She Tuned Into His ‘Commanding’ Voice at Columbia

She Tuned Into His ‘Commanding’ Voice at Columbia

Chambers Moore noticed Tom Moore’s distinctive voice in a radio class in journalism school, and again at their reunion 30 years later.

Chambers Boyd Moore instantly recognized Thomas Philip Moore’s distinctive voice as it rose up from a group standing behind her at a cocktail party kicking off their 30th Columbia Journalism School reunion weekend in April 2022.

“His voice is commanding,” said Ms. Moore, 60, first impressed by that command in a radio class in 1992. “He was a natural. ”

They got to know each other there as they prepared predigital audio “reel to reel” newscasts, which included ripping newswires from The Associated Press off a matrix printer.

“We cut each sound bite with razor blades and pieced them together with tiny bits of adhesive tape,” said Mr. Moore, 61, who goes by Tom, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Fairfield University.

In March 1992, after each handed in a master’s thesis, they had more free time, and explored the city together a few days every week. In May, both received master’s degrees in journalism.

“We partied, drank, danced and had dinners,” and basically dated from March to May, with the end in sight, said Mr. Moore, who grew up in Baltimore. Ms. Moore grew up in Louisville, Ky.