Life is full of many journeys filled with twists and turns that could take you anywhere. For senior Brad Brown, life has taken him from putting on the headset for WMCX sports to sitting in a booth a few feet away from ESPN analyst and radio host Stephen A. Smith. Brad’s dream is to one day be a professional sports broadcaster. Thanks to hard work and a drive to succeed, Mr. Brown is well on his way.
Brad is currently interning at the radio station ESPN New York 98.7 FM, located directly above Madison Square Garden at Penn Plaza in New York City. Every Monday and Wednesday, Brad takes a two-hour NJ Transit train into the city to work.
Brad has two different jobs as an intern for ESPN New York 98.7 FM. On Mondays he works in programming and on Wednesdays in promotions.
A typical day in programming consists of arriving around 11:00 am, completing prep work, helping with the rundown of topics, and making sure each host is aware of the topics. Once the shows begin, he tracks all of the topics discussed on the shows by entering them into a Microsoft Excel sheet, so they can figure out which topics draw the most listeners. He does this for the Mike Lupica Show, Stephen A. Smith & Ryan Ruocco Show, the Michael Kay Show and Dave Rothenberg’s show.
“Other jobs include using adobe audition to cut up interviews with Steve Young and Coach Woodson for the Knicks,” said Brown. “I did a Dwight Howard one which I rolled footage off ESPN Sportscenter, so they can put it in the system and use it on the air.”
In addition to those tasks, Brad must also be prepared to do other jobs as they pop up. “If they need me to cut up audio I’ll cut up audio, if they need me to run paper inside to them during the show I’ll do that,” said Brown. He added that sometimes the occasional lunch run for host Stephen A. Smith, could come in a day’s work at ESPN Radio.
Promotions is what Brad is most familiar with, as it is what he did all summer at his internship with WPLJ. He is expected to help prepare guest lists for events the station is sponsoring like Clyde Frazier’s Wine and Dine and to go to promotional events at sports bars in the area. Brad said he hasn’t officially been to an ESPN Radio sponsored event yet, but he did finally receive the ESPN polo so he believes it is only a matter of time.
His favorite moment of the internship so far came on the Monday following the Super Bowl. He was sitting in the studio listening in on the Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco show when they were discussing the commercials from the Super bowl. Stephen A. Smith brought up the Go Daddy commercial with Bar Refaeli and the “nerd looking dude”. “It [The conversation] was absolutely hysterical and I couldn’t stop laughing along with everyone in studio. It was probably the funniest and best moment at ESPN radio so far and I’m sure there’s more to come,” Brown laughed.
Sports have been a love of Brad’s since he was just six years old when his father took him to a Miami Dolphins vs. New York Jets game. He fell in love with football from that day forward and wound up not choosing a local team to root for, but instead chose to root for the Denver Broncos because of his love for the colors, logo, and the starting quarterback at the time. “At that age I decided to be a rebellious kid and wanted to go to the next best QB who could compete with Dan Marino and I ended up picking John Elway and the Denver Broncos,” said Brown with a grin.
Brad’s ultimate dream is to one day have the privilege of covering professional football and he hopes it will be for his beloved Denver Broncos. “I think the ultimate goal is football because I love it so much, but I would love to be a play-by-play broadcaster for any sport and be able to bounce around and do as much as I can,” said Brown. “The ultimate dream is to be the play-by-play announcer of the Denver Broncos on 850 KOA.”
Brown was able to land the internship thanks to his hard work at WPLJ over the summer and because of the resume Brad has built here at MU.
For students seeking internship opportunities, Brad recommends getting involved in on-campus organizations. “Get involved with anything you can freshman year because there really isn’t enough time,” said Brown. “Whether it’s getting involved with WMCX, Hawk TV, or here at The Outlook, whatever you need to do, whatever you want to do, whatever you think you want to do just go after it as soon as you can because that will propel you to be that much better when you get out of college.”
PHOTO COURTESY of Bradley Brown
