, she wants to use her platform to share stories and inspire people, and not only regarding sports.
“I would love to be able to work on missions doing reporting and documentaries sharing the stories of those who can’t speak for themselves,” she said. “Mission work is important to me and after covering the breaking news of the April 27, 2011 Tuscaloosa tornado for the CW 33 in Dallas, WFAA, and ESPNU, I realized the power in the position I’d been given and how I can use it for good. I was able to share with thousands of people around the country what had happened and show them how they could help.”
Her ultimate goal is to travel to a third world country or work with a nonprofit to bring exposure to those who need it most through video journalism, all the while incorporating sports ministry into the process.
“It’s amazing what can happen when you bring people together in sports and faith gets involved,” she said. “I would love to be able to do that in addition to sports reporting because I love what I am doing now. I am doing what I am passionate about and have always wanted to do.”
