March 21, 2023 • 50 mins
Wonder what it's like to cover one the NFL's premiere teams? RCBC alumni Connor Hughes (SNY) and Dave Zangaro (NBC Sports Philadelphia) share their stories of climbing the sports journalism ranks leading them to their dream jobs of NFL reporting and provide advice for the next wave of aspiring sports reporters.
We're also joined by Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (RCBC Entertainment Technologies Program Chair and Assistant Professor) who explains how to build a solid foundation in the knowledge and skills needed for entry into the entertainment field with a focus on video and digital media production through the Entertainment Technologies program at RCBC.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jason Varga (00:01):
Welcome to the program pod a national award
winning program on the rcbcPodcast Network which takes a
deep dive into the programsoffered at rcbc through
different perspectives ofstudents, faculty and employers.
Hello, and welcome to theprogram pod, a now national
award winning program. We'llfind out if it's actually the
(00:22):
number one program but still tobe here, back on the air feels
good here on our CBC PodcastNetwork where we take our CBC
program and do a deep dive fromdifferent perspectives within
the program. And today, today'sepisode first of all, I'm your
host, Jay Varga. It's been awhile so I gotta get myself some
muscle memory getting yourselfback into the groove here, but
on today's episode, we'rechecking in with my direct
wheelhouse EntertainmentTechnology. And joining me today
(00:45):
we have a pair of rcbc alum, myformer radio crew, my friends
that formed over at thePemberton campus here at
former's 89 radio station nowboth thriving in the NFL as
reporters for sny in New Yorkwith Connor Hughes, covering the
New York Jets in the New YorkGiants and NBC Sports
Philadelphia, Dave Zangaro,covering our NFC champion,
Philadelphia Eagles, by the way,proud to have you guys on the
(01:08):
show. Gentlemen, thanks forcoming on the show here. No
problem. Thanks for having me,man. I'm
Unknown (01:12):
pumped. I'm excited. Yeah, this
should be fun. Yeah,
Jason Varga (01:15):
it's like old times here. And also welcoming into
the show joining my other fellowcolleague, Dr. Brooke Mailhiot,
entertainment Technologiesprogram chair and assistant
professor, co chair for the rcbcs dei women's subcommittee and
host of the Baroness podcastsand a whole list of other things
outside the organization. Whatis it that you don't do?
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (01:35):
Not much? I think I do pretty much a lot.
Yes. Thanks for having me, Jay.
Jason Varga (01:39):
Yeah, you're welcome. And it's again, finally
Nice to have you on my showhere. I know, I'm not asking the
questions. It's very exciting.Yeah, you're doing your show.
And it was the engineeringbehind it. But now again,
flipping the script andsomething I said that, you know,
I used to be definitely fully apart of when I was teaching
radio production, but we'll getto that in a second as rcbc does
embrace a student firstphilosophy. So let's start right
(01:59):
here with Connor and David. Infact, this was a show I tried to
record back into full before ittook a break for the welcoming
of the birth of my daughter andeverything was getting crazy the
height of football season. Sotheir schedule was just
maddening. So we decided toshelve it for a little bit.
Like, oh, we'll start out inFebruary and March kick off the
season, everything will be calm.And here we are, and nothing has
changed. Right? So kinda getsget to you, Connor because you
(02:22):
might have to bounce in the nextfive minutes with this whole
Aaron Rodgers?
Unknown (02:25):
I hope not.
Jason Varga (02:28):
thing kind of going on possibly being traded to the
Jets. So how has the past monthbeen for you treat you know,
covering that? Well, obviouslythe Giants but the Jets and the
Rodgers and your your sociallife and all that stuff?
Unknown (02:40):
Yeah, well, that's the thing man is I'm a little
different from Dave because Iknow he's kind of used to
playoff runs and Super Bowl runsand things like that. And my
entire career, up until Augustwas obviously centered around
being a beat writer for theJets. So I've kind of I've
always been very accustomed tonow being my super, super busy
time. Because when it was theJets, right? The offseason was
(03:01):
when there was hope. And theygot to see how the offseason was
when there was optimism. Andthat's when like everyone got
all excited. And then once theystarted playing games, and
eventually losing a ton ofgames. That's when obviously
everyone kind of forgot allabout the jets and stopped
caring and the fan base checksout. So I'm used to this kind of
being busy now the free agencyscene. But what we're obviously
experiencing right now withAaron Rodgers is something I
have not really grown accustomedto at all. But what's kind of
(03:22):
cool is like I was saying tothis actually with a friend of
mine the other day is like Isaid my entire career pretty
much has been based aroundcovering the jets, and they've
been a pretty bad football team.Throughout my entire tenure
there. You know, they had alittle glimmer of maybe a
playoff thing in 2015. But thenthey lost week 17 And were
eliminated. And now all of asudden, it's like wow, they're
gonna get somebody who'sconsidered a top five
(03:43):
quarterback in the NFL, andthey're gonna go from borderline
just ineptitude, punch line ofthe NFL to maybe a team that
reaches some of the heights thatDave is used to covering. So I
like I'd say I've been pickingDave's brain I think since I was
at rcbc. So I think if thisactually goes the direction that
Jeff think they are, I mighthave to be asking Dave, you
know, what's it like to coverthe playoffs? What's the like?
(04:05):
Central championship? Right?You're totally new, whole new
world for me.
Jason Varga (04:08):
Well speak at Dave. You know, so how's your
offseason been since the Eaglesactually went to the Super Bowl?
I mean, did you even get to haveone? I mean, it feels like we
jumped right in from the SuperBowl right to free agency.
Unknown (04:18):
Yeah, there's no offseason anymore. It's pretty
wild. There used to be like sometime in February where it would
be kind of dead and not anymore.I mean, within 17 game season.
Super Bowl got over, I got homeand then like two weeks later, I
was at the combine and you'relike thrown into the mix of
like, alright, for agenciescoming. The draft is coming and
(04:40):
you're still like, trying toprocess the Superbowl it just
happened. So it was a lot andthere's not really I used to
like try to take a trip inFebruary it was like my time to
get away and there's justthere's no time anymore. It's
good though. It's always fun tohave a busy offseason and like
the Eagles even though you knowthey've been pretty Good they're
(05:01):
a busy team all the time likethey're always in the mix of
free agency and trades and evenwith no money like they're
always doing something which isgood it's keeps people engaged
throughout the year where someteams are kind of just good and
boring. The Eagles are neverboring which is fun.
Jason Varga (05:17):
Yeah, well I'm sure Connor got a taste of that too
when the eagles had to play theGiants and I think the How are
the fans treating you whenyou're putting your your
predictions and stuff out therehow was that experience dealing
with
Unknown (05:28):
I will go down to the boat saying that I've always
predicted the eagles to win Ialways said that now I did think
that it was going to be a littlebit closer than what it ended up
being but the basis of that waskind of always on the Eagles not
really having to play ameaningful game in quite a while
right I mean, they were prettymuch in cruise control after
they jumped out to that red hotstart had the bye week the
(05:50):
Giants were not in cruisecontrol. We're coming off the
big wind where I was like, youknow, this might be an
opportunity where eagles are alittle sluggish, Giants can jump
on them early and maybe it's agame turns out that there was no
sluggish start from the Eaglesand all we saw was the vast vast
talent discrepancy between thosetwo teams. And it ended up being
quite the quite the shellacking.But I did get reintroduced and
because again, I grew up inSouth Jersey so I'm pretty
(06:11):
familiar with Eagle fans. Butobviously I've been separated
from that for a while I don'tlive in that area anymore. So
you know when some of thoseclips I had done in Preview
clips I had done startedspreading around the South
Jersey area. I got rereintroduced to the intensity
and the passion that the eaglefans have for their teams but it
was hysterical because like acouple other ones. I generally
(06:33):
stay away from mentions but acouple of times I clicked on
some of the some of the I thinklike barstool grabbed that or
someone else grabbed thatclicked like to read what some
people were saying. And what washysterical was I saw some people
I went to high school with likeno he's not a bad guy. He's
actually really nice. I was likeOh at least somebody's got my
back and Philly
Jason Varga (06:49):
Yeah, well it's a whole new experience when you
incorporate the eagle side ofwhich again thieves thieves well
versed in the the engagementthere but so actually kinda was
talking back to your yourbackstory here because you have
your local guy right, you wentto Seneca High School, shout out
to tabernacle, my hometown aswell even though I was showing
him then you go right herethrough rcbc and then
(07:11):
successfully landing obviouslywent to Monmouth and such but
you successfully doing your job.We are now covering two teams
and the number one sports marketin the country. How did you get
there? You know, someexperiences along the way. Yeah,
sure gives you a story.
Unknown (07:26):
No, like, in all seriousness, man, like I owe a
ton of my my career to rcbc. Anda big reason for that is I mean,
you know, Jay, you knew me likeright when I enrolled at rcbc.
And like my number one goal ofwhat I wanted in life was to be
a play by play guy you know,that's what I want it was play
by play broadcaster play by playbroadcaster wants to be the next
(07:46):
Bob pop or the next Joe Bucksomething like that. I got into
BCC got involved or rcbc Sorry,got involved with the PSAT
eight, nine, the the radiostation. And I started doing the
play by play and colorcommentary. And it was a blast.
I'm like, sweet, this is it. Idid it in high school for LD TV.
Now I'm here doing it incollege, I'm going to transfer
(08:06):
out I'm going to keep going andthis is what I'm going to do
with my career and my first orsecond semester at rcbc. Like
you got to take your yourprerequisites. So one of mine
was a history class. And I don'teven know if he's still a
professor at rcbc. I don't knowif he left or if he's retired or
whatever. But his name wasRobert Koval. And I remember is
within our history class. Yeah.So within our history class, he
(08:28):
broke us up into our majors. SoI was a communication major. So
I was with all the othercommunications people and there
were psychology and sociologyand educate all that stuff. And
then after he broke us up intoour study groups, he went around
every single kid and withintheir perspective fields, what
do you want to do within that?So if you want to be a teacher
specifically what to do? How doyou want to teach you want to go
(08:48):
Elementary, great, all that funstuff. So he gets to me
communications big and I waslike Professor Koval, I want to
be a play by play guy. And helooked at me and goes, you
better learn to write, and thenimmediately went on to the next
kid. And I was like, Oh, heclearly didn't hear me because I
just want I said, I want to be aplay by play guy and talk. Like
I didn't say anything aboutwriting, what the hell is he
talking about? So I went up tohim after class and I was like,
you know, Professor, like, youthrew me for a loop there. What
(09:10):
do you mean, I need to learn howto write and he he offered me 10
points extra credit, I think Iwas if I could go home that day,
and find any play by playbroadcaster that didn't have
some form of a background inwriting, whether it was for his
college paper when he first gotout of college media relations,
media guides all that fun stuff.And I know my strengths and my
(09:31):
weaknesses and history is notone of them. So I was like, oh,
yeah, I could use that extracredit went looking and what I
found out was that ProfessorCOBOL was was spot on and I
couldn't find one and so thenext day I went to the guidance
out guidance guidancecounselor's office and signed up
for an intro to journalism classand field that not once did I
(09:51):
ever think I would get into inany way, shape or form ended up
becoming a full blown passion ofmine and I just fell head over
heels in love with writing. AndI would take I was at the time,
like I said, working for theradio station calling games, I
would basically take the gamesthat I was covering, go home and
write stories on him and writegame stories or featured
(10:12):
articles or whatever. And then Iwould take it to my professor
Steve Wozniak, and intro tojournalism. And after class, we
tear him apart, and then webuild it back up, and we tear
him apart again and build themback up. And I'd write something
else. And we tear it apart. AndI went from working with
Professor react to suddenlysending emails out to people
within the field, includingDave, like Dave was one of the
guys that I emailed some of myclips to, like, hey, we kind of
(10:34):
went to the same school, we'rekind of from the same area, you
know, I could use some advice.I'm just starting this, I'm
trying to make up some groundfiguring out what I'm doing. And
Dave was awesome to this day. Isaid, Dave, I told you this at
the combine this year, I thinkabout how I still do not write
the word however, because you'veingrained that in my brain from
like, 10 plus years ago. Butlike just one of those things,
and my career sort of took offfrom there. So it went from
(10:56):
writing stories in Berlin, likeour CBCs journalism class for
the radio station to ProfessorRoy Beck helped me get a
freelancing gig of theBurlington County Times, which
coincidentally was also whereDave was for a minute or two.
And then from there, it's justabout climbing the ladder. So I
went from Burlington County, theBurlington County Times as a
freelancer to part time for thestar ledger covering high school
(11:18):
sports. And then when Itransferred into Monmouth, I
started covering the jets forabout.com. And the journal
Inquirer did that for two years,went to the USA Today Sports
Media Group. Eventually, in2016, I got my first full time
job at the star LeBron starledger covering the jets as a
beat and worked there for twoyears before spending five years
at the athletic and then thispast August was when sny hired
me, just to do in addition tostill writing and reporting and
(11:42):
features, and columns and allthat stuff. Now I just do a lot
more TV than I ever did before.
Jason Varga (11:47):
So fantastic story right there.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (11:49):
That's awesome. Yeah,
Unknown (11:50):
I try to try to speed it up because I know I'm very
the talking never left. longwinded.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (11:56):
I think you're great. And what I love
about being here, it's mystarting off from my undergrad
was my first internship wassports. So you guys are are
bringing me home because Ihaven't done sports since and I
knew that wasn't my passion. ButI knew nothing about sports and
was thrown into it. Um, I workedfor a company out in Westchester
(12:17):
and we followed St. Joe's hawksand did the Phil Martelli Hawk
talk show and I followed andthem to the NCAA is when Jameer
Nelson was on the team and I didtemple sports now with Bobby
Wallace and inside golf with Doncannon, and I did some of those
shows on C and eight and thingslike that, but you're bringing
me bringing me home to my rootswith the sports talk. So and
(12:39):
kudos to you guys for you know,coming on and sharing your
stories because, you know, likeJay said about we're putting our
students first and, and beingable to share the success
stories that both of you had hasbeen really wonderful. I came in
right after you guys graduated.We have an amazing entertainment
(13:03):
Technologies Program here atrcbc. We have two arms,
basically of our degreeprograms, we have a video and
digital media program, whichreally focuses on independent
cinematography production, youknow, entertainment technology
in the sense of video editing,video production, documentary
(13:23):
filmmaking, TV production. Andthen we also have the arm of the
sound recording engineering,which is then focusing on
advanced music production livesound reinforcement producing
distribution. And and both ofthose arms really have a have a
have a radio element. It's kindof morphed over the years from
(13:45):
being more of that terrestrialradio but but to basically what
we're doing today is podcasting.And it's really wonderful to see
how you've grown through theranks of of like you said about
it's all about the writing andteaching the students to write
and that's definitely one of themain foundations of anything I
(14:05):
think in this industry, whetheryou're going into filmmaking
when you're going into you know,audio production or whether
you're going into you know,radio or podcasting and
journalism. So that's wonderfulto hear that you know your
stories
Jason Varga (14:19):
Yeah, well, I saw Connor because he was kind of
already on his way. So I thinkwhen I was just started get more
involved the radio station and Ijust stuff on the weekends but
also work commercial radio forCBS and eagles as well. So I
didn't really get more involvedgiven kind of where I cut my
teeth right and I want to getback to the program because I've
noticed spawn multiple successstories and I can see they were
he was kind of going off andConnor kind of reminded me of me
(14:40):
when I was started working myway up the ranks at CBS.
Unfortunately, you know, whenstarted left and a hole at CBS
itself kind of just really lostits identity. I took a chance to
kind of come back to the radiostation and get back to the
roots but I saw something in himand he kept asking me questions
even though we get in troublebecause he wasn't supposed to be
working with me at times.Because I'm trying to teach him
because he was he was definitelyobviously the writer right Yeah,
(15:00):
but I knew, especially in radio,you wanted to have a tight audio
production, I kept on tighter,tighter tighter and trying to
develop some of that stuff. ButI think between the writing I
also told my students to I've,you know, acting class was
always good to do know how toenunciate and, and do stuff, but
I say, but you need to be awriter as well. So it's good to
Connor kind of back that up.Because you know yet that
(15:20):
writing intensive courses when Isaid, I know Rowan was very
specific in writing intensive,it sucked. But it made me a
better person, because you wantto sound educated, where it's
basically when you're conversingon the radio, right, it's kind
of conversing the way you'rewriting and stuff. And it's a
little different. It's almost asimilar because when you're on
paper, and sometimes you have alittle bit of photography, you
(15:41):
have the photos and kind ofcapture a little bit there. But
really radio you have to kind ofdescribe the scene. And you
don't, you don't have that, andyou can kind of do that and
writing too. And I think thoseskills on Yeah,
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (15:49):
and you're without the visual, you know, a
lot of times with some of this,you're without the visual, you
know, attachment to that. Andit's the way the word and then
verbiage. And I and I tell thisto my students, it's the way the
word especially, and how you sayit, to and puppy, you know, and
I'm sure it's, it's the publicspeaking, it's journalism, it's
(16:10):
taking the English classes and,and, and that all feeds in
together, and a lot of studentsthat are going into the more
creative or the sports arenadon't realize that those, you
know, those foundational classesthat you you had talked about
Connor, they mean so much, butyou they don't realize, when you
(16:31):
come you're like I gotta take,it's all it's all like, What are
you talking about? I gotta takeEnglish, you know, I just want
to come in and make a film or Ijust want to get out. Yeah, the
glamour. Yeah, exactly.
Unknown (16:42):
They completely changed my career. I mean, literally, I
was going one direction. And itwas one random day in a history
class with a professor that Ididn't know beforehand that
literally has completely shapedmy life. So I mean, what I do, I
love, love what I do for aliving, I wouldn't change a
second or anything about it. AndI wouldn't have this life or be
doing what I'm doing now, if itwasn't for that class, because
(17:02):
it was never something I evereven thought of doing in
this field. In general, I thinkit helps to be well rounded as a
person like background, too,because so much of it is like
trying to connect with people,right, like, so if you have any
kind of background in that area.And then like with the writing,
too, it's not just about puttingwords on paper, it's about
structuring your thoughts, andbeing able to express them. So
(17:26):
like that, that stuff transfers,whether you're writing or
speaking, whether you're on aradio station, or you're doing a
podcast, or you're on TV, like alot of those fundamentals are
the same. So there's value init, even if it's not necessarily
like what you think you want todo. I can still help out quite a
bit.
Jason Varga (17:45):
Well, and speaking of background, too, because we
didn't really get the touch baseon your background. They've you
know, I know similar to Connor,as well, you bounced around a
little bit more than Connor kindof staying in that New York
market. You know, can you tellus?
Unknown (17:56):
I was Connor, five years before? Yeah, no, I was. I
did like him. I was we I didsome color commentary for high
school football games. But whileI was doing that, I started to
freelance at the bronze and kindof time so I was kind of double
dipping. At that point. I waslike doing the radio, but then
(18:17):
writing freelance and I did thatfor a while I was still there,
then right right out of school,I then I went to Rowan. And then
right after I graduated, I had acouple part time jobs, one of
the BCTs who actually did workthere. And then I started then
Comcast, Sportsnet. And those,it was like two years where man
I was like, I was so tired allthe time, I was grinding because
(18:39):
there was two part time jobs.That probably should have come
up like 4550 hours a week. But Iwas put in like, at least 40 at
both of them. I did that forlike two years. So it was a lot
and I was like work all day inPhilly. And then I would like
bust it to get to like Riversideto cover girls basketball game,
(19:02):
or something like that. And thenlike when I really started
covering the NFL was actually ina lockout year in 2011. There
were a few of the Eagles playerswere working out in Marlton at
the municipal fields, so I justbugged my editor to let me go.
And I went every day for thatsummer. And it was like, in the
(19:23):
beginning it was Michael Vickand Jeremy Maclin and Sean
McCoy. And then by the end ofit, it was Mike Kafka throwing
to Jason a bomb. And I was thereevery day and I just, I made it
a point to be there every day.And then once the lockout ended,
and they were back at Lehigh, Iwent and I didn't give me hotel
room at a drive to lie every dayand drive back. But then like I
(19:46):
kept earning more reps coveringeagles. So I then I covered them
kind of part time for that yearand then part of the next year
and then got an opportunity inHouston with then Comcast
SportsNet Houston, and it was ashort lived, adventure down Are
two years but that's when Ireally learned how to be on a
beat and cover something everyday. And we had a crazy talented
(20:09):
group down there. It was likeme, James Palmer, Tiffany
Blackman, who was at NFLNetwork, Steve Bunin, who was at
ESPN, Sebastian Salazar who wasESPN. So I just had like this
great young and really talentedstaff and I learned so much. And
then when that ended, I waslike, I don't know what's gonna
happen. Like, I moved home withmy parents for a little bit. We
(20:29):
all got laid off down there. AndI figured, well, I'll try to do
it again. But I don't know ifit's gonna work. I ended up
working at the courier post forlike, six months, and it was a
great job. Then, NBC SportsPhilly, I'd been like starting
to do some freelance work withthem. And then in 2015, that
hired me full time again. AndI've been there ever since. So,
what was it different fun? Like,I enjoy the ride. And like, I'll
(20:52):
do this as long as someone letme do it.
Jason Varga (20:54):
How's that market? The sports market difference
between Houston and Philly?
Unknown (20:59):
Yeah, my engagement. One of my first like, few weeks
in Houston. Like in Philly, Ithink I'm generally like one of
the nicer people in the media.Like, it's just I think I'm a
nice person. Down there, I was ajerk, all of a sudden, it took
some getting used to becausethey saw me as like, brash east
coast, like getting all myquestions in kind of talking
(21:23):
over people. But that's justwhat it is. When you cover one
of the bigger market teams likeyou just you kind of get into
like fight mode, in a way andyou become really competitive
and there wasn't like that downthere. So I had to kind of
temper it a little bit. But itwas fun covering a team where
there wasn't all thatcompetition for a little while.
(21:44):
And it allowed me to like seewhat this job is like in a
different market. It made meappreciate Philly more on
honestly made me appreciate howmuch the people care and how
much good content there iscoming out of that locker room
and out of that building. It'stough at times like Connor sees
like, the Philly beat crew wasthe biggest in the country.
We'll go at the combine. What dowe have like 12 people there.
(22:07):
It's just
I remember at the Senior Bowl,that's what I remember all the
group you guys going to the samesmashing event.
It's it's good for the fans.Like it gives them a ton of
content, but it makes it verycompetitive. And it's hard to
stand out. So I think that thatmakes everyone better who covers
the Eagles
Jason Varga (22:24):
surprise is actually bigger than New York. I
mean, I know Philly
Unknown (22:27):
it. No, it's crazy, man. Because it's like every I
think there. There mighttechnically be more outlets that
cover the Jets and the Giantsbut it feels like every single
Eagles outlet outlet has liketwo or three people that work
for it. Like it's a it's a it'sa monster. I mean, it's in the I
remember the first Super Bowlthe Eagles went to like I was at
the star ledger at the time. Andthey sent me over to chip in on
(22:48):
the Eagles coverage. And Iwalked in and I knew like Dave,
I knew Elliot and guys likethat. But like I remember just
seeing this massive amount oflike a horde of reporters. It
was like Holy hell. And I saidto Dave, I was like, man, they
just they must bring in everyoneextra for the Superbowl. And
he's like now this is prettymuch just a normal Wednesday.
It's wild. It really is crazy.
Jason Varga (23:08):
Now, kind of touching base on what he was
doing because Dave said he wasdriving to Lehigh and doing
everything else always being ayes person covering girls
basketball, you got to startsomewhere. Is that something you
tell your students? I think wetalked about this all time Say
yes, say yes. And
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (23:21):
I love that you brought that up. And we
actually we just talked aboutthis this morning, we had an
another rcbc alumnus talk aboutit about being the go getter.
Always saying yes, taking thejob getting your feet wet
shadowing people interning,whatever you need to do to get
your you know, get your skin inthe game, basically, like you
(23:42):
need to, you know, you said wearmany hats, get you know, take
the writing job, take you know,take the recording job, Take
anything you want, you have toget yourself out there. You
know, and one of the things I dotell my students this is because
in our program, and I'm a hugeadvocate of experiential
learning of real worldexperience, I can teach you
(24:05):
everything that you need to knowyes in the classroom, but
there's nothing you can learnfrom me about like he's saying
walking into a room with 25other reporters, trying to get
an interview trying to ask aquestion knowing how to you
know, you know, being on thefield and getting the interview
or taking the best shot andgetting the right shot, getting
(24:26):
the good audio but you have tolearn that from somebody that's
been there doing that and so oneof the things I push is you know
to go out there get you know,Shadow somebody, go reach out
keep sending emails, hey, likeConnor said, I sent you know,
Dave an email, Hey, I'm localfrom your area, like can you
(24:46):
give me any tips or tricks orhelped me out or whatever? That
is what this industry is aboutis about networking, getting
your name out there. You know,and having that mentality of
being able to Go and get, getget the job like, you know, he
said, I didn't care how much itcosts out of my pocket, I'm
driving up to Lehigh, I'm gonnado it for free, I'm gonna cover
(25:09):
it, I'm gonna send it out, I'mgonna do it. That's what you
need that like internalmotivation to be able to be in
this industry. I think if that'snot something that you have,
it's going to be difficult, youhave to know how to same thing
you have to know how to speak tosomebody, you have to be able to
network, you have to be able totalk you have to be able to do
those things. So I love it thatthey both connected themselves
(25:31):
to that, that they were gogetters and they have that
mentality. And I think
Jason Varga (25:34):
one of the good well, yeah, I
Unknown (25:36):
was I was gonna say J even offer that because I may
jet I'm sure Dave does this too.Like anytime you speak to a
class, you speak to a highschool class, a college class or
you go into your DMS and you gotcollege kids that are reaching
out to you like so many of them.Take the stance of like, oh my
God, I want to do what you do Iwant to cover the Jets. How do I
cut like, you know, for me,obviously, I covered the Jets,
the Giants, but mostly jets andgiant fans to follow me as Dave
(25:58):
has the Eagles and they're allHow do I cover the Jets? How do
I cover the Giants? And I tellthem all the exact same thing.
Like, that's how it starts likeyou can't go into this saying I
want to cover X team. Likethat's not really how you want
to do it. Like yeah, I was veryfortunate that, you know, I've
kind of I didn't have to move asmuch as Dave did. But for me,
it's like you just have to takewhatever opportunities there and
(26:20):
just continue to climb theladder. I mean, I when I was at
the BCT I was writing featureson on weightlifters like high
school weightlifters andfencers. And my first beat that
I had was track and field like Ididn't know anything about track
and field other than you run,but like I embraced it. And I
owned it and like through thatwas where I met rube. And like
Reuben Frank was like, ended upbeing a big mentor for me and
(26:40):
things like that. So there's allthese little things like that
you just have to keep I mean,Dave, you probably did the same
thing. Like when we were at theBCT. I remember covering like
Little League district baseballgames over the summer, like
Yeah, I wanted to go on now mywife, but I want to go on a date
with my my girlfriend, I wantedto go out and party with my
friends. But it was like, thisis an opportunity to go out
there and cover an eight yearold baseball game, get quotes,
(27:01):
write a game story, file it. AndI just kept looking at it as
opportunities that if someday Iwas going to be going for a job
and you put Connors resume nextto player X his resume, like I
can't control. If that person'smore sourced than me, I can't
control if that person's anaturally more gifted writer
than I am. I can't do all ofthat. But the one thing that I
can control is out working thatperson. And the one thing I
(27:23):
promised myself when I wanted toget into this field and I wanted
to cover professional sports fora living, which I knew where
they were going to be tons andtons of other people that wanted
to do it too, because it is anawesome job is that I needed to
separate myself from whoever Iwas going to be competing for a
job against and the way that Isaw or the opportunity and way
that I sought to do that wasjust to outwork them. And that
meant doing things that weren'tthat fun. Like I didn't drive
(27:43):
the Lehigh, but the Giantstraining camp at MetLife. And I
remember when I had I wascovering high school sports had
the summer off. So I just founda website that didn't pay me but
they got me a credential. And itwas just an opportunity to put
my byline next to the big guysat the New York Post and The
Daily News and the star ledgerand grind to compete against
them to learn from them in thefield. And I drove up to East
Rutherford from Medford, NewJersey every other day, you
(28:06):
know, to go to training camp andit wasn't paid. But it was just
an opportunity to grind and getbetter and work and compete
against somebody else. And if Iwas competing against them, I
was learning from them in thesame way and eventually tried to
start beating them. And then,you know, when opportunities
came for a job, I was fortunateenough where you know, you made
enough inroads and you hadenough of a resume and you had
enough clips that I was able tocompete with the other people
(28:27):
that were going forward, andthey picked me over over the
alternatives.
I'm glad you brought that up toConnor because like, I think
there are fewer opportunities inlike, some spaces, but there are
other opportunities that havecome up in other places. So like
I look at my path and your path.And it's like local newspapers,
it's tough like, like even theones that are left, like they're
(28:48):
not going to pay you to go coversomething. But there are all
these websites now like kind oflike fan base websites, but it's
just a different way to get toget that work. And if you're
like like I always say I wasreally fortunate to be able to
do unpaid internships, I knownot everyone's net position. But
if you are in that position, andyou're able to like take
(29:09):
advantage of those things. LikeI was like, that's really how I
got my start. Really with likebuilding connections in the
business. I interned for CSNPhilly in 2009. And I got, you
just put in the work like, youknow, you're not getting paid,
but I would like I would bethere all the time. They were in
(29:30):
the World Series that year. AndI was there until like three in
the morning, which I don't knowwhat the law is on all that but
I was leaving, I was like, I'mgonna work all night and do
whatever I can do. And like itleads to things if people see
that you're putting in the work.
Yep. And that was me, man. Itwas like if I could if I could
do it for if I could go toe totoe with the New York Daily News
in New York Post writing for bigblue interactive.com. I felt
(29:53):
like when the opportunity came,I didn't if I proved myself
there and put out the same kindof production and in some cases
better production than the otherguys. I felt that the other
people that were going forwardthat were in the farm system,
they were covering high schoolsports at the time, I was like,
you don't know, here's I'vecovered High School, I'm doing
that. But also while I'm doingthat, I'm also doing this. And
if this is as good a qualitythat like as this where I'm
(30:14):
calling people and trying tobreak news with big blue
interactive or about.com, as mywith my byline, imagine what I
can do if you give me the powerof a major publication, and it
was just a grind and acommitment and eventually does
take someone taking a chance onyou. And then once you get that
opportunity to get that chance,you have to make the most of it.
Jason Varga (30:31):
And as I wait, but my question of So what advice
would you like to give toaspiring reporters? That one
goes right out the window,because these guys are pros and
cons, but we offer internshipshere through your program to
correct Yeah,
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (30:45):
I mean, what's been really great as we
have a new Experiential Learningoffice here, and I can't tell
you how many people reach out tome on a daily basis, local
production companies, recentlydrone, a drone company that are
looking for internships, so theneed is out there. And again,
(31:08):
like they said that, you know,they were trying to do anything
and everything, to just gettheir name out there, I didn't
matter what it was just to keepto keep going crafting, you
know, crafting their passioncrafting what they're doing. And
I think one of the things that Ipride myself on is the great
connections that I have with thecommunity. And that was both of
(31:29):
them got their start, right,they're both talking about
Burlington County Times, and,and the and the ledger, and you
know, and that's a beautifulthing to connect with your
community. And that's all whatrcbc also has is that community
connection. And that's greatthat these local production
companies and people arereaching out and want to use our
(31:50):
students and want to helpsupport the students in the
community. So if anybody has aproduction company, or is
looking for internships, please,please reach out to myself, and
I will put you in contact. Andwe have a great experiential
learning and Career ServicesCenter that has handshake and we
(32:12):
provide, you know, directinternships for our students.
And that is something that I hadin my undergraduate coursework
that I brought here, when Ideveloped some new curriculum is
that I put in mandatoryinternships into both arms of
each program. So students cannotleave here with a two year
degree without having aninternship, because that is one
(32:34):
of the most important pieces ofthe puzzle in this industry, is
to be able to get real worldexperience. And I think that
both of them can probablysupport me on this is that that
real world experience, gets younetworking gets your name out
there gets you connections, andyou never know where that
(32:55):
connection is going to lead you.There's connections that I had
when I did my undergrad that Istill have to this day that I
still connect with to this day.And they will even though
they're on to the sports arena,and all those kinds of things.
It's a small family in thisindustry, that there's so many
connections to so many people,that every day, you can make a
(33:19):
connection with somebody whoknows somebody, it's like that
six degrees of separation inthis industry. And I think you
and I have also talked aboutthat, that the experiential
learning aspect and getting thestudents that real world
connection and moving thatclassroom to career connection,
of what they've learned in theclassroom, and then now put it
to real to real life is a hugething for them. And I think
(33:43):
that's one thing that acommunity college has over a lot
of other schools in the area isthat we have that close
connection with the communityand we can provide those
connections to students.
Jason Varga (33:55):
Yeah, that's definitely one thing I harped on
on my students a lot is to makesure try to get you know, find a
place that you really you know,passionate about, and maybe get
a foot in the door. But if notsomewhere kind of close that
just to get the workingexperience, because I think the
misperception a lot in thisindustry is that it's too big,
right? There's too many peopleor whatever. But in the end, I
think this industry is reallystill well connected. And it's a
(34:15):
lot smaller than, you know,people make it out to be and you
never know who knows somebodyelse. And you follow that
lineage, lineage there. Youknow, and I'm gonna wrap this up
in just a little because I knowwe're still on borrowed time,
we're still waiting maybe forAaron Rodgers to drop because I
can see Connor kind of checkingdown and keeping you know, his
eyes, split ways and everythingelse kind of going on in his
background. But of course, youknow, all three of you really
(34:39):
though it was what do you thinkoutside because I think we can
all take the easy way out andI'm trying to make this as a
facilitator and a questionprovider here. Because we can
all take the easy way out sayingof newspaper All right, but
what's been the biggest changeyou think in the field so far?
Since you've become so are yousince you were students to where
you are now in your careers, andmaybe in the field
Unknown (35:00):
Yeah, I mean, for me, I think it's that you can't do one
thing. I mean that that doesn'tI think, Dave. I mean, it's it's
funny. It's like the way ourcareers have gone. I mean,
Dave's at NBC Sports Philly andthen NBC Sports Phillies New
York sister station is sny. Sowe ended up at the same spots.
He's just in Philly. I'm in NewYork. But where are we both are
our jobs are very, very similar.And I think what's crazy is
(35:23):
like, you go back back inprobably 567 10 years ago, you
would think like, oh, I want tobe a beat writer. And what that
means is you cover the team on aday to day basis, or oh, I want
to be in radio. And that meansyou're just on the right words.
That's that that's out. I mean,you can't be a one trick pony,
you have to do everything. Imean, you really, really do like
my job now is, I basically beatright and i Report i write
(35:45):
columns, I write features. ThenI go on television, both as a
reporter where I'm answeringquestions as a reporter, but
then they also bring me on as apersonality, where I'm debating
and stuff. And then you alsothrow in the podcasting area,
which I kind of put hand in handwith radio and doing radio hits,
and podcasts and things likethat, where like, you have to be
able to do everything. If youcan only do one thing or you
pigeonhole yourself into justone thing. You might be really,
(36:09):
really damn good at that onething, but you're not going to
get picked over someone that cando five things pretty good. You
know what I mean? So you reallyneed to be able to make yourself
as versatile as possible, and beable to do so much because yeah,
I'm technically when an NFLreporter for sny is what they
call me. But within that littleNFL reporter umbrella is like
the million and one things thatI do that are different every
day. But I think Dave canprobably touch on this too. I
(36:31):
love every second of that,because you keep your fresh,
like, I never get bored of doingone thing because I'm doing so
many different things, which isanother one of the things that I
love about my job is that I'malways I've always feel like I'm
on my toes. I'm always excitedto do something, because I feel
like I'm always doing somethingdifferent.
You know, there's always newthings to conquer, too, right?
Like doing TV and doing like,debate show or like your
(36:51):
answering questions is sodifferent than, like I've hosted
shows, right? And you're readinglike, reading prompter is
something I always thought like,that's really easy. You're just
reading as word scroll acrossthe screen. It's hard, it's
really hard. And it's fun tolike, find those challenges,
especially after you've beendoing something for a while,
like finding new things that arehard, because you don't want to
(37:15):
ever get like complacent, youdon't ever think like I figured
this out because then your workis probably going to suffer a
little bit. So I find that stuffactually helps me stay on it a
little bit better. Becausethere's certain parts of our job
where you know, you've beendoing it for so long, I can kind
of mail this in. And like it'shuman nature to do that at
(37:36):
times, but I think doing allthose different things kind of
keeps you sharp and it keeps youthinking about growing either
accompany your brand. And kindof piggybacking off of I know
you mentioned like podcastscounter, which is like, podcasts
weren't a thing when I was incollege. Yeah, they kind of were
they were like kind of around,but like you have to be willing
(37:56):
to embrace whichever directionit goes. Because you're probably
not going to be able to steer itin a direction like it the whole
media markets and the whole waythings change, it evolves, you
just have to be willing to gowith it and find your place and
carve out your niche there. Andlike podcasting has been really
fun. For me, it's like a newmedium to do it. Because like
(38:17):
you end up our podcast has donereally well because it's like a
community and people feel likethey know you. And it's it's
something that I never eventhought about, like wanting to
do, but it's one of the things Ienjoy about my job most.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (38:31):
And I think they they both kind of took my
answer, but I'll just kind ofphrase it into one word is or
two words is lifelong learning.You can never stop learning,
like, you know, they said about,you know, the morphing of the
technology and the accessibilityand the change of that. And, you
know, and exactly what Dave wassaying about podcasting. You
(38:55):
know, Jay did a fabulous jobwith our radio station and our
radio production course here.And then when I we kind of
changed up the curriculum,because we have to change with
this times we have to keepmoving forward. And we have to
keep learning new new tips andtricks and tools of the trade
and morphing that curriculuminto Yes, there is the golden
(39:17):
age of radio, terrestrial radioand all that kind of stuff. But
now, podcasting and internetradio is the new thing. And
that's why we're here at thisplatform today exactly talking
about this, and and being ableto enhance the curriculum and
move the curriculum forward. Youknow, that's what you have to
kind of do. And it's the same ineducation too. Right. So
(39:38):
morphing the radio productionclass to online and utilizing
elements for tools online andbringing podcasting to the
forefront here at rcbc was oneof those things and all leading
into being that lifelonglearner. You know, I'm always
learning new things every daystudents come in and start
telling me about this app andthis program and this is what
(40:00):
They do. And, you know, wow, Inever heard about this, let's go
and look through that, you know,now we were doing a lot more
mobile journalism that hasn'tbeen done before on using our
cell phones, instead of using,you know, cinema cameras, and,
you know, just being able tochange up and morph into the,
you know, what is the now andhaving that access and bringing
(40:24):
that to the students. That'ssomething that I think here at
rcbc, we pride ourselves on andthey hit the and they said it
great that it's, you always haveto be a lifelong learner, that
you're always learning somethingnew, you always have to be that
jack of all trades, and kind ofmaking sure that you're, you
know, getting exposure to everyelement of production, whether
(40:46):
that's like he said, in front ofthe camera behind the camera,
and having that exposure reallymakes you that well rounded
person that can you know, fitinto sports can fit into
documentary can fit into allthose areas of production.
Jason Varga (41:00):
Yeah, I think, like myself being a lifelong learner,
as we shifted the radio formatinto the podcast network, same
thing, technology can be, youknow, a little overwhelming at
times, when you want to keepchanging, it's gonna stay with
the times, but also be excitingbecause you look at some of the
technology I'm using now, likethis podcast machine versus, you
know, what I was trying to do apodcast for CBS back then I was
like, room. So you know, all thebanks and stuff, I basically
(41:21):
have like a little console and alittle box, and it's just
unbelievable, you're, you'reconstantly having to adapt, and
that's what makes you stand out.And I think it's another thing I
always stressed on, when I teachmy students is just, you know,
try to learn as much as you can,especially now with the with
social media and engagement,there's jobs out there for
being, you know, that creativecontent, and you and video
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (41:41):
10 Knowing video analytics, you know,
little 32nd You know, teasersand, and knowing the audience
for online, I mean, you know,that wasn't around when I was in
school. So that's a whole notherelement to, for them to connect
and for jobs and, and contentcreation and being creative and
producing that kind of content.And I'm sure both of those
(42:02):
gentlemen have seen that too.Changing in the sports world,
too. Yeah,
Jason Varga (42:05):
I'm actually trying to teach myself now some more
video content based stuff,because we're trying to employ
that here a little bit. Youknow, when I was I said, I want
to grow my continued resume andI want to, especially with my
daughter getting when she startsto get older, you know what I
mean? You're like, I don't meanthe old guy fumbling around,
like, I don't know how to parsethis little button, ya know,
they're gonna teach me you'regonna let me drill things. Yeah.
(42:26):
So speaking of and I said, we'regonna wrap it up pretty quickly
here. So, again, we startedworking on a newer segment for
the show because I tried tobring that radio personality
from what I was doing, you know,my actual radio stuff and
podcasts can sometimes be alittle on the don't education
sometimes it's not as maybe hipand entertaining as it can be a
time when you try to Yeah, andyou know, and get that
(42:47):
commercial broadcasting so yougot to work in a bit right and
or segments and stuff. So Istarted working in some dad
jokes and now because I waspracticing before my baby girl
got here and now it's here, youknow, and efficiently now. Yes,
I'm officially officially a dadso and it's crazy and I'm trying
to still get my brain backtogether and sleep deprivation
is a real thing but sleepExactly. So the question to
(43:10):
everybody is I work on somestuff I used to try to keep it
theme towards the program itselfbut some of them are a little
not as maybe that funny to me. Iguess. Oh, man. Okay, first one
What animal is best at hitting abaseball
Unknown (43:26):
Oh my I don't know what what a bat Oh yeah.
Jason Varga (43:33):
Oh, right. Okay, so that was that we can follow that
one away for her later allright. Why did the farmer think
he could be a music producer?
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (43:42):
I don't know. tract or something that
track I don't know.
Jason Varga (43:46):
Close somewhat they just not even answering he's
just like I'm out. He had a tonof beats Oh, I like that. Okay.
Oh, all right. Now these onesprobably might crash and burn
but we'll wrap it up real quickwhat did the triangle say to the
circle what your pointless
Unknown (44:11):
write these down we got on our way to
Jason Varga (44:13):
this one. This one is actually more of an inside
joke but I'm still talking toConnor and Dave What it tells me
Connor logs stuck in this onecircle sometimes we can't get
out of what the other friendRicky that which Dave's very
close friends with but I thinkthis is more of our friend
Ricky's question No, but whatare you already saying? What do
you call a boomerang? Thatdoesn't work for me now the bad
(44:39):
guests stick Okay, well, yeah,all right. All right. So I have
one yes, yes. You
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (44:49):
know jokes. Okay. Here we go.
Unknown (44:51):
What did the the fish say when he swim into a wall?
What? What dam
Jason Varga (45:00):
The new show rcbc podcasts puns and like it.
Alright kids, you know I'm gonnalet you go because again, Connor
especially well, obviously bothyou not to describe you as well,
but I think
Unknown (45:13):
we made it through so I'm happy. Yeah, I'm glad we
made it through. It's like Isaid we were supposed to I was
supposed to we were supposed todo this in person and I'm like,
Dude, I'm so sorry. Like thiscould happen in any moment. I'm
like, Hey, I'm basically likehostage, right? He's telling
Jason Varga (45:24):
he's trying to golf to him. He's got a suit in his
car in case he's gotta go do alive Hey, up. So and that's a
Unknown (45:28):
little careful with the suit in the car. Connor, I once
had a sport coat that I was Ihad hung up and the sun through
the window faded.
Jason Varga (45:36):
Really? Yeah. Thanks. Wow, I
Unknown (45:40):
never even think that would be possible. Wow. Thank
you.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (45:42):
Don't leave it in there too long.
Jason Varga (45:44):
Or you know, so things about looking into
getting reporting, one of thetips is definitely don't leave
your suit in the car. Like thatone. All right. Anything you
guys want to say to again, maybesome students out there looking
to get into I think you kind oftalked touched base on it a
little bit. But one final kindof thought from the both of you.
Unknown (46:01):
I think we touched upon a lot of it. But I mean, if they
ever want to talk morespecifically, I mean, Jay, that
you have my contact information.So feel free to pass it along to
them. They just have to reachout to you. And like I said, I
mean, I look I were all Davidsay the same thing that you
know, we're all we're all stilltrying to grow. We're all
starting to establish ourselvesin this field and keep trying to
get better and better. But Iknow that there's still a lot
(46:22):
more that I hope I canaccomplish in this thing. But
But where I am now I'm not herenow if it wasn't for those
experiences, or rcbc. And thenwhen I went on to Monmouth and
you know, I owe a lot to thatschool. And certainly, you know,
the path to get there is onethat's now been traveled a
little bit. You know, when I wasin school, Dave was the one that
was always the one that was kindof being like, wow, look, he did
(46:42):
it. Like he made it like, wow,he's covering the NFL, I want to
do that too. And he was somebodyto follow. And now you got a
couple more to follow up. Soit's, it really is something out
there.
Yeah, I'll look at one likespecific thing. We were talking
about internships earlier, Ithink it's a really good point
that like, there are a lot ofprofessions you can get into
where you really focus onschool, and your hours during
(47:06):
the school session or yourclasses, and homework. And
that's you can just do that. Andyou can be really successful,
whatever field you go into. Thisis not one of those, I mean,
this, this field takes extraeffort if you're going to be
successful. And I think thatthat's a good thing and a bad
thing, it's a good thing.Because if you're a self
starter, and you have theambition to do it, you have a
(47:27):
leg up, it's a bad thing. If youwant to skate by and not do
those things, it's gonna bereally tough. So I think for
anyone who wants to get intothis business, it's really
important to know and be honestwith yourself about the level of
commitment you're willing togive.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (47:41):
I just want to piggyback on both of those
things. I totally agree withboth you have to be a go getter,
you have to you know you youwant to follow your passion
which both of these gentlemendid and if you want more, you
know education and support andfoundational skills and
knowledge rcbc is where it's atthese these gentlemen both
(48:03):
suggested that so if you'reinterested in coming to rcbc and
taking a one off course orfollowing a degree program, or
kind of getting a refresher,please come to rcbc our
entertainment Technologiesprogram again, we have an AAS
and entertainment technologiesvideo and digital media and we
(48:24):
also have an AAS program andsound recording engineering.
Both of those have other ourradio production course our
internship course, entertainmentlaw, and then all of our
specialized courses and youknow, our faculty and staff are
amazing, they're real worldinstructors. And I pride myself
(48:44):
on getting amazing instructorsthat are working out in the
industry and we'd love to haveyou in love to see you here in
person so thank you so much forhaving me
Jason Varga (48:54):
yes thank you all for coming on the show spending
your time with me for the firstshow out from being a dad now so
hopefully get the program podoff and running each and every
month or we take a little youknow dive into this perspective
programs here at rcbc. Butagain, it's gonna do it for this
episode here the program podhope you enjoyed today's show is
I want to thanks our guests hereagain today. sny is Connor
(49:16):
Hughes NBC Sports PhiladelphiaDave Zenko actually Guys can you
say where you are where peoplego to follow you on Twitter, all
that good stuff. A little plug?
Unknown (49:25):
Yeah, sure. I'm on Twitter at D zingaro. NBCs and
all my content is on our websiteNBC Sports philadelphia.com
and I am at Connor underscore Junderscore Hughes you can find
me I think everywhere it'sInstagram and Twitter and then
for my other stuff like writtenstuff sny.tv where you can find
(49:45):
that
Jason Varga (49:46):
awesome. Well glad Aaron Rodgers didn't get traded
in the middle of this so we gotto have you for the entire show
hang up. So now you get tocontinue on with all of that I
can let you guys go but also Dr.Brookmeyer entertainment
Technologies program chair andassistant professor here at as
well as co chair for rcbc SDI ordei women's subcommittee and
hosts of the Baroness podcastwhich almost grabbed the Promote
there. The Baroness podcast isabout what
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (50:07):
the Baroness podcast is about
empowering women in BurlingtonCounty, we would love for you to
listen in.
Jason Varga (50:15):
Or we go sorry, is pushing buttons. I'm getting my
my muscle memory back down here.So all right. All right. We'll
be that we recorded one of themvery shortly, actually. So yeah,
once again, I'm Jay Varga and Iwant to if you want to learn
more about our CPCs programs youcan visit rcbc.edu and for other
rcbc podcast we have to offerincluding the Baroness podcast
highlighting powerful women inBurlington County, visit rcbc
That EDU slash podcasts. Also,be sure to subscribe to the
(50:38):
program pod on any platformwherever you get your podcasts
till next time. Thanks forlistening, gentlemen. Have a
good time. All right. Alright,see you right there. Already
Bye. Take care.
Welcome to the program pod a national award
winning program on the rcbcPodcast Network which takes a
deep dive into the programsoffered at rcbc through
different perspectives ofstudents, faculty and employers.
Hello, and welcome to theprogram pod, a now national
award winning program. We'llfind out if it's actually the
(00:22):
number one program but still tobe here, back on the air feels
good here on our CBC PodcastNetwork where we take our CBC
program and do a deep dive fromdifferent perspectives within
the program. And today, today'sepisode first of all, I'm your
host, Jay Varga. It's been awhile so I gotta get myself some
muscle memory getting yourselfback into the groove here, but
on today's episode, we'rechecking in with my direct
wheelhouse EntertainmentTechnology. And joining me today
(00:45):
we have a pair of rcbc alum, myformer radio crew, my friends
that formed over at thePemberton campus here at
former's 89 radio station nowboth thriving in the NFL as
reporters for sny in New Yorkwith Connor Hughes, covering the
New York Jets in the New YorkGiants and NBC Sports
Philadelphia, Dave Zangaro,covering our NFC champion,
Philadelphia Eagles, by the way,proud to have you guys on the
(01:08):
show. Gentlemen, thanks forcoming on the show here. No
problem. Thanks for having me,man. I'm
Unknown (01:12):
pumped. I'm excited. Yeah, this
should be fun. Yeah,
Jason Varga (01:15):
it's like old times here. And also welcoming into
the show joining my other fellowcolleague, Dr. Brooke Mailhiot,
entertainment Technologiesprogram chair and assistant
professor, co chair for the rcbcs dei women's subcommittee and
host of the Baroness podcastsand a whole list of other things
outside the organization. Whatis it that you don't do?
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (01:35):
Not much? I think I do pretty much a lot.
Yes. Thanks for having me, Jay.
Jason Varga (01:39):
Yeah, you're welcome. And it's again, finally
Nice to have you on my showhere. I know, I'm not asking the
questions. It's very exciting.Yeah, you're doing your show.
And it was the engineeringbehind it. But now again,
flipping the script andsomething I said that, you know,
I used to be definitely fully apart of when I was teaching
radio production, but we'll getto that in a second as rcbc does
embrace a student firstphilosophy. So let's start right
(01:59):
here with Connor and David. Infact, this was a show I tried to
record back into full before ittook a break for the welcoming
of the birth of my daughter andeverything was getting crazy the
height of football season. Sotheir schedule was just
maddening. So we decided toshelve it for a little bit.
Like, oh, we'll start out inFebruary and March kick off the
season, everything will be calm.And here we are, and nothing has
changed. Right? So kinda getsget to you, Connor because you
(02:22):
might have to bounce in the nextfive minutes with this whole
Aaron Rodgers?
Unknown (02:25):
I hope not.
Jason Varga (02:28):
thing kind of going on possibly being traded to the
Jets. So how has the past monthbeen for you treat you know,
covering that? Well, obviouslythe Giants but the Jets and the
Rodgers and your your sociallife and all that stuff?
Unknown (02:40):
Yeah, well, that's the thing man is I'm a little
different from Dave because Iknow he's kind of used to
playoff runs and Super Bowl runsand things like that. And my
entire career, up until Augustwas obviously centered around
being a beat writer for theJets. So I've kind of I've
always been very accustomed tonow being my super, super busy
time. Because when it was theJets, right? The offseason was
(03:01):
when there was hope. And theygot to see how the offseason was
when there was optimism. Andthat's when like everyone got
all excited. And then once theystarted playing games, and
eventually losing a ton ofgames. That's when obviously
everyone kind of forgot allabout the jets and stopped
caring and the fan base checksout. So I'm used to this kind of
being busy now the free agencyscene. But what we're obviously
experiencing right now withAaron Rodgers is something I
have not really grown accustomedto at all. But what's kind of
(03:22):
cool is like I was saying tothis actually with a friend of
mine the other day is like Isaid my entire career pretty
much has been based aroundcovering the jets, and they've
been a pretty bad football team.Throughout my entire tenure
there. You know, they had alittle glimmer of maybe a
playoff thing in 2015. But thenthey lost week 17 And were
eliminated. And now all of asudden, it's like wow, they're
gonna get somebody who'sconsidered a top five
(03:43):
quarterback in the NFL, andthey're gonna go from borderline
just ineptitude, punch line ofthe NFL to maybe a team that
reaches some of the heights thatDave is used to covering. So I
like I'd say I've been pickingDave's brain I think since I was
at rcbc. So I think if thisactually goes the direction that
Jeff think they are, I mighthave to be asking Dave, you
know, what's it like to coverthe playoffs? What's the like?
(04:05):
Central championship? Right?You're totally new, whole new
world for me.
Jason Varga (04:08):
Well speak at Dave. You know, so how's your
offseason been since the Eaglesactually went to the Super Bowl?
I mean, did you even get to haveone? I mean, it feels like we
jumped right in from the SuperBowl right to free agency.
Unknown (04:18):
Yeah, there's no offseason anymore. It's pretty
wild. There used to be like sometime in February where it would
be kind of dead and not anymore.I mean, within 17 game season.
Super Bowl got over, I got homeand then like two weeks later, I
was at the combine and you'relike thrown into the mix of
like, alright, for agenciescoming. The draft is coming and
(04:40):
you're still like, trying toprocess the Superbowl it just
happened. So it was a lot andthere's not really I used to
like try to take a trip inFebruary it was like my time to
get away and there's justthere's no time anymore. It's
good though. It's always fun tohave a busy offseason and like
the Eagles even though you knowthey've been pretty Good they're
(05:01):
a busy team all the time likethey're always in the mix of
free agency and trades and evenwith no money like they're
always doing something which isgood it's keeps people engaged
throughout the year where someteams are kind of just good and
boring. The Eagles are neverboring which is fun.
Jason Varga (05:17):
Yeah, well I'm sure Connor got a taste of that too
when the eagles had to play theGiants and I think the How are
the fans treating you whenyou're putting your your
predictions and stuff out therehow was that experience dealing
with
Unknown (05:28):
I will go down to the boat saying that I've always
predicted the eagles to win Ialways said that now I did think
that it was going to be a littlebit closer than what it ended up
being but the basis of that waskind of always on the Eagles not
really having to play ameaningful game in quite a while
right I mean, they were prettymuch in cruise control after
they jumped out to that red hotstart had the bye week the
(05:50):
Giants were not in cruisecontrol. We're coming off the
big wind where I was like, youknow, this might be an
opportunity where eagles are alittle sluggish, Giants can jump
on them early and maybe it's agame turns out that there was no
sluggish start from the Eaglesand all we saw was the vast vast
talent discrepancy between thosetwo teams. And it ended up being
quite the quite the shellacking.But I did get reintroduced and
because again, I grew up inSouth Jersey so I'm pretty
(06:11):
familiar with Eagle fans. Butobviously I've been separated
from that for a while I don'tlive in that area anymore. So
you know when some of thoseclips I had done in Preview
clips I had done startedspreading around the South
Jersey area. I got rereintroduced to the intensity
and the passion that the eaglefans have for their teams but it
was hysterical because like acouple other ones. I generally
(06:33):
stay away from mentions but acouple of times I clicked on
some of the some of the I thinklike barstool grabbed that or
someone else grabbed thatclicked like to read what some
people were saying. And what washysterical was I saw some people
I went to high school with likeno he's not a bad guy. He's
actually really nice. I was likeOh at least somebody's got my
back and Philly
Jason Varga (06:49):
Yeah, well it's a whole new experience when you
incorporate the eagle side ofwhich again thieves thieves well
versed in the the engagementthere but so actually kinda was
talking back to your yourbackstory here because you have
your local guy right, you wentto Seneca High School, shout out
to tabernacle, my hometown aswell even though I was showing
him then you go right herethrough rcbc and then
(07:11):
successfully landing obviouslywent to Monmouth and such but
you successfully doing your job.We are now covering two teams
and the number one sports marketin the country. How did you get
there? You know, someexperiences along the way. Yeah,
sure gives you a story.
Unknown (07:26):
No, like, in all seriousness, man, like I owe a
ton of my my career to rcbc. Anda big reason for that is I mean,
you know, Jay, you knew me likeright when I enrolled at rcbc.
And like my number one goal ofwhat I wanted in life was to be
a play by play guy you know,that's what I want it was play
by play broadcaster play by playbroadcaster wants to be the next
(07:46):
Bob pop or the next Joe Bucksomething like that. I got into
BCC got involved or rcbc Sorry,got involved with the PSAT
eight, nine, the the radiostation. And I started doing the
play by play and colorcommentary. And it was a blast.
I'm like, sweet, this is it. Idid it in high school for LD TV.
Now I'm here doing it incollege, I'm going to transfer
(08:06):
out I'm going to keep going andthis is what I'm going to do
with my career and my first orsecond semester at rcbc. Like
you got to take your yourprerequisites. So one of mine
was a history class. And I don'teven know if he's still a
professor at rcbc. I don't knowif he left or if he's retired or
whatever. But his name wasRobert Koval. And I remember is
within our history class. Yeah.So within our history class, he
(08:28):
broke us up into our majors. SoI was a communication major. So
I was with all the othercommunications people and there
were psychology and sociologyand educate all that stuff. And
then after he broke us up intoour study groups, he went around
every single kid and withintheir perspective fields, what
do you want to do within that?So if you want to be a teacher
specifically what to do? How doyou want to teach you want to go
(08:48):
Elementary, great, all that funstuff. So he gets to me
communications big and I waslike Professor Koval, I want to
be a play by play guy. And helooked at me and goes, you
better learn to write, and thenimmediately went on to the next
kid. And I was like, Oh, heclearly didn't hear me because I
just want I said, I want to be aplay by play guy and talk. Like
I didn't say anything aboutwriting, what the hell is he
talking about? So I went up tohim after class and I was like,
you know, Professor, like, youthrew me for a loop there. What
(09:10):
do you mean, I need to learn howto write and he he offered me 10
points extra credit, I think Iwas if I could go home that day,
and find any play by playbroadcaster that didn't have
some form of a background inwriting, whether it was for his
college paper when he first gotout of college media relations,
media guides all that fun stuff.And I know my strengths and my
(09:31):
weaknesses and history is notone of them. So I was like, oh,
yeah, I could use that extracredit went looking and what I
found out was that ProfessorCOBOL was was spot on and I
couldn't find one and so thenext day I went to the guidance
out guidance guidancecounselor's office and signed up
for an intro to journalism classand field that not once did I
(09:51):
ever think I would get into inany way, shape or form ended up
becoming a full blown passion ofmine and I just fell head over
heels in love with writing. AndI would take I was at the time,
like I said, working for theradio station calling games, I
would basically take the gamesthat I was covering, go home and
write stories on him and writegame stories or featured
(10:12):
articles or whatever. And then Iwould take it to my professor
Steve Wozniak, and intro tojournalism. And after class, we
tear him apart, and then webuild it back up, and we tear
him apart again and build themback up. And I'd write something
else. And we tear it apart. AndI went from working with
Professor react to suddenlysending emails out to people
within the field, includingDave, like Dave was one of the
guys that I emailed some of myclips to, like, hey, we kind of
(10:34):
went to the same school, we'rekind of from the same area, you
know, I could use some advice.I'm just starting this, I'm
trying to make up some groundfiguring out what I'm doing. And
Dave was awesome to this day. Isaid, Dave, I told you this at
the combine this year, I thinkabout how I still do not write
the word however, because you'veingrained that in my brain from
like, 10 plus years ago. Butlike just one of those things,
and my career sort of took offfrom there. So it went from
(10:56):
writing stories in Berlin, likeour CBCs journalism class for
the radio station to ProfessorRoy Beck helped me get a
freelancing gig of theBurlington County Times, which
coincidentally was also whereDave was for a minute or two.
And then from there, it's justabout climbing the ladder. So I
went from Burlington County, theBurlington County Times as a
freelancer to part time for thestar ledger covering high school
(11:18):
sports. And then when Itransferred into Monmouth, I
started covering the jets forabout.com. And the journal
Inquirer did that for two years,went to the USA Today Sports
Media Group. Eventually, in2016, I got my first full time
job at the star LeBron starledger covering the jets as a
beat and worked there for twoyears before spending five years
at the athletic and then thispast August was when sny hired
me, just to do in addition tostill writing and reporting and
(11:42):
features, and columns and allthat stuff. Now I just do a lot
more TV than I ever did before.
Jason Varga (11:47):
So fantastic story right there.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (11:49):
That's awesome. Yeah,
Unknown (11:50):
I try to try to speed it up because I know I'm very
the talking never left. longwinded.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (11:56):
I think you're great. And what I love
about being here, it's mystarting off from my undergrad
was my first internship wassports. So you guys are are
bringing me home because Ihaven't done sports since and I
knew that wasn't my passion. ButI knew nothing about sports and
was thrown into it. Um, I workedfor a company out in Westchester
(12:17):
and we followed St. Joe's hawksand did the Phil Martelli Hawk
talk show and I followed andthem to the NCAA is when Jameer
Nelson was on the team and I didtemple sports now with Bobby
Wallace and inside golf with Doncannon, and I did some of those
shows on C and eight and thingslike that, but you're bringing
me bringing me home to my rootswith the sports talk. So and
(12:39):
kudos to you guys for you know,coming on and sharing your
stories because, you know, likeJay said about we're putting our
students first and, and beingable to share the success
stories that both of you had hasbeen really wonderful. I came in
right after you guys graduated.We have an amazing entertainment
(13:03):
Technologies Program here atrcbc. We have two arms,
basically of our degreeprograms, we have a video and
digital media program, whichreally focuses on independent
cinematography production, youknow, entertainment technology
in the sense of video editing,video production, documentary
(13:23):
filmmaking, TV production. Andthen we also have the arm of the
sound recording engineering,which is then focusing on
advanced music production livesound reinforcement producing
distribution. And and both ofthose arms really have a have a
have a radio element. It's kindof morphed over the years from
(13:45):
being more of that terrestrialradio but but to basically what
we're doing today is podcasting.And it's really wonderful to see
how you've grown through theranks of of like you said about
it's all about the writing andteaching the students to write
and that's definitely one of themain foundations of anything I
(14:05):
think in this industry, whetheryou're going into filmmaking
when you're going into you know,audio production or whether
you're going into you know,radio or podcasting and
journalism. So that's wonderfulto hear that you know your
stories
Jason Varga (14:19):
Yeah, well, I saw Connor because he was kind of
already on his way. So I thinkwhen I was just started get more
involved the radio station and Ijust stuff on the weekends but
also work commercial radio forCBS and eagles as well. So I
didn't really get more involvedgiven kind of where I cut my
teeth right and I want to getback to the program because I've
noticed spawn multiple successstories and I can see they were
he was kind of going off andConnor kind of reminded me of me
(14:40):
when I was started working myway up the ranks at CBS.
Unfortunately, you know, whenstarted left and a hole at CBS
itself kind of just really lostits identity. I took a chance to
kind of come back to the radiostation and get back to the
roots but I saw something in himand he kept asking me questions
even though we get in troublebecause he wasn't supposed to be
working with me at times.Because I'm trying to teach him
because he was he was definitelyobviously the writer right Yeah,
(15:00):
but I knew, especially in radio,you wanted to have a tight audio
production, I kept on tighter,tighter tighter and trying to
develop some of that stuff. ButI think between the writing I
also told my students to I've,you know, acting class was
always good to do know how toenunciate and, and do stuff, but
I say, but you need to be awriter as well. So it's good to
Connor kind of back that up.Because you know yet that
(15:20):
writing intensive courses when Isaid, I know Rowan was very
specific in writing intensive,it sucked. But it made me a
better person, because you wantto sound educated, where it's
basically when you're conversingon the radio, right, it's kind
of conversing the way you'rewriting and stuff. And it's a
little different. It's almost asimilar because when you're on
paper, and sometimes you have alittle bit of photography, you
(15:41):
have the photos and kind ofcapture a little bit there. But
really radio you have to kind ofdescribe the scene. And you
don't, you don't have that, andyou can kind of do that and
writing too. And I think thoseskills on Yeah,
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (15:49):
and you're without the visual, you know, a
lot of times with some of this,you're without the visual, you
know, attachment to that. Andit's the way the word and then
verbiage. And I and I tell thisto my students, it's the way the
word especially, and how you sayit, to and puppy, you know, and
I'm sure it's, it's the publicspeaking, it's journalism, it's
(16:10):
taking the English classes and,and, and that all feeds in
together, and a lot of studentsthat are going into the more
creative or the sports arenadon't realize that those, you
know, those foundational classesthat you you had talked about
Connor, they mean so much, butyou they don't realize, when you
(16:31):
come you're like I gotta take,it's all it's all like, What are
you talking about? I gotta takeEnglish, you know, I just want
to come in and make a film or Ijust want to get out. Yeah, the
glamour. Yeah, exactly.
Unknown (16:42):
They completely changed my career. I mean, literally, I
was going one direction. And itwas one random day in a history
class with a professor that Ididn't know beforehand that
literally has completely shapedmy life. So I mean, what I do, I
love, love what I do for aliving, I wouldn't change a
second or anything about it. AndI wouldn't have this life or be
doing what I'm doing now, if itwasn't for that class, because
(17:02):
it was never something I evereven thought of doing in
this field. In general, I thinkit helps to be well rounded as a
person like background, too,because so much of it is like
trying to connect with people,right, like, so if you have any
kind of background in that area.And then like with the writing,
too, it's not just about puttingwords on paper, it's about
structuring your thoughts, andbeing able to express them. So
(17:26):
like that, that stuff transfers,whether you're writing or
speaking, whether you're on aradio station, or you're doing a
podcast, or you're on TV, like alot of those fundamentals are
the same. So there's value init, even if it's not necessarily
like what you think you want todo. I can still help out quite a
bit.
Jason Varga (17:45):
Well, and speaking of background, too, because we
didn't really get the touch baseon your background. They've you
know, I know similar to Connor,as well, you bounced around a
little bit more than Connor kindof staying in that New York
market. You know, can you tellus?
Unknown (17:56):
I was Connor, five years before? Yeah, no, I was. I
did like him. I was we I didsome color commentary for high
school football games. But whileI was doing that, I started to
freelance at the bronze and kindof time so I was kind of double
dipping. At that point. I waslike doing the radio, but then
(18:17):
writing freelance and I did thatfor a while I was still there,
then right right out of school,I then I went to Rowan. And then
right after I graduated, I had acouple part time jobs, one of
the BCTs who actually did workthere. And then I started then
Comcast, Sportsnet. And those,it was like two years where man
I was like, I was so tired allthe time, I was grinding because
(18:39):
there was two part time jobs.That probably should have come
up like 4550 hours a week. But Iwas put in like, at least 40 at
both of them. I did that forlike two years. So it was a lot
and I was like work all day inPhilly. And then I would like
bust it to get to like Riversideto cover girls basketball game,
(19:02):
or something like that. And thenlike when I really started
covering the NFL was actually ina lockout year in 2011. There
were a few of the Eagles playerswere working out in Marlton at
the municipal fields, so I justbugged my editor to let me go.
And I went every day for thatsummer. And it was like, in the
(19:23):
beginning it was Michael Vickand Jeremy Maclin and Sean
McCoy. And then by the end ofit, it was Mike Kafka throwing
to Jason a bomb. And I was thereevery day and I just, I made it
a point to be there every day.And then once the lockout ended,
and they were back at Lehigh, Iwent and I didn't give me hotel
room at a drive to lie every dayand drive back. But then like I
(19:46):
kept earning more reps coveringeagles. So I then I covered them
kind of part time for that yearand then part of the next year
and then got an opportunity inHouston with then Comcast
SportsNet Houston, and it was ashort lived, adventure down Are
two years but that's when Ireally learned how to be on a
beat and cover something everyday. And we had a crazy talented
(20:09):
group down there. It was likeme, James Palmer, Tiffany
Blackman, who was at NFLNetwork, Steve Bunin, who was at
ESPN, Sebastian Salazar who wasESPN. So I just had like this
great young and really talentedstaff and I learned so much. And
then when that ended, I waslike, I don't know what's gonna
happen. Like, I moved home withmy parents for a little bit. We
(20:29):
all got laid off down there. AndI figured, well, I'll try to do
it again. But I don't know ifit's gonna work. I ended up
working at the courier post forlike, six months, and it was a
great job. Then, NBC SportsPhilly, I'd been like starting
to do some freelance work withthem. And then in 2015, that
hired me full time again. AndI've been there ever since. So,
what was it different fun? Like,I enjoy the ride. And like, I'll
(20:52):
do this as long as someone letme do it.
Jason Varga (20:54):
How's that market? The sports market difference
between Houston and Philly?
Unknown (20:59):
Yeah, my engagement. One of my first like, few weeks
in Houston. Like in Philly, Ithink I'm generally like one of
the nicer people in the media.Like, it's just I think I'm a
nice person. Down there, I was ajerk, all of a sudden, it took
some getting used to becausethey saw me as like, brash east
coast, like getting all myquestions in kind of talking
(21:23):
over people. But that's justwhat it is. When you cover one
of the bigger market teams likeyou just you kind of get into
like fight mode, in a way andyou become really competitive
and there wasn't like that downthere. So I had to kind of
temper it a little bit. But itwas fun covering a team where
there wasn't all thatcompetition for a little while.
(21:44):
And it allowed me to like seewhat this job is like in a
different market. It made meappreciate Philly more on
honestly made me appreciate howmuch the people care and how
much good content there iscoming out of that locker room
and out of that building. It'stough at times like Connor sees
like, the Philly beat crew wasthe biggest in the country.
We'll go at the combine. What dowe have like 12 people there.
(22:07):
It's just
I remember at the Senior Bowl,that's what I remember all the
group you guys going to the samesmashing event.
It's it's good for the fans.Like it gives them a ton of
content, but it makes it verycompetitive. And it's hard to
stand out. So I think that thatmakes everyone better who covers
the Eagles
Jason Varga (22:24):
surprise is actually bigger than New York. I
mean, I know Philly
Unknown (22:27):
it. No, it's crazy, man. Because it's like every I
think there. There mighttechnically be more outlets that
cover the Jets and the Giantsbut it feels like every single
Eagles outlet outlet has liketwo or three people that work
for it. Like it's a it's a it'sa monster. I mean, it's in the I
remember the first Super Bowlthe Eagles went to like I was at
the star ledger at the time. Andthey sent me over to chip in on
(22:48):
the Eagles coverage. And Iwalked in and I knew like Dave,
I knew Elliot and guys likethat. But like I remember just
seeing this massive amount oflike a horde of reporters. It
was like Holy hell. And I saidto Dave, I was like, man, they
just they must bring in everyoneextra for the Superbowl. And
he's like now this is prettymuch just a normal Wednesday.
It's wild. It really is crazy.
Jason Varga (23:08):
Now, kind of touching base on what he was
doing because Dave said he wasdriving to Lehigh and doing
everything else always being ayes person covering girls
basketball, you got to startsomewhere. Is that something you
tell your students? I think wetalked about this all time Say
yes, say yes. And
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (23:21):
I love that you brought that up. And we
actually we just talked aboutthis this morning, we had an
another rcbc alumnus talk aboutit about being the go getter.
Always saying yes, taking thejob getting your feet wet
shadowing people interning,whatever you need to do to get
your you know, get your skin inthe game, basically, like you
(23:42):
need to, you know, you said wearmany hats, get you know, take
the writing job, take you know,take the recording job, Take
anything you want, you have toget yourself out there. You
know, and one of the things I dotell my students this is because
in our program, and I'm a hugeadvocate of experiential
learning of real worldexperience, I can teach you
(24:05):
everything that you need to knowyes in the classroom, but
there's nothing you can learnfrom me about like he's saying
walking into a room with 25other reporters, trying to get
an interview trying to ask aquestion knowing how to you
know, you know, being on thefield and getting the interview
or taking the best shot andgetting the right shot, getting
(24:26):
the good audio but you have tolearn that from somebody that's
been there doing that and so oneof the things I push is you know
to go out there get you know,Shadow somebody, go reach out
keep sending emails, hey, likeConnor said, I sent you know,
Dave an email, Hey, I'm localfrom your area, like can you
(24:46):
give me any tips or tricks orhelped me out or whatever? That
is what this industry is aboutis about networking, getting
your name out there. You know,and having that mentality of
being able to Go and get, getget the job like, you know, he
said, I didn't care how much itcosts out of my pocket, I'm
driving up to Lehigh, I'm gonnado it for free, I'm gonna cover
(25:09):
it, I'm gonna send it out, I'mgonna do it. That's what you
need that like internalmotivation to be able to be in
this industry. I think if that'snot something that you have,
it's going to be difficult, youhave to know how to same thing
you have to know how to speak tosomebody, you have to be able to
network, you have to be able totalk you have to be able to do
those things. So I love it thatthey both connected themselves
(25:31):
to that, that they were gogetters and they have that
mentality. And I think
Jason Varga (25:34):
one of the good well, yeah, I
Unknown (25:36):
was I was gonna say J even offer that because I may
jet I'm sure Dave does this too.Like anytime you speak to a
class, you speak to a highschool class, a college class or
you go into your DMS and you gotcollege kids that are reaching
out to you like so many of them.Take the stance of like, oh my
God, I want to do what you do Iwant to cover the Jets. How do I
cut like, you know, for me,obviously, I covered the Jets,
the Giants, but mostly jets andgiant fans to follow me as Dave
(25:58):
has the Eagles and they're allHow do I cover the Jets? How do
I cover the Giants? And I tellthem all the exact same thing.
Like, that's how it starts likeyou can't go into this saying I
want to cover X team. Likethat's not really how you want
to do it. Like yeah, I was veryfortunate that, you know, I've
kind of I didn't have to move asmuch as Dave did. But for me,
it's like you just have to takewhatever opportunities there and
(26:20):
just continue to climb theladder. I mean, I when I was at
the BCT I was writing featureson on weightlifters like high
school weightlifters andfencers. And my first beat that
I had was track and field like Ididn't know anything about track
and field other than you run,but like I embraced it. And I
owned it and like through thatwas where I met rube. And like
Reuben Frank was like, ended upbeing a big mentor for me and
(26:40):
things like that. So there's allthese little things like that
you just have to keep I mean,Dave, you probably did the same
thing. Like when we were at theBCT. I remember covering like
Little League district baseballgames over the summer, like
Yeah, I wanted to go on now mywife, but I want to go on a date
with my my girlfriend, I wantedto go out and party with my
friends. But it was like, thisis an opportunity to go out
there and cover an eight yearold baseball game, get quotes,
(27:01):
write a game story, file it. AndI just kept looking at it as
opportunities that if someday Iwas going to be going for a job
and you put Connors resume nextto player X his resume, like I
can't control. If that person'smore sourced than me, I can't
control if that person's anaturally more gifted writer
than I am. I can't do all ofthat. But the one thing that I
can control is out working thatperson. And the one thing I
(27:23):
promised myself when I wanted toget into this field and I wanted
to cover professional sports fora living, which I knew where
they were going to be tons andtons of other people that wanted
to do it too, because it is anawesome job is that I needed to
separate myself from whoever Iwas going to be competing for a
job against and the way that Isaw or the opportunity and way
that I sought to do that wasjust to outwork them. And that
meant doing things that weren'tthat fun. Like I didn't drive
(27:43):
the Lehigh, but the Giantstraining camp at MetLife. And I
remember when I had I wascovering high school sports had
the summer off. So I just founda website that didn't pay me but
they got me a credential. And itwas just an opportunity to put
my byline next to the big guysat the New York Post and The
Daily News and the star ledgerand grind to compete against
them to learn from them in thefield. And I drove up to East
Rutherford from Medford, NewJersey every other day, you
(28:06):
know, to go to training camp andit wasn't paid. But it was just
an opportunity to grind and getbetter and work and compete
against somebody else. And if Iwas competing against them, I
was learning from them in thesame way and eventually tried to
start beating them. And then,you know, when opportunities
came for a job, I was fortunateenough where you know, you made
enough inroads and you hadenough of a resume and you had
enough clips that I was able tocompete with the other people
(28:27):
that were going forward, andthey picked me over over the
alternatives.
I'm glad you brought that up toConnor because like, I think
there are fewer opportunities inlike, some spaces, but there are
other opportunities that havecome up in other places. So like
I look at my path and your path.And it's like local newspapers,
it's tough like, like even theones that are left, like they're
(28:48):
not going to pay you to go coversomething. But there are all
these websites now like kind oflike fan base websites, but it's
just a different way to get toget that work. And if you're
like like I always say I wasreally fortunate to be able to
do unpaid internships, I knownot everyone's net position. But
if you are in that position, andyou're able to like take
(29:09):
advantage of those things. LikeI was like, that's really how I
got my start. Really with likebuilding connections in the
business. I interned for CSNPhilly in 2009. And I got, you
just put in the work like, youknow, you're not getting paid,
but I would like I would bethere all the time. They were in
(29:30):
the World Series that year. AndI was there until like three in
the morning, which I don't knowwhat the law is on all that but
I was leaving, I was like, I'mgonna work all night and do
whatever I can do. And like itleads to things if people see
that you're putting in the work.
Yep. And that was me, man. Itwas like if I could if I could
do it for if I could go toe totoe with the New York Daily News
in New York Post writing for bigblue interactive.com. I felt
(29:53):
like when the opportunity came,I didn't if I proved myself
there and put out the same kindof production and in some cases
better production than the otherguys. I felt that the other
people that were going forwardthat were in the farm system,
they were covering high schoolsports at the time, I was like,
you don't know, here's I'vecovered High School, I'm doing
that. But also while I'm doingthat, I'm also doing this. And
if this is as good a qualitythat like as this where I'm
(30:14):
calling people and trying tobreak news with big blue
interactive or about.com, as mywith my byline, imagine what I
can do if you give me the powerof a major publication, and it
was just a grind and acommitment and eventually does
take someone taking a chance onyou. And then once you get that
opportunity to get that chance,you have to make the most of it.
Jason Varga (30:31):
And as I wait, but my question of So what advice
would you like to give toaspiring reporters? That one
goes right out the window,because these guys are pros and
cons, but we offer internshipshere through your program to
correct Yeah,
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (30:45):
I mean, what's been really great as we
have a new Experiential Learningoffice here, and I can't tell
you how many people reach out tome on a daily basis, local
production companies, recentlydrone, a drone company that are
looking for internships, so theneed is out there. And again,
(31:08):
like they said that, you know,they were trying to do anything
and everything, to just gettheir name out there, I didn't
matter what it was just to keepto keep going crafting, you
know, crafting their passioncrafting what they're doing. And
I think one of the things that Ipride myself on is the great
connections that I have with thecommunity. And that was both of
(31:29):
them got their start, right,they're both talking about
Burlington County Times, and,and the and the ledger, and you
know, and that's a beautifulthing to connect with your
community. And that's all whatrcbc also has is that community
connection. And that's greatthat these local production
companies and people arereaching out and want to use our
(31:50):
students and want to helpsupport the students in the
community. So if anybody has aproduction company, or is
looking for internships, please,please reach out to myself, and
I will put you in contact. Andwe have a great experiential
learning and Career ServicesCenter that has handshake and we
(32:12):
provide, you know, directinternships for our students.
And that is something that I hadin my undergraduate coursework
that I brought here, when Ideveloped some new curriculum is
that I put in mandatoryinternships into both arms of
each program. So students cannotleave here with a two year
degree without having aninternship, because that is one
(32:34):
of the most important pieces ofthe puzzle in this industry, is
to be able to get real worldexperience. And I think that
both of them can probablysupport me on this is that that
real world experience, gets younetworking gets your name out
there gets you connections, andyou never know where that
(32:55):
connection is going to lead you.There's connections that I had
when I did my undergrad that Istill have to this day that I
still connect with to this day.And they will even though
they're on to the sports arena,and all those kinds of things.
It's a small family in thisindustry, that there's so many
connections to so many people,that every day, you can make a
(33:19):
connection with somebody whoknows somebody, it's like that
six degrees of separation inthis industry. And I think you
and I have also talked aboutthat, that the experiential
learning aspect and getting thestudents that real world
connection and moving thatclassroom to career connection,
of what they've learned in theclassroom, and then now put it
to real to real life is a hugething for them. And I think
(33:43):
that's one thing that acommunity college has over a lot
of other schools in the area isthat we have that close
connection with the communityand we can provide those
connections to students.
Jason Varga (33:55):
Yeah, that's definitely one thing I harped on
on my students a lot is to makesure try to get you know, find a
place that you really you know,passionate about, and maybe get
a foot in the door. But if notsomewhere kind of close that
just to get the workingexperience, because I think the
misperception a lot in thisindustry is that it's too big,
right? There's too many peopleor whatever. But in the end, I
think this industry is reallystill well connected. And it's a
(34:15):
lot smaller than, you know,people make it out to be and you
never know who knows somebodyelse. And you follow that
lineage, lineage there. Youknow, and I'm gonna wrap this up
in just a little because I knowwe're still on borrowed time,
we're still waiting maybe forAaron Rodgers to drop because I
can see Connor kind of checkingdown and keeping you know, his
eyes, split ways and everythingelse kind of going on in his
background. But of course, youknow, all three of you really
(34:39):
though it was what do you thinkoutside because I think we can
all take the easy way out andI'm trying to make this as a
facilitator and a questionprovider here. Because we can
all take the easy way out sayingof newspaper All right, but
what's been the biggest changeyou think in the field so far?
Since you've become so are yousince you were students to where
you are now in your careers, andmaybe in the field
Unknown (35:00):
Yeah, I mean, for me, I think it's that you can't do one
thing. I mean that that doesn'tI think, Dave. I mean, it's it's
funny. It's like the way ourcareers have gone. I mean,
Dave's at NBC Sports Philly andthen NBC Sports Phillies New
York sister station is sny. Sowe ended up at the same spots.
He's just in Philly. I'm in NewYork. But where are we both are
our jobs are very, very similar.And I think what's crazy is
(35:23):
like, you go back back inprobably 567 10 years ago, you
would think like, oh, I want tobe a beat writer. And what that
means is you cover the team on aday to day basis, or oh, I want
to be in radio. And that meansyou're just on the right words.
That's that that's out. I mean,you can't be a one trick pony,
you have to do everything. Imean, you really, really do like
my job now is, I basically beatright and i Report i write
(35:45):
columns, I write features. ThenI go on television, both as a
reporter where I'm answeringquestions as a reporter, but
then they also bring me on as apersonality, where I'm debating
and stuff. And then you alsothrow in the podcasting area,
which I kind of put hand in handwith radio and doing radio hits,
and podcasts and things likethat, where like, you have to be
able to do everything. If youcan only do one thing or you
pigeonhole yourself into justone thing. You might be really,
(36:09):
really damn good at that onething, but you're not going to
get picked over someone that cando five things pretty good. You
know what I mean? So you reallyneed to be able to make yourself
as versatile as possible, and beable to do so much because yeah,
I'm technically when an NFLreporter for sny is what they
call me. But within that littleNFL reporter umbrella is like
the million and one things thatI do that are different every
day. But I think Dave canprobably touch on this too. I
(36:31):
love every second of that,because you keep your fresh,
like, I never get bored of doingone thing because I'm doing so
many different things, which isanother one of the things that I
love about my job is that I'malways I've always feel like I'm
on my toes. I'm always excitedto do something, because I feel
like I'm always doing somethingdifferent.
You know, there's always newthings to conquer, too, right?
Like doing TV and doing like,debate show or like your
(36:51):
answering questions is sodifferent than, like I've hosted
shows, right? And you're readinglike, reading prompter is
something I always thought like,that's really easy. You're just
reading as word scroll acrossthe screen. It's hard, it's
really hard. And it's fun tolike, find those challenges,
especially after you've beendoing something for a while,
like finding new things that arehard, because you don't want to
(37:15):
ever get like complacent, youdon't ever think like I figured
this out because then your workis probably going to suffer a
little bit. So I find that stuffactually helps me stay on it a
little bit better. Becausethere's certain parts of our job
where you know, you've beendoing it for so long, I can kind
of mail this in. And like it'shuman nature to do that at
(37:36):
times, but I think doing allthose different things kind of
keeps you sharp and it keeps youthinking about growing either
accompany your brand. And kindof piggybacking off of I know
you mentioned like podcastscounter, which is like, podcasts
weren't a thing when I was incollege. Yeah, they kind of were
they were like kind of around,but like you have to be willing
(37:56):
to embrace whichever directionit goes. Because you're probably
not going to be able to steer itin a direction like it the whole
media markets and the whole waythings change, it evolves, you
just have to be willing to gowith it and find your place and
carve out your niche there. Andlike podcasting has been really
fun. For me, it's like a newmedium to do it. Because like
(38:17):
you end up our podcast has donereally well because it's like a
community and people feel likethey know you. And it's it's
something that I never eventhought about, like wanting to
do, but it's one of the things Ienjoy about my job most.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (38:31):
And I think they they both kind of took my
answer, but I'll just kind ofphrase it into one word is or
two words is lifelong learning.You can never stop learning,
like, you know, they said about,you know, the morphing of the
technology and the accessibilityand the change of that. And, you
know, and exactly what Dave wassaying about podcasting. You
(38:55):
know, Jay did a fabulous jobwith our radio station and our
radio production course here.And then when I we kind of
changed up the curriculum,because we have to change with
this times we have to keepmoving forward. And we have to
keep learning new new tips andtricks and tools of the trade
and morphing that curriculuminto Yes, there is the golden
(39:17):
age of radio, terrestrial radioand all that kind of stuff. But
now, podcasting and internetradio is the new thing. And
that's why we're here at thisplatform today exactly talking
about this, and and being ableto enhance the curriculum and
move the curriculum forward. Youknow, that's what you have to
kind of do. And it's the same ineducation too. Right. So
(39:38):
morphing the radio productionclass to online and utilizing
elements for tools online andbringing podcasting to the
forefront here at rcbc was oneof those things and all leading
into being that lifelonglearner. You know, I'm always
learning new things every daystudents come in and start
telling me about this app andthis program and this is what
(40:00):
They do. And, you know, wow, Inever heard about this, let's go
and look through that, you know,now we were doing a lot more
mobile journalism that hasn'tbeen done before on using our
cell phones, instead of using,you know, cinema cameras, and,
you know, just being able tochange up and morph into the,
you know, what is the now andhaving that access and bringing
(40:24):
that to the students. That'ssomething that I think here at
rcbc, we pride ourselves on andthey hit the and they said it
great that it's, you always haveto be a lifelong learner, that
you're always learning somethingnew, you always have to be that
jack of all trades, and kind ofmaking sure that you're, you
know, getting exposure to everyelement of production, whether
(40:46):
that's like he said, in front ofthe camera behind the camera,
and having that exposure reallymakes you that well rounded
person that can you know, fitinto sports can fit into
documentary can fit into allthose areas of production.
Jason Varga (41:00):
Yeah, I think, like myself being a lifelong learner,
as we shifted the radio formatinto the podcast network, same
thing, technology can be, youknow, a little overwhelming at
times, when you want to keepchanging, it's gonna stay with
the times, but also be excitingbecause you look at some of the
technology I'm using now, likethis podcast machine versus, you
know, what I was trying to do apodcast for CBS back then I was
like, room. So you know, all thebanks and stuff, I basically
(41:21):
have like a little console and alittle box, and it's just
unbelievable, you're, you'reconstantly having to adapt, and
that's what makes you stand out.And I think it's another thing I
always stressed on, when I teachmy students is just, you know,
try to learn as much as you can,especially now with the with
social media and engagement,there's jobs out there for
being, you know, that creativecontent, and you and video
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (41:41):
10 Knowing video analytics, you know,
little 32nd You know, teasersand, and knowing the audience
for online, I mean, you know,that wasn't around when I was in
school. So that's a whole notherelement to, for them to connect
and for jobs and, and contentcreation and being creative and
producing that kind of content.And I'm sure both of those
(42:02):
gentlemen have seen that too.Changing in the sports world,
too. Yeah,
Jason Varga (42:05):
I'm actually trying to teach myself now some more
video content based stuff,because we're trying to employ
that here a little bit. Youknow, when I was I said, I want
to grow my continued resume andI want to, especially with my
daughter getting when she startsto get older, you know what I
mean? You're like, I don't meanthe old guy fumbling around,
like, I don't know how to parsethis little button, ya know,
they're gonna teach me you'regonna let me drill things. Yeah.
(42:26):
So speaking of and I said, we'regonna wrap it up pretty quickly
here. So, again, we startedworking on a newer segment for
the show because I tried tobring that radio personality
from what I was doing, you know,my actual radio stuff and
podcasts can sometimes be alittle on the don't education
sometimes it's not as maybe hipand entertaining as it can be a
time when you try to Yeah, andyou know, and get that
(42:47):
commercial broadcasting so yougot to work in a bit right and
or segments and stuff. So Istarted working in some dad
jokes and now because I waspracticing before my baby girl
got here and now it's here, youknow, and efficiently now. Yes,
I'm officially officially a dadso and it's crazy and I'm trying
to still get my brain backtogether and sleep deprivation
is a real thing but sleepExactly. So the question to
(43:10):
everybody is I work on somestuff I used to try to keep it
theme towards the program itselfbut some of them are a little
not as maybe that funny to me. Iguess. Oh, man. Okay, first one
What animal is best at hitting abaseball
Unknown (43:26):
Oh my I don't know what what a bat Oh yeah.
Jason Varga (43:33):
Oh, right. Okay, so that was that we can follow that
one away for her later allright. Why did the farmer think
he could be a music producer?
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (43:42):
I don't know. tract or something that
track I don't know.
Jason Varga (43:46):
Close somewhat they just not even answering he's
just like I'm out. He had a tonof beats Oh, I like that. Okay.
Oh, all right. Now these onesprobably might crash and burn
but we'll wrap it up real quickwhat did the triangle say to the
circle what your pointless
Unknown (44:11):
write these down we got on our way to
Jason Varga (44:13):
this one. This one is actually more of an inside
joke but I'm still talking toConnor and Dave What it tells me
Connor logs stuck in this onecircle sometimes we can't get
out of what the other friendRicky that which Dave's very
close friends with but I thinkthis is more of our friend
Ricky's question No, but whatare you already saying? What do
you call a boomerang? Thatdoesn't work for me now the bad
(44:39):
guests stick Okay, well, yeah,all right. All right. So I have
one yes, yes. You
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (44:49):
know jokes. Okay. Here we go.
Unknown (44:51):
What did the the fish say when he swim into a wall?
What? What dam
Jason Varga (45:00):
The new show rcbc podcasts puns and like it.
Alright kids, you know I'm gonnalet you go because again, Connor
especially well, obviously bothyou not to describe you as well,
but I think
Unknown (45:13):
we made it through so I'm happy. Yeah, I'm glad we
made it through. It's like Isaid we were supposed to I was
supposed to we were supposed todo this in person and I'm like,
Dude, I'm so sorry. Like thiscould happen in any moment. I'm
like, Hey, I'm basically likehostage, right? He's telling
Jason Varga (45:24):
he's trying to golf to him. He's got a suit in his
car in case he's gotta go do alive Hey, up. So and that's a
Unknown (45:28):
little careful with the suit in the car. Connor, I once
had a sport coat that I was Ihad hung up and the sun through
the window faded.
Jason Varga (45:36):
Really? Yeah. Thanks. Wow, I
Unknown (45:40):
never even think that would be possible. Wow. Thank
you.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (45:42):
Don't leave it in there too long.
Jason Varga (45:44):
Or you know, so things about looking into
getting reporting, one of thetips is definitely don't leave
your suit in the car. Like thatone. All right. Anything you
guys want to say to again, maybesome students out there looking
to get into I think you kind oftalked touched base on it a
little bit. But one final kindof thought from the both of you.
Unknown (46:01):
I think we touched upon a lot of it. But I mean, if they
ever want to talk morespecifically, I mean, Jay, that
you have my contact information.So feel free to pass it along to
them. They just have to reachout to you. And like I said, I
mean, I look I were all Davidsay the same thing that you
know, we're all we're all stilltrying to grow. We're all
starting to establish ourselvesin this field and keep trying to
get better and better. But Iknow that there's still a lot
(46:22):
more that I hope I canaccomplish in this thing. But
But where I am now I'm not herenow if it wasn't for those
experiences, or rcbc. And thenwhen I went on to Monmouth and
you know, I owe a lot to thatschool. And certainly, you know,
the path to get there is onethat's now been traveled a
little bit. You know, when I wasin school, Dave was the one that
was always the one that was kindof being like, wow, look, he did
(46:42):
it. Like he made it like, wow,he's covering the NFL, I want to
do that too. And he was somebodyto follow. And now you got a
couple more to follow up. Soit's, it really is something out
there.
Yeah, I'll look at one likespecific thing. We were talking
about internships earlier, Ithink it's a really good point
that like, there are a lot ofprofessions you can get into
where you really focus onschool, and your hours during
(47:06):
the school session or yourclasses, and homework. And
that's you can just do that. Andyou can be really successful,
whatever field you go into. Thisis not one of those, I mean,
this, this field takes extraeffort if you're going to be
successful. And I think thatthat's a good thing and a bad
thing, it's a good thing.Because if you're a self
starter, and you have theambition to do it, you have a
(47:27):
leg up, it's a bad thing. If youwant to skate by and not do
those things, it's gonna bereally tough. So I think for
anyone who wants to get intothis business, it's really
important to know and be honestwith yourself about the level of
commitment you're willing togive.
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (47:41):
I just want to piggyback on both of those
things. I totally agree withboth you have to be a go getter,
you have to you know you youwant to follow your passion
which both of these gentlemendid and if you want more, you
know education and support andfoundational skills and
knowledge rcbc is where it's atthese these gentlemen both
(48:03):
suggested that so if you'reinterested in coming to rcbc and
taking a one off course orfollowing a degree program, or
kind of getting a refresher,please come to rcbc our
entertainment Technologiesprogram again, we have an AAS
and entertainment technologiesvideo and digital media and we
(48:24):
also have an AAS program andsound recording engineering.
Both of those have other ourradio production course our
internship course, entertainmentlaw, and then all of our
specialized courses and youknow, our faculty and staff are
amazing, they're real worldinstructors. And I pride myself
(48:44):
on getting amazing instructorsthat are working out in the
industry and we'd love to haveyou in love to see you here in
person so thank you so much forhaving me
Jason Varga (48:54):
yes thank you all for coming on the show spending
your time with me for the firstshow out from being a dad now so
hopefully get the program podoff and running each and every
month or we take a little youknow dive into this perspective
programs here at rcbc. Butagain, it's gonna do it for this
episode here the program podhope you enjoyed today's show is
I want to thanks our guests hereagain today. sny is Connor
(49:16):
Hughes NBC Sports PhiladelphiaDave Zenko actually Guys can you
say where you are where peoplego to follow you on Twitter, all
that good stuff. A little plug?
Unknown (49:25):
Yeah, sure. I'm on Twitter at D zingaro. NBCs and
all my content is on our websiteNBC Sports philadelphia.com
and I am at Connor underscore Junderscore Hughes you can find
me I think everywhere it'sInstagram and Twitter and then
for my other stuff like writtenstuff sny.tv where you can find
(49:45):
that
Jason Varga (49:46):
awesome. Well glad Aaron Rodgers didn't get traded
in the middle of this so we gotto have you for the entire show
hang up. So now you get tocontinue on with all of that I
can let you guys go but also Dr.Brookmeyer entertainment
Technologies program chair andassistant professor here at as
well as co chair for rcbc SDI ordei women's subcommittee and
hosts of the Baroness podcastwhich almost grabbed the Promote
there. The Baroness podcast isabout what
Dr. Brooke Mailhiot (50:07):
the Baroness podcast is about
empowering women in BurlingtonCounty, we would love for you to
listen in.
Jason Varga (50:15):
Or we go sorry, is pushing buttons. I'm getting my
my muscle memory back down here.So all right. All right. We'll
be that we recorded one of themvery shortly, actually. So yeah,
once again, I'm Jay Varga and Iwant to if you want to learn
more about our CPCs programs youcan visit rcbc.edu and for other
rcbc podcast we have to offerincluding the Baroness podcast
highlighting powerful women inBurlington County, visit rcbc
That EDU slash podcasts. Also,be sure to subscribe to the
(50:38):
program pod on any platformwherever you get your podcasts
till next time. Thanks forlistening, gentlemen. Have a
good time. All right. Alright,see you right there. Already
Bye. Take care.
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