While considering what to post next I started thinking about the business as a whole and what made it such a prominent field today. To know who you are and where you're going, you must first know where you came from. That made me want to go find out what sparked the fire in sports broadcasting. I went to the Michigan State University library to do some research on the topic. It came as no surprise to me that ESPN was the front runner in this.
Sports reporting was not always the glamorous job it is today. For a long time the only way to find out if your team won was to watch the news that night and hope they get mentioned. You could also wait until the next morning and read the sports section of your local newspaper to find out the scores from around the nation. It goes without saying that the demand for a television station who displayed around the clock news and coverage of sports was at a high. ESPN first broke out onto the scene in 1979. "Bill Rasmussen, an unemployed sports announcer, and a group of committed sports junkies in Bristol, Connecticut decided to lease unwanted satellite transponder space to broadcast Connecticut college sports and New England Whaler hockey games...Today, ESPN is the most powerful and prominent name in sports media. The Bristol Campus...has 27 satellite dishes feeding more than 97 million subscribers as one of cable television's biggest networks" (Smith xiv). It is humbling to realize that the biggest name in sports entertainment "started out of their garage" if you will.
As I mentioned in previous blogs, my main goal is to one day be employed by ESPN. I found it reassuring to find that they still stick to their sports first mentality. "They want people who love sports first and foremost...The main concerns ESPN have are whether or not you are a sports junkie" (Smith xxii, xxiii). I believe that ESPN want people like this to work for them so that every show is brought to the fans with the same passion and desire that they have for their beloved sports teams. This passion and desire resides deep down in my soul and I will consider myself truly humbled and blessed if I can one day help continue to pave the road for a sports outlet such as ESPN.
Smith, Anthony F., and Keith Hollihan. ESPN The Company: The Story and Lessons Behind the Most Fanatical Brand In Sports. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009. N. pag. Print.
I am a very big sports fan as well as you and I watch ESPN everyday. I think having a job at ESPN, especially as a sports broadcaster, would be a great job. While watching the show, I notice that everyone seems to be smiling and friendly with each other. What else could a sports fan ask for than to work for the greatest sports network around?
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