I have always been a writer. For as long as I can remember, I have loved the entire process. The pen hitting the paper, my fingers hitting the keyboard; it doesn’t matter. Coming in to college, I had two interests: writing and sports. I wanted to be like Mike Wise or Michael Wilbon (minus the television part of his career).
While I understand that the entire landscape of journalism is changing, and simply being a writer would be nearly impossible in this day and age, it becomes a null point because I have found a new passion: the radio. By volunteering and being a part of WMUC Sports, I now see myself going in that direction. Honestly, I chose to volunteer there because I love sports and it was the most direct means to be involved with something related to sports. Little did I know that by mid-November, I would now see myself speaking for a living. But, being on the radio does not simply involve talking, which, to me, is the beauty of it. Being on the radio takes preparation and by that I mean writing, which is the best of both worlds.
Along with volunteering to produce games for WMUC Sports, I also co-host my own sports talk show, and both have shown me that I can utilize my journalism skills while still talking to consumers of information instead of writing to satisfy their need. When I produce games for WMUC Sports, I can tell that the broadcasters have prepared many things to discuss during the games. The play-by-play person has to have the gift of painting a picture with words, and this comes from being an effective communicator. Only a journalism degree can effectively teach this to someone. The color commentator needs to be someone who has thoughtful insight. Some of this is hand-written before hand while some is impromptu. Either way, being familiar with your craft and executing your ideas with words is something that listeners often take for granted. I can already tell that it is an acquired skill that takes time to perfect. The better one writes and scripts prior to the broadcast, the smoother and more insightful it will be.
My talk show also teaches me some of these same lessons. My co-hosts and I sit down each Monday night and loosely write the script for the show on the following Tuesday (at three o’clock if you want to listen!). This way, we have an outline for what we will be discussing, but at the same time, we can be creative during the broadcast. This leads to intuitive conversations about sports.
As I said before, my main interests going in to my first semester of college consisted of writing and sports. Now that I am headed into my second semester, radio can be added to this list. Journalism is the only field that can satisfy all of my interests, and that is why I find journalism so very fascinating. I know how to talk in a microphone and run a soundboard, which is acceptable for now, but I am eager to learn even more about different positions within the radio station, whether that station is WMUC Sports or somewhere else. It is an exciting feeling, knowing that I am this enthusiastic about a field, and I want to continue to learn and be a part of it for the rest of my life.
I thought it was impressive that I was my high school newspaper’s Sports Editor my senior year, but now I know that holding in that position was me simply dipping my toes into the ocean that is the field of journalism. I have moved on from that phase, to hopefully bigger and better things.
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