Born in Kingston, Rodney Campbell grew up between Havendale, Barbican and Constant Spring Gardens until age 18. Shortly after, he took on the life of an adult or should I say 'rolling stone'. Campbell attended St. George's College and Jamaica College and later went on to do a stint at the University of the West Indies (UWI), where he started the Degree programme in Mass Communications with Radio as his production technique, but did not complete it. However, being a persistent individual, he completed the Diploma Course instead; "Let's face it, I had years and years of experience under my belt in Media and found CARIMAC to be....I was just going through the motions for the paper," says Campbell.
The 35-year-old began his foray in Media when he submitted an article to the now defunct Jamaica Record newspaper. "Primarily, I was a writer in school, I used to do a lot of poetry (which I still do) and stories. While I was in second form, my English teacher, Ms. Stafford, suggested that I enter a piece in a competition. I came second in the competition, but couldn't collect the prize because the competition was for sixth formers. However, I got little assignments here and there, something like a stringer to go along with the daily news or a bigger reporter would say, 'yuh waan do this? Get a story and come nuh.'
OFFICIAL STORY
Eventually, I wrote an article and submitted it to the Jamaica Record and at that point, Vincent Tulloch (now deceased) called me and said he read the piece and asked if I was interested in going around, yuh nuh... My first official newsworthy story was a story that I travelled to Great Pond in Ocho Rios and covered. It was the opening of a basic school. I took my little camera and took a picture of the school and the balloons and wrote a story and it was published. It was the greatest thing in the world, though it was not my first piece that was being published, it really felt like my first 'real' piece. And one thing led to another... I've done everything in media except technical production."
The 'Ram', who was born on April 18, has three children: 14- and eight-year-old sons and a four-year-old daughter, but says he's, luckily, not married.
According to Campbell, if he had been married already, he would not have been ready. "I would have been divorced, separated or miserable or all three. Marriage is such a wonderful thing that you should only be able to get married when the woman you want to cheat with is your wife. When you look at your wife and say 'I would give my wife bun with this woman', she is the number two woman for the same number one woman."
When not involved in Journalism, Campbell relaxes by listening to 'oldies', writing poems and fishing with his children. His favourite pet is a dog because he believes dogs are loyal and honest. On the other hand, he detests cats because he thinks they are hypocrites.
