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The Broadcaster's Journey Episode #1 · The Broadcaster's Journey

0:10
Speaker 1: Hello all and welcome on in to my first ever
0:13
Speaker 1: podcast here at Dean College. This is the Broadcasters Journey podcast.
0:19
Speaker 1: I am your host, Ricky Struzzeri. Extremely happy to be
0:23
Speaker 1: here today and give you all the ins and outs
0:26
Speaker 1: of sports broadcasting over the next fall semester. Each episode,
0:30
Speaker 1: we will interview someone new who has a completely different
0:34
Speaker 1: path in the sports broadcasting industry. Today, It's a true
0:39
Speaker 1: professional already making a living out of sportscasting. Stay tuned
0:43
Speaker 1: to find out who it is and what experiences.
0:46
Speaker 2: They have to share.
0:48
Speaker 1: But first, let me give you a little brief introduction
0:50
Speaker 1: to myself. Because why would you take advice from some
0:54
Speaker 1: clown talking into a microphone for 30 minutes if you
0:57
Speaker 1: don't even know what my history is? With that being said,
1:01
Speaker 1: I am a senior sports broadcasting major here at Dean College.
1:06
Speaker 1: I am one of our six lovely student sports broadcasting
1:09
Speaker 1: team directors here at Dean, as well as co-chief of
1:12
Speaker 1: sports for our school's newspaper, the Dean Daily. I most
1:16
Speaker 1: recently wrapped up a summer internship with the professional baseball
1:19
Speaker 1: team in Brockton, Massachusetts, in the Brockton Rocks of the
1:22
Speaker 1: Frontier League, now actually being changed to the National Association
1:26
Speaker 1: of Professional Baseball, with two new teams being added, fun fact.
1:30
Speaker 1: Moving on, I currently hold a play-by-play broadcaster position with
1:34
Speaker 1: Regis College. a rival school of Dean College. Funny enough,
1:39
Speaker 1: I have never actually called a losing game.
1:43
Speaker 2: For the Regis Pride.
1:45
Speaker 1: So, you know, there's a little cool fun fact for
1:48
Speaker 1: you right there. Don't know if you really care, but
1:50
Speaker 1: fun fact for you.
1:52
Speaker 2: I digress.
1:53
Speaker 1: Last year, I was granted the opportunity by our fabulous
1:56
Speaker 1: communications director here at Dean, John Rook, to attend the
2:00
Speaker 1: 2026 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament in Madison Square Garden,
2:04
Speaker 1: New York City. Me and two other classmates were able
2:07
Speaker 1: to stay for the entire tournament and made the absolute
2:10
Speaker 1: most out of the experience. I am still seeking more opportunities,
2:14
Speaker 1: as we will get into later. That is crucial for
2:16
Speaker 1: any sportscaster. Tons of opportunities lined up for myself this
2:20
Speaker 1: fall semester, one with MyFM, a local radio station in Milford,
2:24
Speaker 1: and as well as that Regis College opportunity.
2:27
Speaker 2: Roger Williams. and Rhode Island College.
2:29
Speaker 1: These opportunities are key for any sportscaster to break into
2:33
Speaker 1: the industry. The Broadcaster's Journey, episode one. Thank you all
2:37
Speaker 1: for tuning in. The theme for today, what does it
2:41
Speaker 1: take to become a professional sports broadcaster? That question will
2:47
Speaker 1: be answered for you in no time. So, you know,
2:50
Speaker 1: stick around to the end of this one to find out. Now,
2:54
Speaker 1: the first point I would like to bring up is
2:57
Speaker 1: actually getting on the microphone. You know, getting those reps.
3:02
Speaker 1: Real reps. Talking into a microphone like I'm doing right now,
3:06
Speaker 1: but instead calling a sports game. You need those if
3:11
Speaker 1: you're going to be a successful sportscaster.
3:14
Speaker 2: Reps, reps, reps are everything.
3:19
Speaker 1: I already told you guys all the stuff I have
3:21
Speaker 1: on my plate, and I am only adding to it.
3:24
Speaker 1: I cannot tell you enough how important it is to
3:26
Speaker 1: just get out there and start calling games, man. You
3:30
Speaker 1: get so much better, so much faster, when you simply
3:33
Speaker 1: just go out and do it. Our interview guests will
3:39
Speaker 1: talk about this as well, but I can tell you
3:41
Speaker 1: from experience the best ways to get those reps.
3:45
Speaker 2: Number one is as simple as it can possibly be.
3:48
Speaker 2: Grab your phone. Go to a sports game.
3:53
Speaker 1: Call the game in your phone.
3:57
Speaker 2: Boom!
3:58
Speaker 1: You just did play-by-play and analysis for a live sporting event. Now, obviously,
4:05
Speaker 1: that is not the most glamorous route. I understand that.
4:08
Speaker 1: But if you want the work and you want to
4:10
Speaker 1: get better, you will do whatever it takes, even if
4:13
Speaker 1: it means putting yourself in extremely uncomfortable environments or situations. Look, man,
4:20
Speaker 1: I have found that those Uncomfortable and awkward environments are
4:23
Speaker 1: actually where I thrive the most. Let me tell you
4:25
Speaker 1: about an awkward situation I had. So my first ever
4:28
Speaker 1: broadcast with Regis College was a women's soccer game. And
4:32
Speaker 1: the first half goes by and I felt comfortable. Now
4:35
Speaker 1: keep in mind that this was only my second time
4:37
Speaker 1: on campus and my first time around all of these
4:41
Speaker 1: new people that I have never met. I am not
4:44
Speaker 1: a big soccer guy, I will just be honest. Football, basketball,
4:47
Speaker 1: and baseball are way more up my alley. However, this
4:51
Speaker 1: particular game I am referring to, it was going well,
4:55
Speaker 1: and nothing was wrong, and then halftime hits. My supervisor
4:59
Speaker 1: at Regis tells me I am doing a great job,
5:01
Speaker 1: so I gain lots of confidence from that. Then I
5:03
Speaker 1: have one of their other broadcasters come up to me
5:06
Speaker 1: and talk to me up on the donkey. Now, there's
5:08
Speaker 1: no problem with this at all. He's a great guy,
5:10
Speaker 1: and I'm very happy that he introduced himself to me
5:12
Speaker 1: and whatnot. But he then stuck around on the donkey,
5:16
Speaker 1: practically breathing down my neck, For the entire second half
5:20
Speaker 1: of play. And then again, the next day for all
5:25
Speaker 1: of the next game. Which, like I just said, was
5:28
Speaker 1: the next day. Now, why am I telling you all
5:31
Speaker 1: of this, you might be asking? Well, there's multiple reasons.
5:35
Speaker 1: The first is because that was a big point where
5:38
Speaker 1: I had to realize that this is difficult to do
5:40
Speaker 1: when someone is just breathing down your neck, first of all.
5:42
Speaker 1: But it was an extremely awkward moment, but it made
5:46
Speaker 1: me so much better, so much faster. A point I
5:52
Speaker 1: referred back to earlier. You know, that game was on
5:56
Speaker 1: September 1st, and now we're recording this podcast.
6:00
Speaker 2: Sometime here in late September. And it's incredible.
6:05
Speaker 1: It's gotten me ready for so many things. But, you know, yeah,
6:09
Speaker 1: you got to go out there and just get those reps, guys.
6:12
Speaker 1: That is what it is all about at the end
6:14
Speaker 1: of the day. The other big way to build that,
6:19
Speaker 1: build those reps is.
6:21
Speaker 2: Build a map, right?
6:22
Speaker 1: A map, the center of your map. It needs to
6:26
Speaker 1: be like, let's call it your home base, you know,
6:30
Speaker 1: where you are going to be traveling to your broadcast from,
6:33
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully about 99% of the times, you know,
6:36
Speaker 1: maybe something like that. If If you could find something
6:39
Speaker 1: like that, that is perfect. For me, when I did
6:43
Speaker 1: this particular strategy with the map thing, it happened to
6:46
Speaker 1: be Dean College. Now, I was born and raised in
6:49
Speaker 1: the south shore of Massachusetts, Rockland, MA. Rockland, Massachusetts, Rock Vegas,
6:55
Speaker 1: they call it back at home. But since I go
6:57
Speaker 1: to school in Franklin, Massachusetts, I figured Dean College would
7:00
Speaker 1: probably be where I would get the more opportunities in
7:02
Speaker 1: the area. And I was actually right. So what I
7:05
Speaker 1: did was I put Dean College at the center of
7:07
Speaker 1: the map. Like I just told you, you put your
7:09
Speaker 1: home base, you put where you know you're going to
7:12
Speaker 1: be doing your broadcast from the center of the map. Now,
7:16
Speaker 1: once you've got that at the center of your map,
7:19
Speaker 1: you then draw a circle, a massive circle, probably about,
7:23
Speaker 1: you know, this is kind of where the preference part
7:26
Speaker 1: comes into play though. If you have a car, I
7:28
Speaker 1: guess you could technically go as far as you would like,
7:30
Speaker 1: depending on, again, your preference. But for me, I did
7:34
Speaker 1: about an hour drive away from Dean College. I didn't
7:37
Speaker 1: really want to go any further, any less.
7:41
Speaker 2: Or wait a minute. No, that doesn't make any sense.
7:42
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
7:43
Speaker 1: I did want to go less, but I did not
7:45
Speaker 1: want to go any further than an hour. There was
7:48
Speaker 1: a few schools I found that were about an hour
7:51
Speaker 1: or 10 minutes, hour and five minutes. I decided to
7:54
Speaker 1: leave those on there because they weren't too far. But
7:55
Speaker 1: anything that was about an hour and 30, hour 45. Yeah,
7:59
Speaker 1: that's a little bit too far away for me. I'm
8:00
Speaker 1: going to have to let that one hit the boot.
8:03
Speaker 1: So what I did was I ended up emailing 20
8:07
Speaker 1: different schools.
8:08
Speaker 2: Here's the big kicker.
8:10
Speaker 1: I didn't ask them for a job. I didn't ask
8:12
Speaker 1: them to let me be their broadcaster. I didn't ask
8:14
Speaker 1: them for an internship. I asked if I could help
8:17
Speaker 1: with their coverage for their athletic events for the fall
8:21
Speaker 1: season because I believe I have such a strong skill
8:24
Speaker 1: set and I can provide the coverage that these athletes
8:27
Speaker 1: deserve and need. Now you might be asking me what
8:31
Speaker 1: was the response that I got.
8:33
Speaker 2: Well, it was very positive. Like I said, I emailed
8:37
Speaker 2: 20 different schools. That's a lot.
8:39
Speaker 1: Three of them were Division I, four of them were
8:41
Speaker 1: Division II, and all of the other ones, being 13
8:44
Speaker 1: other schools, were Division III.
8:47
Speaker 2: A couple of those schools were.
8:48
Speaker 1: Located in Boston, Massachusetts, some in Providence, Massachusetts. Very competitive
8:52
Speaker 1: areas in a competitive market, so I'm very happy with
8:55
Speaker 1: how it came out.
8:56
Speaker 2: I got five responses in total.
8:58
Speaker 1: Three schools said they would love to have me along
9:00
Speaker 1: and have conversations with me. The other two schools that
9:03
Speaker 1: responded gave me, well, they didn't give me bad responses.
9:07
Speaker 1: They said they already had their freelance opportunities booked up
9:10
Speaker 1: for the entire semester, but they would let me know
9:12
Speaker 1: if anything else opens up.
9:14
Speaker 2: And I'm like, dude, great. Thank you so much.
9:16
Speaker 3: Right.
9:16
Speaker 1: Like that's an amazing response. So that right there is
9:20
Speaker 1: where you need to draw the map. Find those schools,
9:23
Speaker 1: email those schools. You email the sports information director at
9:26
Speaker 1: each of those schools. asking if you can help with
9:29
Speaker 1: their broadcast, and you go from there, and, you know,
9:31
Speaker 1: for me, it has gotten me internships with Regis College,
9:34
Speaker 1: Rhode Island College, and great opportunities lined up with Roger
9:37
Speaker 1: Williams University, so I am extremely excited about what I
9:40
Speaker 1: have in store for me ahead, and you guys should
9:42
Speaker 1: follow this path, because it's already paying dividends for me,
9:45
Speaker 1: like I just emailed these schools, and quite literally, it
9:49
Speaker 1: was like two or three months ago, and I already
9:51
Speaker 1: have these opportunities, so, you know, Try and take some
9:54
Speaker 1: of my advice. Like I said earlier, I don't want
9:57
Speaker 1: to be a clown talking into a microphone. I tried
9:59
Speaker 1: to give you guys some of my background and give
10:01
Speaker 1: you some of my real world experience so I'm hoping
10:03
Speaker 1: you can take it with you we'll be bringing in
10:08
Speaker 1: a legend in the sports broadcasting industry in just a
10:11
Speaker 1: moment but before.
10:13
Speaker 2: We do that.
10:15
Speaker 1: I would like to read you guys this quote from
10:18
Speaker 1: the great Howie Rose with the New York Mets. With
10:22
Speaker 1: enough reps, there is nothing you can do that can't
10:25
Speaker 1: be done. Just think about that for a second and
10:29
Speaker 1: let it sit with you. With that, now is the
10:34
Speaker 1: time where I am going to be bringing in the
10:37
Speaker 1: first podcast interview guest here today for the Broadcasters Journey podcast.
10:42
Speaker 1: Today's guest is just about as good as any first
10:45
Speaker 1: guest I could have ever asked for. Extremely happy he
10:48
Speaker 1: could take his time to join us here today. Everybody,
10:51
Speaker 1: please welcome on in Florida Atlantic University's play-by-play voice for
10:56
Speaker 1: men's basketball and football for the last 19 seasons, Ken Lavica.
11:06
Speaker 3: Ricky, thank you for having me.
11:08
Speaker 4: Good to hang out and always love talking with people
11:12
Speaker 4: who are getting their careers off the ground.
11:13
Speaker 3: I absolutely love it. Yeah, absolutely.
11:16
Speaker 1: And, you know, this episode is all about learning how
11:18
Speaker 1: to become a professional broadcaster. So, you know, the first
11:21
Speaker 1: question I did want to ask, though, is when and
11:23
Speaker 1: how did you realize you wanted.
11:25
Speaker 2: To start a career in sports broadcasting?
11:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is going to sound exceptionally nerdy, but I
11:32
Speaker 4: think that... It was very early, and I'm a big
11:36
Speaker 4: Chicago White Sox fan, and so their broadcaster all through
11:40
Speaker 4: my childhood was a guy named Ken Hawk Harrelson, and
11:45
Speaker 4: he was the master of the catchphrase.
11:47
Speaker 3: You can put it on the board.
11:49
Speaker 4: A lazy fly ball to the outfield, can of corn,
11:54
Speaker 4: sacks packed with socks when the bases were loaded. He
11:56
Speaker 4: came up with Frank Thomas' nickname, the Big Hurt. Tim
12:00
Speaker 4: Rock Reigns, that's Ken Harrelson.
12:02
Speaker 3: So for me.
12:03
Speaker 4: That always was fun, and that's all I knew was
12:07
Speaker 4: interesting and unique broadcasters.
12:10
Speaker 3: And growing up in the Chicago area, absolutely full of them.
12:13
Speaker 4: Johnny Red Kerr, the legendary analyst for the Chicago Bulls
12:18
Speaker 4: throughout the course of the Bulls dynasty, the Jordan era.
12:23
Speaker 4: Harry Carey, obviously. And so that's what I grew up in.
12:28
Speaker 4: I would play... triple play there's no way you know
12:31
Speaker 4: what i'm talking about here triple play baseball on the
12:34
Speaker 4: old nintendo nes system and i would sit there uh
12:39
Speaker 4: or bases loaded video game you definitely don't know that
12:43
Speaker 4: you might have heard of triple play i'm aging you
12:45
Speaker 4: a big time yeah yeah i'm getting the head shake
12:47
Speaker 4: no you have no single solitary idea what i'm talking
12:50
Speaker 4: about but i would do i would do the play-by-play
12:53
Speaker 4: while playing the video games playing against the computer on
12:57
Speaker 4: nintendo so that That's when I knew, but then when
13:01
Speaker 4: I got to high school, I had a friend who
13:04
Speaker 4: was in the AV realm and also was working with the,
13:09
Speaker 4: and this is a long lost era too, the cable
13:11
Speaker 4: access station in the Chicago suburb I grew up in.
13:16
Speaker 4: And he said, hey, I want to air the high
13:19
Speaker 4: school basketball games and I need somebody to broadcast them.
13:23
Speaker 3: Are you interested? And I said, sure.
13:26
Speaker 4: So I would sit on a foldable chair and with
13:28
Speaker 4: a stick mic that was connected to this really clunky
13:34
Speaker 4: and cumbersome machine.
13:35
Speaker 3: That he would roll out in the balcony area of
13:38
Speaker 3: our gym.
13:38
Speaker 4: And I would call the games by myself, and then
13:41
Speaker 4: they'd be on cable access.
13:43
Speaker 3: And that's when I really knew.
13:44
Speaker 4: And then that's when I realized I've got to do
13:46
Speaker 4: this as a college activity.
13:51
Speaker 1: That's a great story, and it's very funny, because that's
13:53
Speaker 1: actually how I started off doing my broadcasting too, was
13:56
Speaker 1: just calling games like NBA 2K and Madden, obviously not
13:59
Speaker 1: the same games you were playing.
14:01
Speaker 2: It's the exact same thing.
14:03
Speaker 5: I played Madden too, I'm not that old, but yeah,
14:06
Speaker 5: we're going back to like the border Atari Nintendo days
14:09
Speaker 5: with me, so yeah, I've got you by about two
14:12
Speaker 5: generations here.
14:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, so I would like to ask, what was
14:17
Speaker 1: your first ever broadcast, if you remember it? Could you
14:20
Speaker 1: walk me through that moment?
14:21
Speaker 2: What was going through your gut feeling?
14:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, my first ever.
14:26
Speaker 4: Okay, so there's two different first broadcasts, if you will,
14:35
Speaker 4: and I think this is going to speak to a
14:36
Speaker 4: bigger point as we continue to talk about saying yes
14:40
Speaker 4: or spanning outside of your comfort zone.
14:43
Speaker 3: So my first ever broadcast was as an analyst.
14:47
Speaker 4: For a radio volleyball broadcast at Valparaiso University. So I
14:56
Speaker 4: played volleyball in high school. I was an honorable mention
14:59
Speaker 4: all-state player. And so I love the sport.
15:02
Speaker 3: Very unique.
15:03
Speaker 4: In the state of Illinois, boys' high school volleyball is very,
15:06
Speaker 4: very big.
15:06
Speaker 3: And it has grown exponentially.
15:08
Speaker 4: There have been a number of Olympic players that have
15:11
Speaker 4: come out of Illinois.
15:13
Speaker 3: And so I.
15:15
Speaker 4: I know the game, and I'm knowledgeable about it, and
15:18
Speaker 4: I was looking for any way to get an in
15:22
Speaker 4: with WVUR, the student radio station of Valparaiso University.
15:27
Speaker 3: And so the first week.
15:29
Speaker 4: That I was there and was trying to ingrain myself
15:33
Speaker 4: into what they were doing. There was an opportunity to
15:37
Speaker 4: be the analyst with the longtime student play-by-play broadcaster.
15:43
Speaker 3: And nobody knew the game or really... Like an analyst.
15:49
Speaker 3: I mean, man, we're just getting into this.
15:52
Speaker 4: And all of the other broadcasters that had come in
15:55
Speaker 4: with me, all great, great, great eventual broadcasters, a good
16:00
Speaker 4: majority of them, they had no idea what they were
16:03
Speaker 4: getting themselves into. They didn't know volleyball. There was a
16:06
Speaker 4: little bit of hesitancy. There's upperclassmen that are being offered
16:09
Speaker 4: this as well.
16:11
Speaker 3: And so I said... I'll do it. That's fine.
16:15
Speaker 4: And so I talked with the general manager of the
16:18
Speaker 4: student radio station, talked with the play-by-play broadcaster, and they
16:21
Speaker 4: were hesitant to let a true freshman and someone who
16:26
Speaker 4: had been there a.
16:27
Speaker 3: Week slide in there.
16:29
Speaker 4: But I did a mock broadcast with the play-by-play broadcaster.
16:33
Speaker 3: He was good enough to take the time to do that.
16:36
Speaker 3: And then they said, all right, well, give it a shot.
16:38
Speaker 4: And that was my first ever broadcast was as an
16:42
Speaker 4: analyst doing collegiate women's volleyball at Valparaiso University. My first
16:48
Speaker 4: ever play-by-play broadcast was once women's basketball season rolled around.
16:54
Speaker 4: So because I volunteered and excelled as the analyst there,
17:00
Speaker 4: For volleyball, I was given an opportunity for when women's
17:06
Speaker 4: basketball season rolled around to get play-by-play for a game
17:10
Speaker 4: that they were playing.
17:11
Speaker 3: Against an NAIA opponent.
17:12
Speaker 4: It was not like it was Notre Dame coming in,
17:16
Speaker 4: like would happen most seasons, or Butler was coming in.
17:21
Speaker 4: So it was like the PAW, I believe, something like that,
17:24
Speaker 4: NAIA or D2. But, man, I took... You would have
17:29
Speaker 4: thought that I was calling all seven games of the
17:31
Speaker 4: NBA finals. I spent the entire week just... Just 15
17:37
Speaker 4: to 20 different points of information. Anything I could scrounge
17:41
Speaker 4: up on any of these players. Keep in mind, it's
17:43
Speaker 4: a Division II school they're playing. So I'm like digging deep.
17:46
Speaker 4: And this is before like full-fledged Google was truly a
17:50
Speaker 4: thing that you leaned on. But, man, I took it seriously.
17:54
Speaker 4: And the butterflies and my voice was cracking as we
17:58
Speaker 4: started the pregame show. And it's shaky and it's nervous.
18:01
Speaker 4: And it went fine. But that's where I started afterwards. Realizing, hey,
18:08
Speaker 4: I need to listen back and I need to learn
18:10
Speaker 4: from this. I wasn't happy with this. This doesn't sound
18:13
Speaker 4: like Neil Funk, the longtime Bulls radio play-by-play broadcaster.
18:19
Speaker 3: So it was.
18:20
Speaker 4: Definitely learning experience. It was definitely baby steps. But that's
18:23
Speaker 4: why there's two prongs to what you ask. First broadcast
18:27
Speaker 4: one was me just having the guts to say yes
18:30
Speaker 4: to something that was out of comfort zone. And the
18:33
Speaker 4: other came born out of the opportunity because I said yes.
18:38
Speaker 4: But eventually I became the voice of both. of those
18:42
Speaker 4: programs later on in my college career. And that's sort
18:45
Speaker 4: of the evolution of how I've long windy road gotten.
18:49
Speaker 3: To this point.
18:51
Speaker 1: That's an incredible story, Ken. And I mean, you bring
18:53
Speaker 1: up a really huge point that I want to go
18:54
Speaker 1: back to is just saying yes to every moment you
18:57
Speaker 1: get any opportunity someone brings to you. How important truly
19:00
Speaker 1: is that though?
19:02
Speaker 4: It's everything that, so there are two things that I
19:06
Speaker 4: will say. And, uh, I guess the second part of
19:12
Speaker 4: this doesn't apply as much, I don't think, to play-by-plays
19:15
Speaker 4: as it does to a traditional radio job. But the
19:20
Speaker 4: first thing is to say yes. Even if you're not comfortable,
19:23
Speaker 4: say yes to it. Hey, we need you to be
19:26
Speaker 4: an update anchor. Oh, God, I've never done anything like that.
19:30
Speaker 4: I've never written a script. I've never tried to hit time,
19:34
Speaker 4: hit an out cue.
19:36
Speaker 3: How do I do that? Say yes and figure it out.
19:39
Speaker 4: And the best way you're going to learn, just like
19:41
Speaker 4: when you're an infant turned toddler and you're looking to walk,
19:45
Speaker 4: the best way that you, Ricky, don't remember it, I
19:49
Speaker 4: did it. don't remember it, is falling flat on your
19:52
Speaker 4: face and then you get up.
19:54
Speaker 3: And you do it again. That's the same.
19:56
Speaker 4: Thing with broadcasting. Say yes to everything, period. You put
20:02
Speaker 4: your pride aside. You shouldn't have an ego at the
20:06
Speaker 4: point where you're saying yes to everything, but if you do...
20:09
Speaker 4: you need to have a deep, deep inner thought with yourself.
20:14
Speaker 4: What am I doing? Is this actually for me? You
20:17
Speaker 4: say yes to everything. Could be analyst, could be play-by-play,
20:19
Speaker 4: could be update anchor, could be producing, nothing to do
20:23
Speaker 4: with the mic. It could be preparation, writing a script
20:28
Speaker 4: for someone else, writing copy. You say yes to everything
20:32
Speaker 4: and you stop thinking that you're owed anything. And then
20:35
Speaker 4: the second part of that is you need to know
20:38
Speaker 4: how to write, period. And so again, maybe it doesn't
20:43
Speaker 4: necessarily apply as greatly if you're doing live sports, but
20:50
Speaker 4: if you're doing anything in a studio, If you're doing
20:52
Speaker 4: anything behind the desk, you have to know how to write.
20:57
Speaker 4: If you don't have the basics of that, you're in
21:00
Speaker 4: serious trouble because copywriting and script writing, if you think
21:04
Speaker 4: you're going to go into local broadcasting, if you think
21:08
Speaker 4: you're going to get into regional broadcasting, if you think
21:11
Speaker 4: certainly you're going to get into national radio, national broadcasting
21:15
Speaker 4: without any capability of writing, you are sorely, sorely mistaken.
21:19
Speaker 4: So those are the two main points that I think
21:22
Speaker 4: really need to be addressed as you're coming into the industry.
21:26
Speaker 3: Awesome.
21:27
Speaker 1: And now this is a question for somebody who maybe
21:30
Speaker 1: is still looking to gain that experience, doesn't have so much.
21:34
Speaker 2: For like a college broadcaster.
21:36
Speaker 1: What would you recommend the best way to just go
21:38
Speaker 1: out there and get as many reps as possible?
21:42
Speaker 3: So if you're in.
21:45
Speaker 4: If you're in a college setting and there is a
21:48
Speaker 4: student radio station and there is an outlet to be
21:50
Speaker 4: able to do all these things, you need to be visible.
21:54
Speaker 3: You need to be present.
21:56
Speaker 4: And I'm not saying nag, nag, nag, nag, nag, and
21:59
Speaker 4: never leave the decision maker alone. But you have got
22:03
Speaker 4: to show face and you have got to convey interest
22:06
Speaker 4: and you have got to instill confidence in that person
22:09
Speaker 4: that you should be getting the reps.
22:12
Speaker 3: Now, sometimes.
22:13
Speaker 4: In the collegiate setting, it's much more informal and it's
22:16
Speaker 4: not nearly as organized as I was fortunate to experience
22:22
Speaker 4: at Valparaiso.
22:24
Speaker 3: In that spot, you've got.
22:28
Speaker 4: To take some of the, actually maybe all of the
22:31
Speaker 4: responsibility and sort of do it yourself. And that is
22:36
Speaker 4: reaching out to sports information directors and saying, hey, Could
22:40
Speaker 4: I have a place in the press box and you
22:44
Speaker 4: just record into your phone? Or you record into just
22:48
Speaker 4: a rudimentary piece of equipment that you already own?
22:51
Speaker 3: Or you're borrowing?
22:53
Speaker 4: Sometimes you don't even get that, especially a school the
22:55
Speaker 4: size of yours, Ricky. I mean, you might have to,
22:58
Speaker 4: and I've done this before, sit in the upper corner
23:00
Speaker 4: of the bleachers and call a game and have notes
23:03
Speaker 4: spread out in front of you. But you, you, no
23:05
Speaker 4: matter what, You have to take it upon yourself. There
23:09
Speaker 4: is not at the college level, there is not a
23:11
Speaker 4: single decision maker, whether it be a student decision maker,
23:14
Speaker 4: whether it be an advisor, whether it be a faculty
23:16
Speaker 4: decision maker with any department, any school, any class. class
23:23
Speaker 4: that's just going to hand you anything. And the same
23:26
Speaker 4: thing is going to happen when you get into the
23:29
Speaker 4: actual career part of your journey. You have got to
23:34
Speaker 4: take it upon yourself. Let me just tell you a
23:36
Speaker 4: quick story. And this is not about me. This is
23:39
Speaker 4: about Adam Amin, who is the number two baseball broadcaster
23:44
Speaker 4: on Fox.
23:45
Speaker 3: He is the television voice of the Chicago Bulls.
23:50
Speaker 4: And he also is the number three NFL voice on Fox.
23:55
Speaker 4: He is one of my best friends. I grew up
23:59
Speaker 4: in the same town as him. He is a year
24:02
Speaker 4: younger than me. He went to, and he's talked about
24:06
Speaker 4: this on a lot of different podcasts he's been on,
24:09
Speaker 4: he went to Valparaiso because I pushed him.
24:12
Speaker 3: To Valparaiso.
24:13
Speaker 4: His first ever broadcast at Valparaiso was with me doing
24:17
Speaker 4: a baseball broadcast. And so I take a lot of
24:20
Speaker 4: pride in what he's been able to accomplish in his
24:23
Speaker 4: career and the heights that he's been able to achieve.
24:26
Speaker 3: And he's not even close to where he's eventually going
24:28
Speaker 3: to be. But he would. He got out of college,
24:33
Speaker 3: and he was doing some minor league baseball.
24:37
Speaker 4: He did some stuff, Illinois high school television for state championships,
24:42
Speaker 4: things along those lines. He also played volleyball like myself, again,
24:47
Speaker 4: a year younger than me. So he was able to
24:49
Speaker 4: kind of follow my path into the– into the Valpo
24:55
Speaker 4: College broadcasting realm through the volleyball program. So his first
24:59
Speaker 4: play-by-play broadcast then came when it was time to get
25:01
Speaker 4: to baseball season. But he would reach out to the
25:09
Speaker 4: White Sox.
25:09
Speaker 3: He would reach out to the Bulls. He would reach
25:12
Speaker 3: out to.
25:13
Speaker 4: Minor league teams and say, hey, I don't need anything
25:17
Speaker 4: other than a seat.
25:18
Speaker 3: Can I get a seat here?
25:21
Speaker 4: And he would record his broadcast and he would do
25:24
Speaker 4: it into a recorder. He emailed, he reached out to
25:29
Speaker 4: all of the major broadcast players in the Chicago area.
25:32
Speaker 4: That then spanned him reaching out to the Iron Eagles
25:36
Speaker 4: of the world and some of the more nationally prominent
25:38
Speaker 4: broadcasters and developing relationships and shaking hands and meeting agents
25:43
Speaker 4: and meeting the decision makers at different networks. That is
25:48
Speaker 4: case in point what I'm talking about. You've got to
25:50
Speaker 4: create your own path. And sometimes it won't work out.
25:54
Speaker 4: Sometimes you get a little luck and sometimes you're a
25:57
Speaker 4: little unlucky, but you've got to position yourself. And so
26:00
Speaker 4: that right there, that's my best advice is that sometimes
26:04
Speaker 4: you have just got to say, I am going to
26:07
Speaker 4: try and impose my will here and don't be rude
26:09
Speaker 4: about it. Don't be a jerk about it because you
26:11
Speaker 4: want to cultivate the relationship. You don't want to be overwhelming,
26:15
Speaker 4: but you need to understand that this is you and
26:17
Speaker 4: nobody else. It is you incorporated, and this is a
26:21
Speaker 4: lot of times not a partnership, not a conglomerate.
26:24
Speaker 1: One last question I did want to ask really quick
26:26
Speaker 1: before we close things up for the interview is if
26:28
Speaker 1: you were advising a college student here today and you
26:32
Speaker 1: had to give them just one piece of advice just
26:34
Speaker 1: that could stick with them for their entire broadcasting career,
26:36
Speaker 1: what would it be?
26:40
Speaker 3: You have got to check your ego.
26:45
Speaker 4: If you're going to be arrogant, if you're going to
26:47
Speaker 4: have an ego when you're walking into college to try
26:50
Speaker 4: and start a career as a broadcaster. You are already
26:55
Speaker 4: putting a wall up between you and what you're going
26:58
Speaker 4: to be able to do once you leave college.
27:00
Speaker 3: You're not getting enough out of it.
27:02
Speaker 4: And you're going to be you're going to lack the
27:05
Speaker 4: ability to be employed because you're not going to know
27:08
Speaker 4: all the things you must know in the modern world
27:11
Speaker 4: of broadcasting.
27:12
Speaker 3: So shut up. Say yes.
27:15
Speaker 4: Be able to write. and do it and learn and
27:18
Speaker 4: become wildly versatile. You have to be versatile, have to be,
27:22
Speaker 4: and you can't have the ego.
27:24
Speaker 3: For sure.
27:25
Speaker 1: Well, Ken, that is going to do it for all
27:27
Speaker 1: of our time here for our interview part today. I
27:29
Speaker 1: really appreciate you taking your time to join us here today.
27:32
Speaker 1: You bring a lot of valuable experience in the industry
27:34
Speaker 1: that I'm sure many people are going to love to hear.
27:36
Speaker 1: Couldn't thank you enough for being here today.
27:39
Speaker 3: Ricky, thanks, brother.
27:40
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Ken.
27:41
Speaker 2: And I hope you have a great rest of your
27:42
Speaker 2: day today.
27:43
Speaker 4: All right, man.
27:45
Speaker 3: Appreciate you.
27:45
Speaker 1: Thank you, Ken.
27:47
Speaker 2: Man, isn't he great? We could not have asked for
27:51
Speaker 2: a better first podcast guest. I mean, a true professional.
27:56
Speaker 1: A living legend, someone doing the.
28:00
Speaker 2: Dream that we all want to do.
28:03
Speaker 1: I mean, he's called the final four for Florida Atlantic
28:06
Speaker 1: when they got there in 2022, 2023.
28:09
Speaker 2: It's just incredible.
28:10
Speaker 1: Could not have asked for a better guest to start
28:13
Speaker 1: off this podcast with for the broadcaster's journey. Extremely happy
28:17
Speaker 1: he was on. I learned a ton. I'm sure hoping
28:20
Speaker 1: you guys did as well. That was certainly well worth
28:23
Speaker 1: my time, and I'm certainly hoping it was well worth
28:26
Speaker 1: yours to stick around through this entire podcast. Once again,
28:29
Speaker 1: if you did not remember from what I said at
28:32
Speaker 1: the beginning, this is going to be going on for
28:34
Speaker 1: the entire fall semester. So we have three podcasts in total,
28:39
Speaker 1: this being one of three. The first interview guest, of course,
28:43
Speaker 1: is Ken Lavica of Florida Atlantic University. But I am
28:46
Speaker 1: not going to be spoiling my other two interview guests
28:49
Speaker 1: until those interviews are on the show. But keep in mind,
28:54
Speaker 1: I will be telling you about one of them really
28:56
Speaker 1: quickly because he has a lot different career journey than
29:00
Speaker 1: most people would have thought. You know, he did not
29:02
Speaker 1: go to college for broadcasting. He started off late in
29:05
Speaker 1: high school, calling high school games. So it's definitely a
29:07
Speaker 1: different career path than most people, especially Ken's. And so
29:11
Speaker 1: it's going to be interesting to hear from him and
29:13
Speaker 1: learn about his experience because he definitely has a lot
29:15
Speaker 1: of valuable experience to bring to the table as well.
29:19
Speaker 1: Maybe in the next podcast, you'll learn a little bit
29:21
Speaker 1: about my third interview guest. But for now, we're going
29:23
Speaker 1: to keep that one a secret. That right there was
29:26
Speaker 1: Ken Lavica of Florida Atlantic, the radio voice for the
29:30
Speaker 1: Owls for the last 19 years. I'm Ricky Suzari. Thank
29:35
Speaker 1: you so much for tuning in to the Broadcasters Journey podcast,
29:38
Speaker 1: episode one, because a professional stay tuned for next time
29:43
Speaker 1: as we'll be back for episode two where the theme
29:45
Speaker 1: it is never too late to start broadcasting