Every year, the WJPZ Alumni Association, via the Berrell Award, sends two students to an industry event. In 2023, GM Grace Denton and former sports director Joe Puccio went to Vegas for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show. We sat down with them to hear about the experience.
We've met Grace in her previous episode with PD Maddie Doolittle. So first we meet Joe and get his background. And we hear about their summer 2023 positions- Grace at Taylor Swift's Republic Records (thanks Adam Eisenberg) and Joe at the Cape Cod Baseball League.
After coincidentally being on the same flight at Stephen "Tex" Kurtz, Grace and Joe hit the ground in Vegas running, checking out as much tech as possible from brands they knew, and some they didn't. They described themselves as "kids in a candy store" with Grace zeroing in on overall station tech and Joe focused on the sports side. But the experience was about so much more than tech.
In true Z89 networking fashion, Joe's Cape Cod League boss, WJPZ alum Dan Duva is the radio voice of the Las Vegas Golden Knights. He took Grace and Joe out for a night on the town. And while Joe wasn't yet 21, Grace had just had her birthday, which led to a wondeful wine selection.
You'll hear some great Vegas stories from Grace and Joe - from getting headshots, to receiving an invite to speak to a class in Atlanta, to eating gelato with some Citrus TV classmates who were in town for a different conference.
Overall, today's guests share what an amazing opportunity this was. This year, GM Patrick Chambers and PD Ilana Epstein will be heading to Morning Show Boot Camp in San Diego!
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.
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Connect with the WJPZ Alumni Association: https://wjpzalumniassociation.org/
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