Do you ever wonder about the person whose voice radiates from the television or radio while following your sport of choice? Those dulcet tones invigorating your pride when your team scores? Broadcasting involves a complex level of nuance, from the moment the broadcaster sets foot in the stadium to the second the mic goes hot. The most famous professionals are recognized for their exceptional wit, vivid imagery, and impeccable comedic timing. Examples of the best include Bob Uecker, Vin Scully, Kevin Harlan, John Madden, and Joe Buck. What do they all have in common? They lived for storytelling. What else? They all went to high school.
Getting started as a broadcaster isn’t easy work. First, you have to learn the skills of the trade, both as an improviser and a storyteller. This process is challenging, as you must know how to react when a specific event occurs on the field. Journalists specializing in this field sometimes go through acting classes for this reason. Then, you must pick whether you want to specialize in television or radio, and this decision is crucial, as television focuses less on describing what you see and more on implementing casual conversation into your broadcast. Radio, on the other hand, needs storytelling and complex imagery skills. Sometimes, with less professional broadcasting, the broadcaster does both simultaneously.
“We’ve [DVC has] been doing it as a quote-unquote simulcast for a very long time … It changes what school you work for,” said Max Agress, a professional broadcaster in the Bay Area. “When I’m working for division one schools like Stanford or Santa Clara, then obviously it’s more TV. But some of these smaller schools, like San Jose State or DVC, you’re on a lot of broadcasts yourself. You don’t have an analyst with you, so it’s a blend of play-by-play and color commentary.”
Agress has worked for DVC, Stanford, and San Jose State, and he has worked with alumni from Monte Vista. DVC, the closest college to Monte Vista, offers a broadcast journalism program for students interested in pursuing a career in journalism.
“It kind of depends on the experience level of the analyst you’re working with, [as] I work with a lot of first-time analysts [who] are just kind of discovering it. So I try to use it as a teaching moment, so I can walk them through, have them understand what exactly you’re looking for, what you’re supposed to do, and kind of just let them trust their gut on the situation of what they want to provide and understand.” Agress said.
On the field before a game, the broadcaster will typically ask the coach for information on their players, which they can use to capture interest during downtime in the game.
“I would say something like where I grew up, [that] I like to make beats, and I like to listen to music,” said senior varsity football player Jai Patel. “I like stocks, and I definitely like auto shop, you know, like working on cars and stuff.”
In professional sports, players sometimes converse with broadcasters on live television, and these conversations reveal a personalized side to the athlete, giving those on the other side of the waves the impression that they are more than just figures on a television screen. Broadcasting as a whole is an interesting career that employs various tools to show the listener what is going on in the game, while providing a social intersection between athletes and fans. They become renowned because of their skills in the broadcast room. They are there to accompany the fan through their journey, be it on the gridiron, the diamond, the court, or the field
