How to Have Cover the Sport You Love as a Sports Reporter

Video Transcript

"I'm Jamal Spencer for Expert Village here at ABC 3, here in Lansing and we're going to talk about how to be a successful sports broadcaster. This clip is about getting into the sports that you want to get into. At a lot of jobs, at TV stations, they'll ask you, what's your favorite sport. Give an honest answer; if you're lucky enough, that's what they'll have you cover. Some sports, some stations want to cover something that you're not comfortable with. That may happen, so be prepared for that too. But on a lot of stations, even at ESPN, you'll notice that they'll have this person doing football, this person covers basketball, this person covers hockey, because that's what they know the best. That's what they're comfortable talking about, and if you really want to be in this business, and you tell someone, hey, I know everything there is to know about the NBA, or the NHL, or NASCAR. Then they'll go, you know what, you'll be our NASCAR guy, go cover that race in Charlotte. So, you really, really, really want to try to get into the sport that you love the best, because it should be natural for you. If you know everything about the NFL, then you should be able to tell the team, you know, tell your boss, who won Super Bowl Seventeen? You should be able to tell them, hey, if you know everything about NASCAR, who runs in the seventeen car? If you know everything about the NBA, how many points per game does Colby Bryan average? These things might not come natural to some people, who say they know everything about it. But, you know, you get my point. You should want to talk about what you know the best. That should make you more comfortable in a camera that should make you more comfortable at the things that you're covering. If you know everything about one event, you should be able to talk about that event. You should be able to talk about Super Bowls, World Championships, fans, attendance, ownership. You really want to try to get into the sport that you know the best, because it will only benefit you, it will benefit your station, because you're putting on better air, so, it benefits everyone. Because it will only benefit you more when everyone enjoys your work, you're pumping out better stuff, because you're more knowledgeable of it. It all comes down to being comfortable with what you're covering. And, sometimes, like I said being comfortable covering something that you don't really know that well, but that comes with time, comes with repetition. So, when you go to interview for a job, you tell your boss I love sports. The sport that I know the best, my specialty sport, the sport I'm most comfortable talking about is this. More likely than not, that's where they'll set you up at. So try to get into that spot where you're comfortable and you're lucky enough to land that position, being the reporter in the sport that you love the most."