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Our Company The Communications Workshop, LLC was founded in 1990. Steve Bassett, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, opened the company following 10 years as a full-time television and radio sportscaster and 11 years as a senior executive with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).
In 1996, the company assumed management of the United States Air Tour Association (USATA), an organization representing commercial air tour operators throughout the country. Along with his partner former Nevada Congressman James D. Santini, the management team has helped guide the air tour industry through the turbulent waters of increased regulatory actions by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Park Service (NPS), increased pressure from Congress, and the post-911 economic collapse of the industry. In 2003, the company added disaster response planning, training and consulting to its stable of services building on the already successful crisis media management program Bassett developed and has taught since the company's inception in 1990. In 2005, Bassett unveiled "Did I Ever Tell You About The Time..." - a very successful and much sought after motivational speech for business groups, associations, athletes and students which recounts stories from his broadcasting days and how lessons learned in TV sportscasting apply to success in business and life. In 2006, the company added a new service which provides training and consulting for companies seeking to improve their internal communications capabilities. Steve Bassett, president & CEO, The Communications Workshop, LLC
Steve Bassett is chairman & CEO of The Communications Workshop, LLC. He is an instrument-rated pilot with more than three decades of aviation and communications experience. He was trained in aviation accident investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). During his aviation career he served as senior vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), executive vice president of Air Vegas Airlines, and president of the United States Air Tour Association (USATA). Prior to aviation, Steve was a network and major market television and radio sports broadcaster. He announced college basketball for TVS/NBC Sports, reported for ABC Sports, served as sports director and sports anchor at WJLA-TV in Washington, DC and KTVI-TV in St. Louis, anchored television sportscasts at WIS-TV in Columbia, SC and WBAL-TV in Baltimore, was play-by-play announcer for college basketball and football for the Universities of Maryland and Missouri, called basketball for George Washington University and the University of South Carolina, hosted radio sports talk programs for WMAL Radio and WTEM Radio in Washington, DC, and served on the television broadcast team for Washington Redskins pre-season football games in the nation's capital. He still does some sportscasting on a free-lance basis handling the play-by-play for televised high school sporting events in Howard County, Maryland as a public service to the county school system and calling games for the DC Divas. He also is an award-winning corporate video producer. His video production work includes productions in a variety of industries including transportation, aviation, medical and health care, sports and recreation, high-tech, food, and construction. Following broadcasting, Bassett began his aviation management career with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) serving as vice president of communications, vice president of state affairs, and senior vice president of government and technical affairs where he headed the association's Congressional, lobbying, state legislative and technical aviation operations. Notably, he headed a team which authored Aviation: The Future Is Now, the first definitive work prepared for the federal government on transition to the Global Positioning Satellite System as the eventual precision instrument landing system in the United States and recommended against adoption of Microwave Landing Systems as the successor to ILS. Bassett assumed the presidency of the United States Air Tour Association in 1996. Among his other many achievements for the air tour community, Bassett is credited with helping plan and implement a comprehensive strategy which led to Part 135 and 121 commercial air tour companies being included in the post-9/11 airline financial aid package. The effort pumped millions of federal grant dollars into the air tour industry financially staggered by significantly reduced tourism following the attacks. Bassett also successfully negotiated with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and North American Air Defense Command a procedure to get air tour companies flying quickly following the September attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and emergency grounding of all flights in the U.S. While most others were grounded, USATA had many air tour operators flying VFR within 72 hours of the attack. He has testified frequently before various committees of Congress on a wide spectrum of air tour and other aviation issues. Bassett began consulting on disaster response in the early 90s counseling Congressional offices on dealing with media ambushes. His broadcasting and communications career naturally provided him a unique expertise on the news media which he began to share with various other industries. He is now one of the nation's foremost experts in aviation crisis management and disaster response and works with the aviation, warehouse and other industries. His popular Coping With Crisis 101 and News Media 101 seminars are recognized as two of the best training programs in the country. He also created and teaches the Flight Ops: Improving Internal Communications program. He has written numerous papers on effective communications and presents "Did I Ever Tell You About The Time" - an entertaining and often laugh-out-loud presentation relating stories about his career as a sportscaster and success in business and management. He is a Vietnam combat veteran having served with the prestigious 4th Infantry Division Recon Unit and Americal Division in South Vietnam from 1969-1970. As an Army Sergeant, Bassett received the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantry Badge (CIB), and other commendations.
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