Mark Carey has had a long and varied career in local media production, which he’s pursued even in retirement, combining new and old methods of broadcasting.
Working in multi-media production allowed Carey to partake in many epic adventures, like hanging out of a helicopter while filming.
Carey started his career as a media entrepreneur as a teenager, receiving his FCC license when he was 16.
After receiving his license, he started working with radio through his high school years part time, and then switched to full time when he graduated.
It wasn’t until 1980 when the checks from the radio station he worked for started to bounce he says that he took a gamble accepting a job at Channel 4 in Reno working in production.
Even though he had no previous knowledge in television production, Carey became an operations manager within two years.
He stayed in that position until 1989 when he started his own production company, mainly creating commercials.
His business allowed him to work with many different types of people, including government agencies, up until he retired in 2023.
“It was a very good field, did very well for my family, put my kids through college,” Carey says.
Now that he is retired, he’s still active in the industry though. To “stay sane,” he’s created his own radio station, Desert Rat Radio, which has as its tagline Rockin’ Northern Nevada. He also taught himself how to build radio controlled airplanes from scratch which he likes to fly around with other members of a local club in the Spanish Springs area.