Tips for Aspiring Broadcasters- Vol. 1

In teaching mass communications, particularly sports broadcasting, I spent a lot of time on the basics with young people who wanted to become the next Bob Costas, Joe Buck or Doc Emrick. I've decided to share some of those basics here. A lot of this may seem very rudimentary; and it is. But, unless one conquers the basics, one can't move on to being one of the big-name guys.

Tip 1- Do Your Homework

When doing a quality sports broadcast, preparation is the key element. And knowing the players, coaches, and anyone else whose name may come up during the broadcast, requires a lot of research and homework. At the highest levels of broadcasting, much of this work is done for you; especially stats and background information on the players. But if you don't get the pronunciation right on every last one of the people playing, coaching, managing, supervising, umpiring, officiating etc., you are doing them, their families who care about them, and everybody watching or listening a disservice. What is the most personal and prideful thing anyone has? Of course, it's their name. Get it right. You're expected by everyone listening or watching to do so. How can you be sure? By speaking directly to that person, or someone who knows that person, in most cases. Sometimes it's fairly easy, others not so much. But it must be done. If you get a name wrong, not only are you doing a disservice, you are also giving yourself the chance to be thought of as uninformed or not qualified to call the game. The fastest way to sounding unprofessional is by blowing someone's name.

Many of my former students thought all you had to do was show up a half-hour before the game, set up the equipment, grab a program, and describe what you see into the microphone. Well, of course, that fills up the air with some sort of description of the event, but not a professional one. Sports listeners and viewers know what is professional quality. And it's a lot more than that.

At the lowest levels of broadcasting...which usually is local or internet radio of high school and college sports, the legwork on everything...stats, pronunciations, game charts, scorebooks, equipment set-up, making sure all the technical problems that may come up are solved ahead of time...all of these things fall on the primary broadcaster doing the game. There is usually no glamour involved in preparation...but it's absolutely necessary in order to do a credible job.

One day at KMOX, I was talking about sportscasting with Jack Buck. (Yeah, I was lucky enough to do that.) At the time I was attempting to pursue play-by-play as the focus of my career and had already done several years of high school and college football, basketball and baseball. Mr. Buck said something I will never forget--"Tom, if you can do a professional job at the high school and college level, there's no reason you can't do one at the highest level too." And, of course, he was right. With all of the responsibility and extra effort involved in producing a quality broadcast in local radio, collegiate radio or TV, or low-level minor league sports, if the broadcaster can do it well, he/she will have a much easier time of it going up the ladder. The key there is maintaining the work ethic as one does so.


An example of that work ethic in practice would be Aaron Goldsmith (another Jack Buck disciple). Aaron was an intern broadcaster with the Gateway Grizzlies in 2007. It was evident from the first time I met him that Aaron knew that it took a lot of nose-to-the-grindstone effort to get where he wanted to go. He always sought information from me, Grizzlies lead broadcaster Joe Pott, and the other people around him who had been in the business longer than him. He also put in much extra time getting his game notes together, getting stories about the players, making sure he had extra icing on the cake. After his year with the Grizzlies, Aaron shot up the ranks in baseball broadcasting. In 2013 he was hired as one of the radio voices of the Seattle Mariners where he still works today. Aaron got that it wouldn't be a walk in the park. It took work and, or course his talent too, to get to the major leagues. The glamour and money of calling games on the regional or national level is certainly great. But it takes a lot of serious homework invested into the game broadcasts to get there.

If you're not willing to do the requisite homework, legwork, whatever you want to call it, don't bother to try broadcasting sports for a career...unless you're a former professional athlete. They get a pass.