Tyler Daniel Hardin has always been a one-man band of sorts — at least since his parents bought a video camera when he was about 12 and he started fooling around with it.
“Always” and “man” might be slightly misleading terms for someone who graduated high school last week, but he looks and acts deceptively older. Hardin describes himself as “a normal teenager,” but already carries himself like a professional and has the right look to host a TV show.
That’s his dream: to anchor a national news show or host his own, reporting on hard news, entertainment “or even hosting an ‘American Idol’-type show,” he said laughing. “Anything.”
First he’ll attend Appalachian State in the fall, majoring in broadcast journalism and working in the school’s new media-complex, he said. App is interested in launching a TV station, he added, something that he could get involved with on the ground floor.
Hardin is one of those people who has already drawn up a 60-year plan, which in addition to hosting a show on a national network involves publishing three books and working his way up to a Top 10 market and then to New York City.
The era of the one-man band began while Hardin was in eighth grade, where he pitched the idea for a TV program called “Falcon Monthly” to the principal at Guilford County’s Southeast Middle School. The 10-minute, monthly piece focused on student and school news, and Hardin adapted the idea at Weaver Academy.
There, he spent four years churning out “Student Reports,” a segment often running for 30 minutes “covering student activities, achievements and awards.” Hardin would write the script, host, film and edit the show, which aired on GCSTV on AT&T U-Verse and Time Warner Cable.
Undoubtedly there were times when pulling off a solo production was tedious and overwhelming, but Hardin said he was always “super happy” that he pushed through. He is primarily self-taught, pulling some experience from three bouts with different teams at the 48-Hour Film Fest and only taking Weaver’s digital-media course at the culmination of his high school career. Over time, Hardin has sought advice from basically every local news anchor, which he said helped him figure out ways to improve and what would be expected of him down the road.
If any Triad teenager is going to wind up as a widely recognizable TV host, it’s difficult to imagine anyone beating Hardin out for the honor. His eagerness and ambition radiate in conversation, amplified by the fact that he founded TDH Media in 2009 to promote his work and offer his professional video services.
The website for his production company demonstrates the variety of skills in his repertoire, oscillating from interviewing Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan and High Point University President Nido Qubein to listing prices for music videos, customized graphics and real-estate photography.
Hardin looks more grown-up now than the somewhat baby-faced pictures on his website. Even early in the morning the day after graduation, when most of his peers were undoubtedly still sleeping, Hardin was up and at ’em, flashing a Hollywood smile.
Visit Tyler Hardin’s website, thetdhmedia.com, to get in touch or see his work.
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hardin:
i am excited to follow your career in tv acting. i am so happy that you started “fooling around” with a video camera at age 12. the skills you learned there will lead you to much joy in the business of tv.
I am interested in a follow up article being written about Mr. TDH media. Has the company dissolved? Has it filed chapter 11? I think the kind journalist at the Triad City Beat should look into the TDH Media tax filings. Are they a registered business? Is the TDH media empire taking in money without a business license? Its the Triad City Beat supporting a company that is operating illegally? What is Mr. Medias voter registration? Did he drop out of the Appalachian State? Is he selling used cars in Lenior NC? I think that a lot of questions are going unanswered and it is about damn time that the folks at the Triad City Beat dig in and ask the tough questions.
Ahhh man, this TDH kid is the shiz. Back when I was 12 years old we didn’t have camcorders. Was just pick up sticks and mud pies. Kids these days is so damn spoiled and the liberal media elites are brainwashing em to become little circus puppets early. I hope this Hardin fella will fight the good fight and only work for the real MEN at FOX or Briebart. Men with balls don’t play with camcorders kid. They play with facts and they fight the Clinton foundation’s lizard people in Washington until the bitter end. You boys needa wake the hell up. Quit being sissies, put your cam toys away, and get to reporting real news. I mean come on, the clintons are killing people in Benghazi by the dozens and Obama won’t release his social security number. Best of luck Hardin – hope the CNNs don’t get you before it’s too late.
I believe I ran into Tanner Hardin (or a man sharing his name) last year in a crowded street car in San Francisco’s Castro district. It was a dreary Tuesday morning and I was returning from The Whole Foods with six bags of vegan cat food. The heavy rain caused the street car operator to temporarily cease service. In this moment, I glanced across the street car and a man I believe could possibly be Hardin locked eyes with me. It was a mystical moment. A moment of pure euphoria. I felt as if I had seen an angel. A beacon of hope. I felt Hardin was peering into my soul. I felt as if he knew all the hardship and pain of my life and the dread and guilt I felt as a child laborer working for Best Buy Customer Service. I felt as if he knew about my addiction to cats and my daily routine of locking myself in a room and gorging on 2 pounds of raw cream cheese. We didn’t break eye contact for four minutes. He gently rubbed two fingers across his temple and approached me as he was exiting the street car. He whispered in my ear “All war is a symptom of the human condition. You are a beautiful butterfly of life and light. Now fly away.” I spray painted these words on my living room walls and ceiling. This was the last I ever saw Tanner. I’ve spent the past 2 years searching the internet for this human manifestation of passion and romance. I quit my job at Sizzlers steakhouse and have been living off of a settlement I got from being hit by a city bus. I have not left my flat in 2 weeks and I’m running low on cream cheese and kibble. But I will not give up search. I will hopefully one day find Tanner Hardin and once again peer into those blue pools of eyes that he has. If this article is in fact about the Tanner I met, and Tanner sees this, please know this: thank you. Thank you for showing me how it feels to be alive.
Happy to help!
I think me and my wife Tracy saw this boy on FOX 9 in Saint Paul last week while we were eatin tater wedges down at the Handsome Hog joint off of six street. The lil fella was dressed head to toe in riot body armor doing class act new reporting on the front lines.
The kid wasn’t scared to put himself in a suit, layer the suit with 20 pounds of body armor and get to reportin.
Hardin’s a real hero. Him and his news team gettin pegged in the rear end by rubber crowd control bullets just to give us regulars a front line look at the mayhem unfolding out there right now. Hardin was taking those rubbers like a champ.. man didn’t even flinch.
The kid gets show biz. He is show biz. Wishin that fella luck as he navigates year 32 of his 60 year plan. Raise helll, praise dale!
Hardin sold me a used Dodge Grand Caravan from Big Al’s used autos in Lenoir last week. He was a superb salesman. Dressed to the nines and had a set of veneers that could land an airplane. Not to mention the dodge he sold me is a hella of a machine. Thing has 427,900 miles on it and is in mint condition. My credits in the crapper because of a misunderstanding I had with an Auntie Anne’s franchise, but Hardin was understanding and gave me the deal of a century. No money down, $500 a month for 11 years. I give the dealership 8/10 stars (Big Al tried to nickel and dime me on the post factory warranty). But that Hardin is a tens across the board guy. If you’re in western NC and you need a quality used van, you gotta call Hardin or ride on up to Al’s. They’ll treat ya real nice.
Mr. Tyler Hardin is an incredible young man. I’ve known him since he was just a young snaggle toothed kid who barely knew how to ties his own shoes! Remarkably charismatic at a young age, anyone with a brain recognized young Tyler as a force to be reckoned with!! 😃 Tyler lived a few houses down the street from us while he was in high school. A few years ago, my son was struggling to find friends at the new school he attended. Though he was 6 grades ahead of my son, Tyler began meeting him at our house in the morning to walk to the bus and walking him home in the afternoon. What a stand up move from a guy who didn’t have to give my son the time of day! Some days he would even stay with my son when we had to work late and babysit for a while. We would come home and our sweet son would be all clean and bathed up. Sleepy, and worn out he would tell of the imaginative plays they would act out. My son would joke about them sitting in the bath tub together for hours and playing “pokey sword fight time”. He said Tyler would mix him fresh koolaid with a fun special ingredient. He would be so tuckered our and sleepy by the time we got home. My son cherished this time! That’s only one of many great examples I recall about this fine man Tyler!
My life partner Larry and I had a fabulous time last weekend at the Holiday Inn and Sweets on Rocky Ridge Road. The breakfast buffet was exquisite and we enjoyed the freshly renovated amenities. Our trip kicked off Friday evening with a Champaign toast at the roof top bar. Larry and I ended up washing away the stress of our 16 hour drive into Asheville by downing three bottles of champs. The drive was especially stressful in part because Larry is legally blind and got confused – he drove northbound on I-85 for two miles in the southbound lane. Our 2002 Volvo V70 never saw so much excitement and we were eventually given a police escort up the shoulder until we could get off at an exit. Nonetheless, the champs really did the trick. The next morning, two very charismatic Latinx women woke Larry and I and offered to clean the suite. They did such a top notch job that Larry insisted they keep one of his oxygen tanks as a tip. We explored Asheville and had a great day (aside from our volvo being towed twice). By the time we returned to the hotel Larry was quite crabby. Mainly because of his sun burns, but also because of a screaming match he got into in the Cracker Barrel parking lot over a parking space. Thankfully the dinner buffet at the hotel had a thick, quality sawmill gravy and our night ended up well with Larry smoking his King of Denmark cigars in the hotel bathtub. I don’t take issue with the fact he smokes indoors, but he and I don’t see eye to eye on him smoking right next to his oxygen tanks. The next morning we attended temple and thanked the staff at the holiday in and sweeps. We made it back home to Marquette Michigan in a quick 15 hours and in time for Larry to watch Tucker Carlson. We give the Rocky Ridge Holiday inn and Schweets ten stars! We will be sure to hit this spot again for a our weekend getaways.
Well as they say, “when in Rome.” All things come full circle and this past Wednesday, the story of the newsman, the media maker, the N.C. local TV giant, the mover and shaker, and the founder of TDH Media Associates circled his way back into my life once again. I’d say it’s been ten years or more. Ten years since I watched the Falcon Monthly on Guilford County Schools TV. Tyler Daniel Hardin, the falcon’s lead anchor & executive director, brought me and my classmates the daily news every day for four god***m years. He was a scrappy, rambunctious type. Never afraid to chase a tantalizing story. Bringing us the hot juice on the football beefs, the gossip stories on the yearbook girls, and a hard hitting expose on the ecological consequences of the vice principal commuting to work every day in a Hummer H2. How could someone forget his face or name, his journalistic talent or his Walter Mondale voice.
Well I didn’t. As I sat at the Applebee’s bar Wednesday evening nursing my 5th boysenberry Harvest flavoured budlight refresher, I saw him. He was broadcast to an audience of thousands, reporting live for channel 8 news (and to 5 middle aged misfits at the Greensboro Applebee’s). The story was the greensboro poop bandit – A man who goes number two on sidewalks late at night for pleasure. Instantly the voice, the hair, the eyes. They all were there. The way he spoke on such a complex and pressing issue in the greensboro community really struck a chord with me. He has a talent like no other. I thought to myself “He is the next Lou Dobbs (with less hair and chapstick)”
Rhonda the bartender came over to tell my that my 1992 Cadillac Eldorado (it’s a classic) was being towed in the parking lot because my expired plates and I unfortunately left Applebee’s in such a rush that I forgot to pay my check. Thankfully Rhonda stopped by my apartment for her weekly hip flexor and a few rob roys and I gave her the low on why I was so speechless earlier at the bar. She told me she thinks she has seen Hardin at the Applebee’s Bar a few times. Ever since, I have spent every night at the bar getting hammered on strawberitas and hoping that Hardin will stroll through to grace us with his stardom.
Until then, cheers!
Well as they say, “when in Rome.” All things come full circle and this past Wednesday, the story of the newsman, the media maker, the N.C. local TV giant, the mover and shaker, and the founder of TDH Media Associates circled his way back into my life once again. I’d say it’s been ten years or more. Ten years since I watched the Falcon Monthly on Guilford County Schools TV. Tyler Daniel Hardin, the falcon’s lead anchor & executive director, brought me and my classmates the daily news every day for four god***m years. He was a scrappy, rambunctious type. Never afraid to chase a tantalizing story. Bringing us the hot juice on the football beefs, the gossip stories on the yearbook girls, and a hard hitting expose on the ecological consequences of the vice principal commuting to work every day in a Hummer H2. How could someone forget his face or name, his journalistic talent or his Walter Mondale voice.
Well I didn’t. As I sat at the Applebee’s bar Wednesday evening nursing my 5th boysenberry Harvest flavoured budlight refresher, I saw him. He was broadcast to an audience of thousands, reporting live for channel 8 news (and to 5 middle aged misfits at the Greensboro Applebee’s). The story was the greensboro poop bandit – A man who goes number two on sidewalks late at night for pleasure. Instantly the voice, the hair, the eyes. They all were there. The way he spoke on such a complex and pressing issue in the greensboro community really struck a chord with me. He has a talent like no other. I thought to myself “He is the next Lou Dobbs (with less hair and chapstick)”
Rhonda the bartender came over to tell my that my 1992 Cadillac Eldorado (it’s a classic) was being towed in the parking lot because my expired plates and I unfortunately left Applebee’s in such a rush that I forgot to pay my check. Thankfully Rhonda stopped by my apartment for her weekly hip flexor and a few rob roys and I gave her the low on why I was so speechless earlier at the bar. She told me she thinks she has seen Hardin at the Applebee’s Bar a few times. Ever since, I have spent every night at the bar getting hammered on strawberitas and hoping that Hardin will stroll through to grace us with his stardom.
Until then, cheers!