Not many people can say their biggest career break came from winning a contest. But, Diane Robina, AS '82, connects her television career to a not-altogether-tongue-in-cheek contest, appropriately dubbed "I Wanna Be Manager of Acquisitions," run in 1987 by the cable network Nick at Nite.

"I thought the whole idea of a contest was pretty clever," Robina says. "I'm such a television fan that I knew I could acquire programming and program a network, even though my TV career up to that point had been focused on the technical side."

Robina entered an essay and resumé and landed the job. Today, she is executive vice president and general manager of TNN: The National Network.

"Once I moved into the programming side of the business, I never looked back," Robina says. "I'm really doing something I love. How many people get paid to watch TV for a living?"

At UD, Robina initially thought she might study law, but after taking a film class, she decided on a career in television. "I knew it was a better fit for me," she says, adding that the University's television production courses gave her a good foundation for her first job at CNN as a camera operator.

College also provided Robina with a "great opportunity to gain life experience." "You have to learn to motivate yourself," she says. "You have to care."

After graduation, Robina used the three days a week she wasn't waitressing to visit TV stations and networks in search of a job. CNN offered her an entry-level camera operator position at $3.35 an hour on the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift.

"The money wasn't great, but I didn't care because I was working in television and learning on the job," she says. A self-described "news junkie," Robina says she used the time to soak up knowledge of the TV industry.

"I was really lucky to be in the right place at the right time," she says. "CNN was emerging as a force, but was still young enough to hire an inexperienced college grad."

Because CNN wasn't unionized, Robina says she was able to do different things--"from camera work to lighting to taking the news off the Teletype machine." Robina also was a camera operator for New York's WWOR-TV and, she says, "I talked myself into a job as manager for the Uptown movie channel run by Group W Cable. It was great, going from working equipment to helping decide what goes on the air at what time."

Then came Nick at Nite. Robina has held a number of positions at the MTV-owned network, moving from manager of acquisitions to senior vice president of acquisitions and programming.

"I understand research and I understand viewers," Robina says, explaining her rise at the network. "I always keep up on what's going on in the industry, what the trends are."

Chosen to spearhead the launch of Nick's TV Land in 1996, Robina--who is married and the mother of two daughters--was instrumental in landing such classics as The Andy Griffith Show, The Honeymooners, Adam 12 and Leave It To Beaver.

"I'm a strong negotiator," says Robina. "That's played a major role in helping me launch new networks."

In September 2000, she was handed the biggest challenge of her career, leading the re-branding/repositioning of TNN (formerly The Nashville Network) and handling the day-to-day management of the network, including programming, marketing and promotional strategies.

"With 84 million viewing households, TNN was a network with a great piece of 'beachfront property,' but the house needed fixing," Robina says, in describing the acquisition of TNN by MTV Networks.

Known for its country-oriented programming, The Nashville Network changed more than just its name when Robina took over.

"The MTV network stable of channels builds brands. We build TV 'personality' for networks," she says. "Launching a new network is great because you have a blank slate. You can create whatever you want to 'super serve' your audience, and whatever mistakes or successes there are, they're yours, too."

Taking over an existing network, like TNN, is a bit trickier, Robina says. "This was the first network MTV owned that was already in existence and needed to change completely. We are now working to find our voice, our audience, and serve them."

Now geared toward viewers aged 18 to 49, with a special emphasis on those Generation X-ers aged 25 to 35, the channel focuses on pop culture. The transformation has included acquisition of WWF's Raw, three Star Trek series and the 1980s hit, Miami Vice. There also have been several original series, including Conspiracy Zone starring Kevin Nealon from Scott Carter (producer of Politically Incorrect) and Fame for 15, produced by Gay Rosenthal (Behind the Music).

"I don't want TNN's former viewers to go away, but I do want new viewers to tune in," Robina says, adding that ratings for the network have been rising steadily over the past few months.

One of the great advantages of working at MTV Networks, Robina says, is the company's great support of women and working parents. "I've been very fortunate," she says. "My kids are welcome in the office; in fact, they think they program Nickelodeon. The fact that I'm a mother of young children hasn't been a detriment."

Robina, who oversees a staff of about 65, says she loves that her job is continually changing. "The minute I start to get bored, they throw me another challenge," she says.

--Nicole Pensiero