Burns is a native of Dalton, Georgia (Carpet Capital of the world — yes, really), a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and a former sixth grade teacher at Julia Roberts' middle school. He first came to Columbia as a morning/noon anchor and reporter at WOLO-TV, and was invited to teach a class as an adjunct faculty member at UofSC. This year, he joins the university full time. He has previous reporting experience in Charleston, the District of Columbia, Chicago and (as a traffic reporter) in NYC.