Learning in the shadow of radio pros

DVE-News/TV reporters were invited to shadow radio station Lite 106.9 radio broadcasters, Jake Graziano and Craig Brown through their interview process at DV’s home football game on October 28. They watched how Graziano interviewed Coach Keith Olsommer and DV Seniors Paulie Weinrich and Justin Hernandez.

When the DVE team asked if Mr. Graziano went through college to be in radio broadcasting, he said he went through four years of college. His inspiration to become a radio broadcaster began when he was younger, listening to baseball games. He thought it was a cool job. Mr. Graziano and Mr. Brown both enjoy interviewing Coach Keith Olsommer as he is honest and straight to the point. They like that he tells it like it is.

Mr. Brown used to play college ball, then coached football, but as he got older, he still wanted to be involved in sports, so he decided to become a radio broadcaster. Neither broadcaster was a newspaper journalist or a tv journalist previously. Mr. Graziano has been a radio broadcaster for four years and Mr. Brown for 13 to 14 years. Mr. Graziano only reports on football games, and Mr. Brown reports on baseball and football games. When asked if calling plays during football games is difficult, Mr. Graziano said that it takes a lot of practice to keep up with calling the plays during football. It takes a while to be comfortable.

Mr. Graziano said that the most exciting broadcast for him was last year when DV’s Warrior, Ryder Machado ran for a touchdown as the game was tied. Both were excellent teams and Ryder intercepted the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. When asked what makes them want to go to work every day, Mr. Graziano said he loves the game of football and loves his work. He finds that going to work is fun. He used to get nervous before games, but now he’s fine with it. It just takes time and practice to get over the nervous part. Mr. Graziano prefers baseball over football. Mr. Brown prefers watching football on tv, but really prefers to watch hockey in person.

On Monday morning when the DVE-News/TV reporters were asked about the difference between their DVE-TV morning show and radio broadcasting, they said that, instead of having cameras, Mr. Graziano spoke directly into his cell phone for the pregame interviews. A few reporters said they would be interested in possibly pursuing radio broadcasting in the future but would prefer to broadcast for different sports.

Thanks go to Kevin Halpenny, Jake Graziano, and Craig Brown from the DVE news team.

Story contributed by DVE-News/TV reporters Kendall Eckert, Eleanor Bellomo, Taylor Babb, Jackson Fells, Joanne Cabrera Agostini and Mackenzie Roselli