March 10, 2025

Ian Eagle: The Career Journey of the NCAA Tournament’s #1 Voice (Best Of)

Ian Eagle: The Career Journey of the NCAA Tournament’s #1 Voice (Best Of)
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Season 6

As March Madness takes over, there's no better time to revisit one of our favorite episodes featuring Ian Eagle—the lead voice of the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament on CBS. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation, where Ian shares the pivotal moments that shaped his path from a young sports fan to one of the most recognizable voices in broadcasting.

Ian’s journey started in a home filled with entertainers, where he learned the art of performance at an early age. But making it in sports broadcasting took more than talent—it required persistence, preparation, and the right opportunities at the right time.

In this episode, Ian shares:

  • How a single unexpected opportunity launched his on-air career.
  • The preparation and mindset required to excel in sports broadcasting.
  • How growing up with a comedian father and a singer mother shaped his skills behind the microphone.
  • The role of mentorship, perseverance, and adaptability in building a successful career.

Whether you're a basketball fan, an aspiring broadcaster, or just someone who appreciates great career stories, Ian’s journey is packed with insights, humor, and inspiration.

You can find Part 2 anytime by visiting NoWrongChoices.com or searching for it on your favorite podcast platform.

Listen now to this special No Wrong Choices episode!


To discover more episodes or connect with us:



Chapters

00:00 - Introducing Iconic Broadcaster Ian Eagle

01:42 - Early Career at WFAN Radio

08:51 - Family Background and Entertainment Roots

16:10 - Finding His Voice and Education

25:49 - Syracuse Years and Developing Craft

35:33 - Breaking Into Professional Broadcasting

51:45 - The Art of Preparation

58:40 - Episode Closing and Part Two Preview

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:02.826 --> 00:00:14.773
Hello and welcome to a best of edition of no Wrong Choices, featuring the iconic play-by-play broadcaster, ian Eagle, who is the voice of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament on CBS.

00:00:14.773 --> 00:00:19.859
We thought it would be fun to revisit this conversation as March Madness kicks into high gear.

00:00:19.859 --> 00:00:24.606
I'm Larry Samuels, soon to be joined by Tushar Saxena and Larry Shea.

00:00:24.606 --> 00:00:32.375
Before we get rolling, please be sure to support no Wrong Choices by liking, following and subscribing to the show on your favorite podcast platform.

00:00:32.375 --> 00:00:36.631
Your support enables us to keep bringing these great stories to life.

00:00:36.631 --> 00:00:37.360
Now.

00:00:37.360 --> 00:00:39.240
Let's get started Now.

00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:46.033
Joining no Wrong Choices is one of the most recognizable voices in sports Play-by-play announcer, ian Eagle.

00:00:46.033 --> 00:01:03.167
Among Ian's many projects, he serves as the lead voice of the NCAA men's basketball tournament on CBS, calls games for the network's number two NFL broadcast team and is a favorite voice within the NBA world, highlighted by his work with TNT, tbs and YES.

00:01:03.167 --> 00:01:08.534
He was also named the 2022 National Sportscaster of the Year.

00:01:08.534 --> 00:01:10.546
Ian, thank you so much for joining us.

00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:12.146
Feels like this is your life.

00:01:12.146 --> 00:01:19.331
I feel like my fourth grade teacher, Richard Frank, is now going to join us to discuss a bit of my youth.

00:01:19.331 --> 00:01:24.209
No, I appreciate the introduction Great to be with you guys and fun time of year.

00:01:24.209 --> 00:01:28.099
So this is where it all begins.

00:01:28.099 --> 00:01:32.572
And you're getting me on the back end of free time.

00:01:32.572 --> 00:01:36.129
So I am very serene.

00:01:36.129 --> 00:01:39.590
I'm I'm Zen, but I'm ready for what's to come.

00:01:40.081 --> 00:01:40.361
All right.

00:01:40.361 --> 00:01:42.709
So full disclosure, as I do every once in a while here.

00:01:42.709 --> 00:01:45.456
I've actually known Ian Eagle for what?

00:01:45.456 --> 00:01:46.560
30 years now, almost.

00:01:47.019 --> 00:01:51.162
I don't like to count the numbers per se, tushar.

00:01:51.162 --> 00:01:53.325
I like to keep it fresh.

00:01:53.325 --> 00:01:55.686
It's like we're new friends.

00:01:55.686 --> 00:02:00.909
This is like a new relationship, but yeah, it probably has been close to 30 years.

00:02:00.909 --> 00:02:01.771
That's insane.

00:02:01.771 --> 00:02:02.331
Close to 30 years?

00:02:02.331 --> 00:02:02.611
That's insane.

00:02:02.650 --> 00:02:21.147
Which is an insane thing to say, because I remember, because I actually had the opportunity to intern and then work at WFAN with Ian many years ago, when, ian I think at that point you still may have actually been a producer who started doing updates on the weekends over at FAN.

00:02:21.147 --> 00:02:22.850
So it's a long journey, man.

00:02:23.231 --> 00:02:25.376
Yeah the story behind that.

00:02:25.376 --> 00:02:29.745
So I joined WFAN Radio in May of 1990.

00:02:29.745 --> 00:02:31.108
I just graduated college.

00:02:31.108 --> 00:02:57.728
I had interned there the summer before and it is a reminder about, even in this day and age, where we text, we email and oftentimes it is impersonal, our communication At the time it was very personal and it was very intimate and I made a strong enough impression as an intern to get a call right before spring break of my senior year.

00:02:57.728 --> 00:03:00.502
There's a job that's opening up as a producer.

00:03:00.502 --> 00:03:11.843
We know it's not what you want to do ultimately, but we just wanted to see if you'd like to come in and interview, which I did, and I ended up meeting with Mark Mason who was the program director at the time.

00:03:11.843 --> 00:03:14.493
It was the 7 and Midnight Shift producer job.

00:03:14.593 --> 00:03:25.668
Eric Spitz was moving on to a different role within the station, leaving that day part, and there was going to be an opening, and I actually asked Eric his opinion.

00:03:25.668 --> 00:03:28.325
Hey, do you think I should interview for this?

00:03:28.325 --> 00:03:30.951
He said yes, great experience.

00:03:30.951 --> 00:03:32.662
You're not going to get the job.

00:03:32.662 --> 00:03:34.586
He didn't make that point.

00:03:34.586 --> 00:03:41.524
There were a couple of candidates internal that were qualified for it, had done their time there.

00:03:41.524 --> 00:03:43.545
So I show up for the job.

00:03:43.545 --> 00:03:47.550
Interview during spring break went back to my dad's house in Forest Hills.

00:03:47.550 --> 00:03:51.216
Queens went to Astoria, met with Mark Mason.

00:03:51.216 --> 00:03:58.807
Within two minutes of the meeting I could sense that it was going very well.

00:03:58.807 --> 00:03:59.431
He was laughing at my jokes.

00:03:59.431 --> 00:04:01.680
We had good back and forth and he asked me well, when can you start?

00:04:01.941 --> 00:04:05.570
I was like, oh man he's a hell of an interview, very direct.

00:04:06.540 --> 00:04:15.484
I said, well, I graduated May 10th, I could start May 12th, I need a day to get my life in order and I'd be ready to go.

00:04:15.484 --> 00:04:17.528
He said, great, that would be great.

00:04:17.528 --> 00:04:18.790
And that was it.

00:04:18.790 --> 00:04:22.882
I walked out of there and I thought did I just get this job?

00:04:22.882 --> 00:04:25.043
What's happening right now?

00:04:25.043 --> 00:04:26.685
And I went back.

00:04:26.685 --> 00:04:31.769
Eric was in the newsroom and he said how'd it go?

00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:33.490
I said I think it went really well.

00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:35.492
He's like all right, I'll call you in a few days.

00:04:35.492 --> 00:04:37.533
I get back to my dad's place.

00:04:37.533 --> 00:04:46.098
I'm going to drive back to Syracuse and I was in the driveway like packing up my stuff and my father jogs out I don't want to say runs.

00:04:46.098 --> 00:04:53.401
He jogged out or a brisk walk out of the house and said hey, there's a phone call for you before you go.

00:04:53.401 --> 00:04:54.322
I said who is it?

00:04:54.322 --> 00:04:55.264
It's Eric Spitz.

00:04:55.264 --> 00:05:01.103
And I pick up the phone and Eric says what the hell did you say to Mark Mason?

00:05:01.103 --> 00:05:03.266
I said I don't know.

00:05:03.266 --> 00:05:04.810
I'm telling you we clicked.

00:05:04.810 --> 00:05:06.793
He wants to offer you the job.

00:05:06.793 --> 00:05:07.822
He's ready to go.

00:05:08.704 --> 00:05:11.629
So I took the job, even though I wanted to be on the air.

00:05:11.629 --> 00:05:28.262
I just thought a chance to get back home and work at the radio station that I wanted to be a part of so badly and even by osmosis I almost looked at it as graduate school and that's really what it turned out to be.

00:05:28.262 --> 00:05:34.642
But they told me very strong terms Do not take this job if you want to be on the air.

00:05:34.642 --> 00:05:36.990
This is not going to lead to that.

00:05:36.990 --> 00:05:40.302
And I said I get it, I'm going to take the job.

00:05:40.302 --> 00:05:41.665
So I take the job.

00:05:41.665 --> 00:05:43.247
I'm producing on a nightly basis.

00:05:43.247 --> 00:05:44.511
I'm working with Howie Rose job.

00:05:44.511 --> 00:05:45.432
So I take the job.

00:05:45.432 --> 00:05:46.336
I'm producing on a nightly basis.

00:05:46.336 --> 00:05:47.838
I'm working with Howie Rose.

00:05:47.838 --> 00:05:52.783
It was a crash course on professional radio and high level radio at that.

00:05:52.783 --> 00:05:53.404
Howie is an incredible talent.

00:05:53.505 --> 00:05:53.947
Fast forward.

00:05:53.947 --> 00:05:58.963
A year goes by, I'm getting antsy and I'm doing my job and I'm trying to do it to the best of my ability.

00:05:58.963 --> 00:06:08.365
But I am feeling the itch and I think to myself maybe I need to make a move and go somewhere else if they're not going to give me my shot.

00:06:08.365 --> 00:06:16.915
I had had a job offer in Buffalo on the air, had a job offer in West Virginia on the air, so I contemplated those before I took the FAN job.

00:06:16.915 --> 00:06:22.084
And, as cliche as it sounds, it is September of 91.

00:06:22.605 --> 00:06:32.168
And there was the sports director at the time, the great Stan Martin, who was a wonderful guy, truly just a joy.

00:06:32.168 --> 00:06:34.860
But he would make the schedule the update schedule.

00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:41.286
I was in my cubicle getting ready for a Friday night show and Stan is on the phone.

00:06:41.286 --> 00:06:44.947
And Stan was very dramatic, he came from a bit of an acting background and I have no idea what the phone call is.

00:06:44.947 --> 00:06:48.199
I just hear one end of the phone and Stan was very dramatic, he came from a bit of an acting background and I have no idea what the phone call is.

00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:52.612
I just hear one end of the phone and it's him saying hello, what?

00:06:52.612 --> 00:06:57.689
No, really, no, no, a lot of that.

00:06:58.500 --> 00:07:02.612
And he hangs up and he turns around, he looks at me.

00:07:02.612 --> 00:07:06.028
He says you want to be on the air, don't you?

00:07:06.028 --> 00:07:11.230
Yes, he said I don't want to do the voice or it might affect me.

00:07:11.230 --> 00:07:18.834
He said go, make a quick two minute update, one, take in the back and give me the tape.

00:07:18.834 --> 00:07:21.807
And I said what is this for?

00:07:21.807 --> 00:07:25.206
And he goes just do it, man, that was it, okay.

00:07:25.206 --> 00:07:40.610
So I go to the back and I had been doing updates on my own just to stay into the mindset of doing it and writing them and using tape.

00:07:40.610 --> 00:07:45.208
At the time we had carts and I did it.

00:07:45.208 --> 00:07:49.555
I went back one take, handed him the update.

00:07:49.555 --> 00:07:51.985
He went to the back and then he came back out.

00:07:51.985 --> 00:07:53.750
He said you're on the schedule of Sunday.

00:07:53.750 --> 00:07:55.403
Pat Harris has pneumonia.

00:07:55.403 --> 00:07:56.548
And that was it.

00:07:56.548 --> 00:07:57.511
I did an update.

00:07:57.540 --> 00:07:58.607
Wow, pat Harris never worked again.

00:08:00.766 --> 00:08:02.490
It wasn't quite Wally Pip Lugarik.

00:08:02.569 --> 00:08:02.870
I know.

00:08:02.891 --> 00:08:18.860
I know, but I ended up getting another shift the following week and the week after and the week after, and that led to many opportunities on air that were not coming my way until that one fateful day.

00:08:18.860 --> 00:08:22.206
So that is a true reminder of you.

00:08:22.206 --> 00:08:43.174
Wake up in the morning, you have no idea if that's the day that's going to change your life or alter it, and that truly was the day where everything really changed, for me at least at WFAN, and it kept me on the right road and on the tracks and ultimately took advantage of all the other things that popped up along the way.

00:08:43.620 --> 00:08:48.272
I just want to say we've been friends for 30 years, but I appreciate everything else.

00:08:48.272 --> 00:08:49.741
I mean we were going to get it.

00:08:49.741 --> 00:08:58.192
Well, obviously, we're going to get into the FAN days with you as well, but OK, so we'll take it back to the beginning, because I've known you for a long time.

00:08:58.192 --> 00:09:02.844
This was always your dream to do this job that you're doing currently.

00:09:02.844 --> 00:09:03.825
Wasn't it dream to?

00:09:03.845 --> 00:09:05.125
do this job that you're doing currently, wasn't it.

00:09:05.125 --> 00:09:07.528
It was as far back as eight years old.

00:09:07.528 --> 00:09:13.932
This was a legitimate objective and goal and told my parents such at that age.

00:09:13.932 --> 00:09:27.280
My parents were entertainers, Dad was a stand-up comedian, actor, trumpet player.

00:09:27.280 --> 00:09:28.162
My mom was an actress, a singer.

00:09:28.162 --> 00:09:36.721
So I grew up in a household that had no boundaries as to what you could do, and that was very empowering in that I was encouraged to look outside the box.

00:09:36.721 --> 00:09:43.123
So when I told them that I wanted to be a sportscaster, they both told me that that's what I would do.

00:09:43.123 --> 00:09:47.393
And when you're eight years old, that's all you need to hear to believe it.

00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:52.807
So you know, back then we're talking about the seventies there was no place to do it.

00:09:52.807 --> 00:09:59.753
I didn't go to a high school that had the facilities to do it, other than performances.

00:09:59.753 --> 00:10:05.128
Here and there there were opportunities to show that.

00:10:05.128 --> 00:10:14.370
I was more than willing to go front and center and I was open to the idea of a microphone or a camera.

00:10:14.370 --> 00:10:25.192
None of that intimidated me and I think there was just an inner belief that I could do this, and I went to college at Syracuse with that belief.

00:10:25.533 --> 00:10:35.567
And then you get rocked a little bit when you realize that there are a bunch of other people that are also confident and have ability and an aptitude for it.

00:10:35.567 --> 00:10:46.313
And then that's where the next step begins of trying to polish your craft and work at it and truly become a student of it.

00:10:46.313 --> 00:11:05.528
And other than a freshman year, where I was still balancing the idea of what college was supposed to be partying and being very social and joining a fraternity and doing all the things that I envisioned I got very serious about it.

00:11:05.528 --> 00:11:12.183
The start of sophomore year, to the point where I truly committed to it, caught a couple of breaks along the way.

00:11:12.183 --> 00:11:23.177
I was at a high school football game covering it for one of the college radio stations, and on the sideline is a new sports anchor in town.

00:11:23.177 --> 00:11:30.729
Although he was still a student at the school, he was a senior and he had gotten the weekend job at the CBS affiliate in Syracuse.

00:11:30.729 --> 00:11:40.331
And the guy that I went to the football game with, another radio guy, said is that Mike Tirico there?

00:11:41.453 --> 00:11:41.894
Look at that.

00:11:42.259 --> 00:11:43.504
I said, yeah, yeah, I think it is, it is.

00:11:43.504 --> 00:11:45.350
He said, well, we should introduce ourselves.

00:11:45.350 --> 00:11:46.260
I said why?

00:11:46.260 --> 00:11:48.846
He said he'd love to meet us.

00:11:48.846 --> 00:11:53.461
This guy's doing weekend sports, he, he wants to get out into the community.

00:11:53.461 --> 00:11:58.495
I went, okay, that was enough for me, so we went over, introduced ourselves.

00:11:58.495 --> 00:12:00.780
He was very happy to meet us.

00:12:01.462 --> 00:12:02.345
What's your background?

00:12:02.345 --> 00:12:07.623
I'm from Queens, I'm from Queens, so really he's from Bayside.

00:12:07.623 --> 00:12:11.852
So boom, instantly you feel a connection.

00:12:11.852 --> 00:12:20.871
And he also happened to be incredibly affable and gracious and everything that you see today is what he was back in 1987.

00:12:20.871 --> 00:12:27.422
So at the end of it he said hey, if you guys want to come check out the TV station, love to have you.

00:12:27.422 --> 00:12:28.644
He didn't have to do that.

00:12:29.086 --> 00:12:29.606
I followed up.

00:12:29.606 --> 00:12:33.903
I went, I became his intern, I later became his producer.

00:12:33.903 --> 00:12:43.985
I later became a radio producer for him because he started his own show my senior year and then, when he couldn't do it, he would have me host the show.

00:12:43.985 --> 00:12:54.167
So these are small snippets that I look back on and think to myself it could go one way or the other and things lined up.

00:12:54.167 --> 00:12:58.336
Because I was open to it, I said, yes, a lot.

00:12:58.336 --> 00:13:02.403
I went in with a really good attitude, no matter what the situation was.

00:13:02.403 --> 00:13:16.241
I brought positivity and I made sure that I introduced myself to people, knew their names, learned their background, took an actual interest in them as a human being.

00:13:16.241 --> 00:13:38.626
And, tushar, I can tell you without any pause that I know our experience was a good one when you were at FAN Radio, because I just didn't know any other way I treated people with respect and that has been a common thread throughout my life and throughout my career.

00:13:39.229 --> 00:13:47.740
You are giving amazing career journey lessons to people out there about being personable and being open and ready and willing.

00:13:47.740 --> 00:14:01.514
And in doing my research, I really want to follow up on the beginning of your family life too, because I do feel that they played a major part in you being able to present yourself to the world in the way that you do on a day to day basis today.

00:14:01.514 --> 00:14:08.687
I learned that you were put on stage right At the age of six and you realized hey, no big deal, I could do this.

00:14:08.687 --> 00:14:10.572
From your mom You're learning.

00:14:10.572 --> 00:14:13.227
The show must go on, because her voice would be shot.

00:14:13.227 --> 00:14:17.684
I mean, these are life lessons that you're carrying on to today.

00:14:17.684 --> 00:14:24.043
Talk a little bit more about your, your mom, your dad, just your upbringing, because I really think that affected a lot.

00:14:24.624 --> 00:14:26.326
Yeah, guys, I didn't know any different.

00:14:26.326 --> 00:14:29.751
It was not normal by any stretch.

00:14:29.751 --> 00:14:32.721
But you don't know what you don't know.

00:14:32.721 --> 00:14:44.488
I recognize that it didn't feel the same as my friend's family situation, but I never looked at it as odd or woe is me.

00:14:44.488 --> 00:14:47.312
My parents were on the road a great deal.

00:14:47.312 --> 00:14:58.205
They took me on the road with them until a certain age when I had my own stuff going on and I couldn't just take off of school for three straight days.

00:14:58.205 --> 00:15:04.173
So by about eight years old I got into a more normal routine.

00:15:04.173 --> 00:15:18.510
My parents had put me in a school we lived in Rego Park, so not quite Forest Hills, it was right on the edge of Forest Hills and they put me in Montessori School, which was a progressive school.

00:15:18.510 --> 00:15:20.385
It was a melting pot.

00:15:20.385 --> 00:15:39.184
The teachers were not traditional in any way, the classes were not traditional and I think because of that it did open up my brain a bit to the idea that it doesn't have to be conventional and even your views are not necessarily conventional.

00:15:39.184 --> 00:15:52.710
They were open to all sorts of opinions and not just raising your hand to speak, but informally it was a very open dialogue.

00:15:52.710 --> 00:15:57.312
So we moved to Forest Hills in 1977.

00:15:57.312 --> 00:16:00.048
And I remember this very vividly.

00:16:00.179 --> 00:16:20.214
We go to the local public school in between what is second grade for me and what my next school year is going to be and we go and meet with the principal and I'm told to bring my work, my latest work, and the principal was Dr Charles Bechtold, tall man, very nice guy.

00:16:20.214 --> 00:16:28.067
We sit down in his office and he's going through what it's going to look like next year, going to start the school year in September.

00:16:28.067 --> 00:16:33.549
And now he takes a look at my book and he's looking through the paper.

00:16:33.549 --> 00:16:44.870
And he stops and looks at my dad and says he's done all the work for third grade and my dad said, okay, so what are the options?

00:16:44.870 --> 00:16:46.033
And he said, well, we can put them in fourth grade.

00:16:46.033 --> 00:16:46.567
And my dad said, okay, so what are the options?

00:16:46.567 --> 00:16:47.462
And he said, well, we can put them in fourth grade.

00:16:47.462 --> 00:16:51.461
And my dad turns to me and says do you want to be in fourth grade, ian?

00:16:51.461 --> 00:16:59.335
I said, yeah, that's fine, that sounds good, new York City public education.

00:16:59.335 --> 00:17:03.662
And Dr Bechtolt said, okay, great, and that was it.

00:17:03.662 --> 00:17:06.784
There was no paperwork, there was nothing.

00:17:06.984 --> 00:17:31.262
I show up the next year and I'm in fourth grade and I have this whole new world of new people, new teachers, new dynamic, much more conventional, very different, but I do remember bringing with me the mentality of a different sort of angle on how all of this stuff works.

00:17:31.262 --> 00:17:51.028
So my parents were very much grinders in how they went about their business and their work and my father really didn't have the kind of success that he dreamed of until he was dropped out of high school at the age of 16.

00:17:51.028 --> 00:18:16.894
Wow, in Brooklyn Erasmus Hall, you know I have photos that my father's wife, his widow, sent me that I had never seen before.

00:18:16.894 --> 00:18:26.392
She sent them to me about three months ago and I'm just blown away by how young he was and what he was doing.

00:18:26.392 --> 00:18:35.351
He was on the road at 16 years old making a living and then eventually Buddy Hackett convinced him.

00:18:35.351 --> 00:18:39.603
Hey, you're funny, you should be doing standup.

00:18:39.603 --> 00:18:41.325
No, no.

00:18:41.884 --> 00:18:42.105
Buddy.

00:18:42.145 --> 00:18:51.336
Hackett says that, yes, when Buddy Hackett tells you you're funny, or the way my dad said it, buddy said, hey, you're funny, you're funny, you should be out there.

00:18:51.336 --> 00:19:01.035
And that was the impetus for him to do it and to break away from the band and be front and center.

00:19:01.035 --> 00:19:04.420
My mom was a child star in Chicago.

00:19:04.420 --> 00:19:09.183
I have photos of her at six on the radio singing.

00:19:09.183 --> 00:19:21.087
She was considered well beyond her years at the time and how that manifested itself, and she dropped out of high school at the age of 16.

00:19:21.087 --> 00:19:24.050
They were 19 years apart in age.

00:19:24.050 --> 00:19:29.261
So the fact that it was congruous in that way that they somehow met.

00:19:29.261 --> 00:19:34.941
They met because my mother opened for my father at the Playboy Club in Chicago.

00:19:34.941 --> 00:19:39.909
That's how they meet in life, it's a different era.

00:19:40.871 --> 00:19:44.421
But the late 60s produced some really interesting stories.

00:19:44.421 --> 00:19:46.561
So there's a lot there.

00:19:46.561 --> 00:19:53.287
There's a lot of meat on the bone and, yes, larry, it did shape me in ways that I didn't even imagine.

00:19:53.287 --> 00:20:01.032
I knew that it was different, but I never let on to anybody else that it was different.

00:20:01.032 --> 00:20:07.857
I acclimated and adjusted based on my circumstances and even skipping a grade.

00:20:07.857 --> 00:20:12.250
I wasn't leading with that when I showed up for fourth grade.

00:20:12.250 --> 00:20:14.080
Hey, you know, I'm supposed to be in third grade here.

00:20:15.722 --> 00:20:16.443
Nobody knew.

00:20:16.903 --> 00:20:27.556
I just meshed in and tried to find ways to fulfill whatever creative itch that I had.

00:20:27.556 --> 00:20:37.393
There were ways of doing it and there were performance aspects to it and I do think because of that I always felt pretty confident that I was going to be able to somehow do this.

00:20:37.393 --> 00:20:48.079
You never know for certain, but I just had an inner conviction that I was going to be able to make a living doing this just had an inner conviction that I was going to be able to make a living doing this.

00:20:50.460 --> 00:20:51.863
I think we should call out that your father.

00:20:51.863 --> 00:20:54.788
I think one of his big breakthroughs, as we did our research, was becoming Dominic the Xerox guy.

00:20:54.788 --> 00:20:55.329
Is that right?

00:20:55.329 --> 00:20:57.473
I vividly remember that character.

00:20:57.980 --> 00:21:00.507
Oh, yeah, no that was a huge commercial at the time.

00:21:00.507 --> 00:21:01.450
It was for Xerox.

00:21:01.450 --> 00:21:07.530
As you mentioned, it was the first commercial that ever used a religious figure, so this was not one of those-.

00:21:07.570 --> 00:21:08.513
He was a monk in that movie.

00:21:08.513 --> 00:21:09.080
He was a monk.

00:21:09.522 --> 00:21:10.806
This was not one of those.

00:21:10.806 --> 00:21:15.749
Hey, we'll just kind of go with the same thing that the other brands are doing.

00:21:15.749 --> 00:21:17.634
They really were creative.

00:21:17.634 --> 00:21:23.308
A gentleman who just recently passed away by the name of Alan Kay, who was a brilliant ad man.

00:21:23.308 --> 00:21:35.707
He was the one that came up with the idea and another claim to fame for Alan Kay, just to give him his due he came up with the slogan if you see something, say something.

00:21:35.707 --> 00:21:38.722
That was him, wow.

00:21:38.722 --> 00:21:39.827
Which we still use today.

00:21:39.827 --> 00:21:42.805
Yeah, give you a little insight into his fertile mind.

00:21:43.326 --> 00:21:48.355
And if you go on YouTube, it's a quick search Brother, dominic Xerox.

00:21:48.355 --> 00:21:56.761
It really was a beautiful commercial and it spurred a number of commercials for Xerox and for him.

00:21:56.761 --> 00:22:00.531
It opened up this door that had not existed.

00:22:00.531 --> 00:22:06.020
He ended up doing about 50 different commercials for various companies existed.

00:22:06.020 --> 00:22:12.170
He ended up doing about 50 different commercials for various companies Fleischmann's Margarine, gillette, coppertone, noodles Soup, you name it.

00:22:12.170 --> 00:22:17.442
He would sell it and he got really hot in that area.

00:22:18.182 --> 00:22:26.354
Anything he went up for, they were looking for a cherubic gentleman with a fun face and great facial reactions.

00:22:26.354 --> 00:22:27.615
He was the guy.

00:22:27.615 --> 00:22:31.852
In addition, he then dabbled in Hollywood.

00:22:31.852 --> 00:22:46.684
He was on three different pilots that aired on network television back at a time where we only had CBS, nbc, abc and then a couple of independent channels and PBS and none of them got picked up.

00:22:46.684 --> 00:22:53.132
They all aired and none of them were at a level that the networks were going to go with it.

00:22:53.132 --> 00:23:01.490
And that would have changed his life and probably would have changed my life, because we would have moved to LA and then who knows if Syracuse is in the mix for me.

00:23:01.490 --> 00:23:12.289
So I do think of things sometimes and that sliding doors theory of how life can be different based on your circumstances, for sure, for sure.

00:23:13.071 --> 00:23:22.026
So the window between this is going to sound, I don't know, a little hokey, but the window between fourth grade and 12th grade.

00:23:22.026 --> 00:23:23.369
You know what are you doing?

00:23:23.369 --> 00:23:31.192
To prepare yourself to get into the best broadcasting university in the country, at Newhouse and Syracuse.

00:23:32.040 --> 00:23:33.183
Well, what I was doing?

00:23:33.183 --> 00:23:33.364
That.

00:23:33.384 --> 00:23:35.009
I didn't even know it takes offense.

00:23:35.009 --> 00:23:36.090
I like the Fordham guy.

00:23:36.090 --> 00:23:38.428
Fordham guy getting his feathers around, I get it.

00:23:38.428 --> 00:23:38.989
I get it.

00:23:38.989 --> 00:23:40.744
It's like West Side Story.

00:23:40.744 --> 00:23:42.128
Sorry, tj, I can't shake it.

00:23:42.209 --> 00:23:42.931
It's not a problem.

00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:49.465
I didn't even know I was doing it at the time because it was very natural.

00:23:49.465 --> 00:23:59.866
I was completely immersing myself in sports in general, so anything that I could get my hands on, baseball was my number one sport by far.

00:23:59.866 --> 00:24:02.092
But it didn't end there.

00:24:02.092 --> 00:24:07.500
I was a huge football fan and basketball fan and hockey fan and the Olympics.

00:24:07.500 --> 00:24:08.742
I couldn't get enough.

00:24:08.742 --> 00:24:34.195
So little do you know as a kid that you're building this, this dossier of knowledge and a base that is going to serve you well, your cataloging memories and you're doing it in a manner that is not, for any other reason, no agenda other than I just had pure love for it.

00:24:34.817 --> 00:24:38.384
And running parallel with that was the broadcasting side.

00:24:38.384 --> 00:24:45.490
The curiosity we would go to Shea Stadium grew up, you know, 10 minutes from there, and the Mets were not very good.

00:24:45.490 --> 00:24:54.391
This was when Joe Torre was managing the squad and my dad, because of whatever minor celebrity it had brought to him as the Monk.

00:24:54.391 --> 00:25:05.483
There were companies and teams and various groups that wanted him to appear in a Monk outfit, including the Mets.

00:25:05.483 --> 00:25:11.067
So in 1978, he brings me along and he's there to bless the team.

00:25:11.067 --> 00:25:16.145
They lost a hundred games that year so it didn't work.

00:25:16.165 --> 00:25:26.992
Bruce Beauclair didn't all of a sudden become a 325 hitter but it did afford me the opportunity to to go behind the scenes.

00:25:26.992 --> 00:25:30.406
I got a bat from Lenny Randall, I got a helmet from Lee Mazzilli.

00:25:30.406 --> 00:25:34.721
This just intensified my love of sports.

00:25:34.721 --> 00:25:43.728
And even at the game I'm staring at Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner and Lindsay Nelson in the broadcast booth.

00:25:43.728 --> 00:25:57.785
I'm just tantalized by the idea that this is a way that you can make a buck and be around the ballpark, talk to the athletes, describe what you see.

00:25:57.785 --> 00:25:59.669
And that never escaped me.

00:25:59.669 --> 00:26:05.644
I just always had that interest and curiosity.

00:26:05.644 --> 00:26:07.808
Same with a Nick game or a Ranger game.

00:26:07.808 --> 00:26:14.509
The game would be going on and I would just lock in on Marv Albert and watch him do his thing.

00:26:14.509 --> 00:26:19.307
And I do think it plants seeds in you and it resonates with you in some way.

00:26:19.307 --> 00:26:22.378
And for me that's never gone away.

00:26:22.378 --> 00:26:33.742
That almost youthful exuberance of this job and this vocation has stuck with me for all these years.

00:26:33.762 --> 00:26:44.538
Obviously you know you're building yourself to become the broadcaster, that you are at a very young age, which know you're building yourself to become the broadcaster, that you are at a very young age, which means that you've got to get some kind of teaching and that's going to come from your parents.

00:26:44.538 --> 00:27:00.201
So I'm going to assume and I'm going to touch on Syracuse after in just a second, but I'm going to assume that at some point, like your parents are in showbiz, so you have the greatest, essentially encyclopedia of knowledge in front of you where your parents can give you pointers.

00:27:00.201 --> 00:27:01.826
Was that what was happening?

00:27:01.826 --> 00:27:04.099
Is that you know, dad, what does this sound like?

00:27:04.099 --> 00:27:08.631
Or your father was saying hey, look, if you want to, if you really want to make it in this industry, this is what you have to do.

00:27:08.631 --> 00:27:09.835
Your mom is saying the same thing.

00:27:09.855 --> 00:27:12.617
Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting.

00:27:12.617 --> 00:27:16.441
I lost my mom when I was 19.

00:27:16.441 --> 00:27:18.782
She died of lung cancer.

00:27:18.782 --> 00:27:27.410
Two-pack-a-day smoker which for a gifted singer, just makes no sense that that would be a habit.

00:27:27.410 --> 00:27:29.392
She was alcoholic.

00:27:29.392 --> 00:27:30.432
She was anorexic.

00:27:30.432 --> 00:27:32.162
There were a lot of challenges there.

00:27:32.162 --> 00:27:33.902
She was really brilliant.

00:27:33.902 --> 00:27:37.260
She did not graduate high school, as I mentioned, she dropped out.

00:27:37.260 --> 00:27:42.950
She completed the New York Times crossword puzzle every Sunday, every Sunday, wow.

00:27:43.015 --> 00:27:55.020
She must have been a voracious reader, yes, blown away by her intellect and her IQ, but, with that said, then did irrational things in her life, things that made no sense.

00:27:55.020 --> 00:28:06.556
That's what's so amazing about the human condition and so perplexing as well that someone is consciously hurting themselves while they're doing this.

00:28:06.556 --> 00:28:14.874
They got divorced, so that created a very large gap Geographically.

00:28:14.874 --> 00:28:16.258
She was living on the West Coast.

00:28:16.258 --> 00:28:17.682
My father was East Coast.

00:28:17.682 --> 00:28:18.935
I stayed with my father.

00:28:18.935 --> 00:28:20.138
That's where my life was.

00:28:20.138 --> 00:28:25.009
My mother needed to go and do some things on her own.

00:28:25.088 --> 00:28:31.414
She eventually enjoyed her greatest success in Las Vegas, playing Judy Garland in a show called Legends.

00:28:31.414 --> 00:28:31.894
She was amazing.

00:28:31.894 --> 00:28:33.355
It was probably the role that she needed to play her whole life.

00:28:33.355 --> 00:28:37.038
It was probably the role that she needed to play her whole life.

00:28:37.038 --> 00:28:40.500
She completely lost herself in that role.

00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:43.882
She became Judy Garland in many ways.

00:28:43.882 --> 00:28:53.426
There's a documentary that was done on the show and it's pretty wild how much she immersed herself in this.

00:28:53.426 --> 00:28:57.469
You know to the point where you think, whoa, you've probably gone a little too far.

00:28:57.469 --> 00:29:01.790
And she did so performance wise.

00:29:01.790 --> 00:29:05.952
I was just starting out doing college radio.

00:29:05.952 --> 00:29:16.980
She never really got a chance to hear me or see me do any of this.

00:29:16.980 --> 00:29:22.378
She had nothing but confidence in me and believed that I was going to be very successful, and would say it over and over again.

00:29:22.378 --> 00:29:37.942
So, amidst whatever she was going through personally, she still had the wherewithal and the instincts to tell her son that you're going to do really well in life, and that's something that can build confidence, no doubt about it.

00:29:38.744 --> 00:29:47.909
My dad, at the time that we're talking, was traveling somewhere in the neighborhood of 245 days a year.

00:29:47.909 --> 00:29:49.622
Wow, wow, wow.

00:29:49.622 --> 00:29:57.890
So this was not one of those typical sit at the dinner table chat about your day.

00:29:57.890 --> 00:30:03.787
What happened with Xerox was incredible for him.

00:30:03.787 --> 00:30:22.557
What they quickly realized was that he was a secret weapon for them to appear at openings of Kinko's.

00:30:22.557 --> 00:30:24.442
Or if Ford Motor Company brought in Xerox copiers to their main offices, he would show up.

00:30:24.442 --> 00:30:37.305
And it was personal appearances and because of his standup comedy background and because of his humanity, he's just an incredible off the charts people person.

00:30:37.305 --> 00:30:45.342
The combination of those skills led him to be very successful for Xerox and they just kept booking him.

00:30:45.954 --> 00:30:56.226
You got to go to Lexington, you got to go to Akron, we need you in Vegas, then we need you to go to Orlando and then from there, austin, you name it.

00:30:56.226 --> 00:31:05.404
He was in every city in the country in the monk outfit doing his thing, but it did take him away from New York.

00:31:05.404 --> 00:31:14.185
So I grew up basically with a housekeeper that lived in the home and I was highly independent from a very young age.

00:31:14.185 --> 00:31:16.723
I was doing my homework on my own.

00:31:16.723 --> 00:31:17.780
I was waking up on my own.

00:31:17.780 --> 00:31:18.627
I was doing my homework on my own.

00:31:18.627 --> 00:31:19.172
I was waking up on my own.

00:31:19.172 --> 00:31:20.497
I was going to bed on my own.

00:31:20.497 --> 00:31:25.986
I'm talking about from the age of nine on.

00:31:26.105 --> 00:31:27.347
Wow, wow, wow.

00:31:27.347 --> 00:31:32.017
So when this is all you know, it doesn't seem odd, you figure?

00:31:32.037 --> 00:31:32.696
it out or you don't.

00:31:33.057 --> 00:31:33.958
Figure it out or you don't.

00:31:33.958 --> 00:31:36.900
So back to your question, tushar.

00:31:36.900 --> 00:31:44.964
My father never really sat down and criticized my work or gave me specific pointers.

00:31:44.964 --> 00:31:48.906
He was not a huge sports fan before I started doing this.

00:31:48.906 --> 00:32:01.586
When I showed an interest in sports he opened up part of his brain to it, but it really wasn't until I started doing this for a living that he then committed as a sports fan.

00:32:01.586 --> 00:32:05.356
So there was nothing from a sports knowledge standpoint that he could share with me.

00:32:05.498 --> 00:32:14.160
And then broadcasting was not their thing, so technically there was not much that they could do in that area.

00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:31.876
What they could do was provide me with a blueprint for work ethic, which was insane both of theirs and then performance, which I just saw with my own eyes watching them on stage or watching them on TV.

00:32:31.876 --> 00:32:52.759
My mom was in a few soap operas as well, so I think that was inspirational in many ways and was a North star for me in recognizing that you've got to sometimes summon something within yourself in order to do this job and do it well and be consistent at it.

00:32:52.759 --> 00:33:08.469
That's been a big part for me that I wanted to get to that place where I was consistently good at this, not a good call here, or a nice moment or a phrase that caught people's attention.

00:33:08.469 --> 00:33:13.667
Can you consistently deliver, doing game after game after game after game?

00:33:14.095 --> 00:33:20.026
Was Syracuse always the choice for you, or did you have a number of different schools that had solid broadcasting backgrounds?

00:33:20.205 --> 00:33:21.268
I got turned down at Fordham.

00:33:21.268 --> 00:33:27.442
So that was no, I didn't, I had you.

00:33:27.442 --> 00:33:29.565
There was a moment like damn right, you did.

00:33:29.965 --> 00:33:33.996
We only want good people at Fordham.

00:33:34.857 --> 00:33:43.219
No, syracuse was the number one choice and, and honestly it was because there was an article in sports illustrated.

00:33:43.239 --> 00:34:00.250
We all remember when sports illustrated had a very serious impact on sure absolutely magazine yes, stacking the magazines and keeping them and reading back issues and being blown away by the work that they did.

00:34:00.250 --> 00:34:09.824
There was an article in Sports Illustrated a broadcaster by the name of Greg Papa who is the voice of the San Francisco 49ers.

00:34:09.824 --> 00:34:11.161
He did the Warriors for many years.

00:34:11.161 --> 00:34:25.005
He was the feature, he was a senior at Syracuse and it was called the Cradle of Sportscasters and that caught my eye and I believe the year was 84.

00:34:25.005 --> 00:34:42.271
So I'm a sophomore in high school and I thought to myself they listed the lineage for Marty Glickman to Dick Stockton, to Marv Albert, to Andy Musser to Len Berman, on and on and on.

00:34:42.271 --> 00:34:48.166
And I said to myself that's where I have to go and that was my number one choice.

00:34:48.166 --> 00:34:50.018
I did apply to a bunch of schools.

00:34:50.018 --> 00:34:56.659
I was fortunate enough to get into a bunch of schools, but Syracuse was always the top choice, yeah.

00:34:56.980 --> 00:35:03.766
I love how you've set this up for us, because there's a real entertainment aspect of the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

00:35:03.766 --> 00:35:04.856
We hear it in your calls.

00:35:04.856 --> 00:35:09.407
You know anytime you're doing a game, and now you've set the path to Syracuse.

00:35:09.407 --> 00:35:11.878
Where are you honing those chops?

00:35:11.878 --> 00:35:17.739
Do you learn to do the stuff at Syracuse, or did it start way earlier than then?

00:35:17.739 --> 00:35:21.626
You know just in your room calling the game when you're watching TV.

00:35:21.626 --> 00:35:23.077
Where does it begin?

00:35:23.077 --> 00:35:24.742
Where you're starting to hone your craft?

00:35:25.364 --> 00:35:34.648
All of the above Growing up in New York with the surplus of teams in the area.

00:35:34.648 --> 00:35:46.019
If you turn your radio on, you were going to get a game, and it could have been John Sterling doing the Islanders, it could have been Marv Albert doing the Rangers, Could have been Marv Albert doing the Knicks.

00:35:46.019 --> 00:35:57.385
Eventually, when the Nets rolled around, that was another option Marty Glickman, originally the Giants, then the Jets Giants, then the Jets and then the Yankees, the Mets.

00:35:57.385 --> 00:36:01.130
They were all there and all available.

00:36:01.130 --> 00:36:12.376
So it really began there.

00:36:12.376 --> 00:36:28.949
And then, yes, doing play-by-play in your bedroom, setting up your bed like a baseball field and literally calling the plays as you go, getting in the shower and working with the space, great acoustics, play-by-play of whatever comes to mind.

00:36:28.949 --> 00:36:32.244
That was always part of the mindset.

00:36:32.244 --> 00:36:45.255
And then playing pickup basketball with your friends and calling play-by-play and your friends wanting to punch you in the face of course they don't want to hear play-by-play I know that too, I know that feeling too.

00:36:45.936 --> 00:36:55.298
So all of the above and then get to syracuse, and there is a very specific path that you need to follow.

00:36:55.298 --> 00:37:11.588
So there are two radio stations there college radio stations, waer, which all of the people that I mentioned earlier worked, bob Costas, who I didn't mention earlier, but was really the one that captured my imagination when I got to college.

00:37:11.588 --> 00:37:13.525
That was the one that I truly tried to emulate.

00:37:13.525 --> 00:37:15.253
I just your style is very similar that I truly tried to emulate.

00:37:16.135 --> 00:37:32.568
I just your style is very similar, really respected Very similar, respected his intellect, respected occasional sarcasm and the fact that he could do any role that you asked of him.

00:37:32.568 --> 00:37:34.101
You want him to host, he could do it.

00:37:34.101 --> 00:37:35.340
You want him to do play-by-play?

00:37:35.340 --> 00:37:36.182
He could do it.

00:37:36.182 --> 00:37:37.016
You want him to interview someone?

00:37:37.016 --> 00:37:37.224
He could do it.

00:37:37.224 --> 00:37:37.978
You want him to do play-by-play?

00:37:37.978 --> 00:37:38.045
He could do it.

00:37:38.045 --> 00:37:38.443
You want him to interview someone, he could do it.

00:37:39.135 --> 00:37:46.516
And that show that he did on NBC later with Bob Costas, I thought was brilliant, and the variety of guests, I think.

00:37:46.516 --> 00:38:02.815
Back he had one particular episode with Mary Lou Henner of Taxi fame, and it was one of the best episodes of television I had ever seen, one of the best interviews I had ever said, would you say to yourself like, oh yeah, I want to check out mary lou henner and what she's got going on.

00:38:02.815 --> 00:38:04.500
She's really interesting.

00:38:04.500 --> 00:38:12.478
By the way, she has a photographic memory and has very specific memories of every day of her life.

00:38:12.478 --> 00:38:21.007
And then bob threw out a, a random day, and that happened to be the day that she lost her virginity and that brought oh geez, wait, what is?

00:38:21.027 --> 00:38:21.670
this episode.

00:38:21.751 --> 00:38:22.235
Hold on a second.

00:38:22.235 --> 00:38:23.777
What are we doing here?

00:38:23.777 --> 00:38:37.686
So I just knew that these two radio stations WJPZZ89, the other one, were a part of the path and showed up to a meeting for WAR.

00:38:37.686 --> 00:38:50.226
There were a hundred people in there and they mentioned that the way you start is you have to show up at five in the morning on the day that you're assigned and just write the sportscast.

00:38:50.226 --> 00:38:59.829
You don't even get to read your sportscast into a microphone and then, once your writing is good enough, we'll allow you to make a tape.

00:38:59.829 --> 00:39:06.574
And then that process is you'll make tapes until we determine that you're good enough to be on the air.

00:39:07.538 --> 00:39:14.077
And I sat in that meeting and thought to myself wow, none of that sounds enjoyable, not one bit.

00:39:14.077 --> 00:39:17.987
I go to the other radio station and they had a piece of copy.

00:39:17.987 --> 00:39:19.677
They said read this into the microphone.

00:39:19.677 --> 00:39:19.998
I did.

00:39:19.998 --> 00:39:23.246
They said oh, you're pretty good, you available next week?

00:39:23.246 --> 00:39:25.360
Yeah, what do I have going on?

00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:26.543
I'm a freshman in college.

00:39:26.543 --> 00:39:29.797
I just got here, so I started at Z89.

00:39:29.797 --> 00:39:37.043
Waar was really the place you needed to be and eventually somebody reached out.

00:39:37.043 --> 00:39:47.293
A gentleman by the name of Kevin Martinez, who was a WAR, now is very high up the ladder with the Seattle Mariners.

00:39:47.293 --> 00:39:49.422
I thought he was a terrific broadcaster at the time.

00:39:49.422 --> 00:39:50.960
He worked at both.

00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:54.284
He called me, said hey, there's a chance for you here.

00:39:54.284 --> 00:39:57.764
You should come over and go through the process.

00:39:57.764 --> 00:39:59.197
So I was now a sophomore.

00:39:59.197 --> 00:40:02.525
I said, well, would I have to show up at five in the morning and write?

00:40:02.525 --> 00:40:04.898
He said yes, it's part of the deal.

00:40:05.938 --> 00:40:16.788
I said no, I said yes, that time and eventually it all worked out and I got cleared at WAR what ends up happening.

00:40:16.788 --> 00:40:24.675
You're doing basically play-by-play an impression of whoever your favorite announcer is when you start, and I was doing an impression of Marv Albert.

00:40:24.675 --> 00:40:52.018
I was doing Marv's inflections and a little bit of his voice quality and a lot of the vernacular and then eventually, when you get your sea legs, you start to try to find and discover yourself within, play by play, that it is a blank canvas, that you can take it any direction that you want to take it.

00:40:52.018 --> 00:41:13.585
And I did gain confidence not only by doing it but by also listening to upperclassmen, and at the time there were some really good ones Charlie Polillo, who is a talk show host in Houston Excellent play-by-play guy and would listen to his stuff over and over again.

00:41:13.585 --> 00:41:19.371
Sean Colthard, who is now known as Michael Cole in the wrestling world.

00:41:19.932 --> 00:41:20.655
Yeah, Wow yeah.

00:41:20.695 --> 00:41:30.201
Sean was at Syracuse, I thought he was outstanding and would listen to his stuff and begin to incorporate some of what they were doing.

00:41:30.201 --> 00:41:50.699
So, combination of mimicking and then just reps, going into the stands literally with a tape recorder and calling the game and not worrying about the people that were around you turning around or saying something untoward, it didn't matter, you would lock into your world and that was the only way to do it.

00:41:50.699 --> 00:41:56.125
By the way, there was no calling off a monitor or going into an edit bay.

00:41:56.125 --> 00:41:56.927
There was none of that.

00:41:56.927 --> 00:42:25.090
You had to go there and you had to call it, and I slowly started finding improvement in key areas that I needed to improve Shortening my sentences, editing on the fly, picking out the most important part of the play in front of you and then punctuating, finding when to use a period at the end, when to use an exclamation point, then how to vary up your vocabulary, not say the same thing every time.

00:42:25.090 --> 00:42:32.596
And then, by the time I got to my senior year after interning at FAN and, by the way, at FAN, as Tushar will tell you, there was downtime.

00:42:32.596 --> 00:42:33.259
I had three shifts as an intern.

00:42:33.259 --> 00:42:34.001
One of them was a weekend shift.

00:42:34.001 --> 00:42:35.085
There was not a whole lot going on in the weekends.

00:42:35.085 --> 00:42:35.547
The newsroom was empty.

00:42:35.547 --> 00:42:36.309
We had three shifts as an intern.

00:42:36.309 --> 00:42:37.472
One of them was a weekend shift.

00:42:37.472 --> 00:42:39.760
There was not a whole lot going on in the weekends.

00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:41.163
The newsroom was empty.

00:42:41.163 --> 00:42:44.038
We would have to log a Met game during the summer.

00:42:44.177 --> 00:42:49.391
But I was free to read the media guides, which I did.

00:42:49.391 --> 00:42:57.409
I memorized the name and background of every play-by-play announcer in the four major sports.

00:42:57.409 --> 00:43:01.614
Name and background of every play-by-play announcer in the four major sports.

00:43:01.614 --> 00:43:05.117
And no one told me you should do that.

00:43:05.117 --> 00:43:07.644
I just realized that this was something that I needed to know If I wanted to do this for a living.

00:43:07.644 --> 00:43:08.708
I needed to educate myself.

00:43:08.708 --> 00:43:13.418
How did Ken Wilson become the voice of the St Louis Blues?

00:43:13.418 --> 00:43:24.927
Or he did AAA baseball in Hawaii, looking at his path, recognizing that there are different ways to get to where you eventually want to get to, that was a big part of it.

00:43:25.054 --> 00:43:59.885
And then they had reel-to-reels of NFL play-by-play hours and I just would roll the reel-to-reel onto a cassette tape both sides and I did, I'd say, four cassette tapes worth of just NFL play-by-play Jim Gordon of the New York Giants, kevin Harlan of the Kansas City Chiefs at the time Wayne Larravee was doing the Chicago Bears, jim Irwin was doing the Green Bay Packers, rick Weaver was doing the Miami Dolphins.

00:44:00.255 --> 00:44:01.641
I could go on and on and on.

00:44:01.641 --> 00:44:04.222
I just listened to it religiously.

00:44:04.222 --> 00:44:11.322
Every drive that I made at that time I would pop in the play-by-play and muscle memory was created.

00:44:11.322 --> 00:44:17.422
Getting ready for my senior year, I knew I was going to get a bunch of football games and I wanted to be ready for it.

00:44:17.422 --> 00:44:25.307
I knew I was going to get a bunch of football games and I wanted to be ready for it and it just helped in terms of delivery and how to end a call, how to get into your play-by-play.

00:44:25.307 --> 00:44:37.885
All of that was part of the lesson of developing that muscle and trying to figure out how to best get to a place where I would be comfortable on the air doing play-by-play.

00:44:38.335 --> 00:44:39.157
So take us forward.

00:44:39.157 --> 00:44:45.016
You're at the fan, you're doing updates, you're getting established within the New York market.

00:44:45.016 --> 00:44:48.103
What was your first big moment?

00:44:48.103 --> 00:44:50.909
Doing play-by-play as a pro?

00:44:51.396 --> 00:44:58.710
Well, this is really wild to think now, because the odds of it happening this way are very slim.

00:44:58.710 --> 00:45:05.226
I am doing updates, I'm working with Mike and the Mad Dog, so I'm taking off the seven to midnight shift.

00:45:05.226 --> 00:45:11.467
I'm placed on the drive time shift as the board operator for Mike and the Mad Dog.

00:45:11.467 --> 00:45:21.728
But the way it's sold to me is this will free you up in case we need you to do something at night.

00:45:21.728 --> 00:45:26.702
That will now be available for you to go cover a game which ended up happening.

00:45:26.702 --> 00:45:33.144
I would do the shift and I would go cover the devil's game and get sound and do voicers from there.

00:45:33.144 --> 00:45:35.615
So they were living up to their end of the bargain.

00:45:35.817 --> 00:45:42.507
The part that I didn't know which then happened Jody McDonald left the overnight on weekends.

00:45:42.507 --> 00:45:45.300
Steve Summers, of course, did weekday overnights.

00:45:45.300 --> 00:45:47.467
Jody Mack did weekend overnights.

00:45:47.467 --> 00:45:52.461
He left to take a job at a new sports radio station in Philadelphia, wip radio.

00:45:52.461 --> 00:45:56.391
That job opens up and I was asked if I was interested.

00:45:56.391 --> 00:45:57.974
That job opens up and I was asked if I was interested.

00:45:57.974 --> 00:46:05.900
I said I'm very much interested and I was told okay, but you still have to do Mike and the Mad Dog Monday through Friday.

00:46:05.900 --> 00:46:09.844
Oh, wow, so I was working seven days a week for one full year.

00:46:09.844 --> 00:46:17.992
I would work the board Monday through Friday for Mike and Chris, and then Friday night into Saturday morning I would host midnight to 6 am.

00:46:17.992 --> 00:46:32.760
I would try to get some sleep and then do it again Saturday night into Sunday.

00:46:32.760 --> 00:46:49.547
But what had happened for me being around Mike and Chris do a show and how to get into the topics and how to weave in callers, and I thought to myself who's going to call at 3 am on a Sunday morning?

00:46:53.360 --> 00:46:55.965
And Tushar can validate this for me, you would be surprised.

00:46:55.985 --> 00:46:58.090
It's shocking, shocking.

00:46:58.090 --> 00:47:05.688
All I had to say was open phone lines at 718-937-6666.

00:47:05.688 --> 00:47:06.108
Bang.

00:47:06.108 --> 00:47:09.523
All four would light up in unison.

00:47:09.523 --> 00:47:13.583
Were some of the callers coming off a bender?

00:47:13.583 --> 00:47:15.588
Yes, probably.

00:47:16.655 --> 00:47:17.777
Those are the best callers.

00:47:17.777 --> 00:47:19.822
The best.

00:47:20.664 --> 00:47:33.141
So that started to work a muscle for me of being extemporaneous and thinking on my feet and being entertaining and moving a show along even at that hour of the morning.

00:47:33.141 --> 00:47:36.226
Mark Chernoff takes over as the program director.

00:47:36.226 --> 00:47:45.628
The radio station acquires the New York Jets and Mark Chernoff asks me if I'm interested in hosting pre and post game for the Jets.

00:47:45.628 --> 00:47:47.538
This is 1993.

00:47:47.538 --> 00:47:58.923
I jump at the chance, I say yes and that really gave me my first little taste of real estate at FAN, because this was a big deal.

00:47:58.923 --> 00:48:04.481
They were putting a lot of trust in me to do it and I delivered for them.

00:48:04.481 --> 00:48:06.224
I took it very seriously.

00:48:06.224 --> 00:48:07.688
It mattered to me.

00:48:07.688 --> 00:48:12.302
I had the experience of doing talk so I knew how to handle that.

00:48:12.302 --> 00:48:30.047
But I also had the experience of other parts of the business, dealing with athletes going to Jets camp, getting interviews, recognizing how to tell a story and then the instant reaction after the game, which was important.

00:48:30.047 --> 00:48:36.240
You were a sounding board for the fans that had just watched the game or listened to the game the next year.

00:48:36.240 --> 00:48:52.778
So this is 1993, 1994, I'm at the radio station, I have an update shift, I open up the New York Post preparing for the update shift and I see in Phil Mushnick's column that Howard David, the longtime voice of the New Jersey Nets, would be leaving the position.

00:48:52.778 --> 00:49:05.003
I think to myself I've had a dream two weeks earlier, a bizarre dream, that I was doing a net game and my father was in attendance and it really came out of left field.

00:49:05.003 --> 00:49:08.425
I remember telling my wife about the dream and she's like yeah, that's weird.

00:49:08.425 --> 00:49:10.802
I was at the Meadowlands and calling a net game.

00:49:10.802 --> 00:49:15.844
It was bizarre and literally this pops up in Phil Mosnick's column.

00:49:15.844 --> 00:49:19.846
And I think to myself this is a sign of some sort.

00:49:21.217 --> 00:49:22.302
And I get on the phone.

00:49:22.302 --> 00:49:23.594
I called two people.

00:49:23.594 --> 00:49:31.405
I called Russ Salzberg, who was hosting at WFA at the time, and I called Don Sperling, who was working at NBA Entertainment at the time.

00:49:31.405 --> 00:49:35.824
I had done some voiceover work for them and I asked them both hey, do you know anything about this?

00:49:35.824 --> 00:49:37.324
They both said I'll get back to you for them.

00:49:37.324 --> 00:49:38.806
And I asked them both hey, do you know anything about this?

00:49:38.806 --> 00:49:39.527
They both said I'll get back to you.

00:49:39.527 --> 00:49:40.088
And they both did.

00:49:40.088 --> 00:49:45.739
And they said both of them you need to get in touch with Amy Shear, director of broadcasting with the New Jersey Nets.

00:49:46.380 --> 00:49:47.724
I do, I reach out.

00:49:47.724 --> 00:49:51.898
She said hey, we're kind of deep in the process.

00:49:51.898 --> 00:49:54.581
But if you want to drop a tape off, be my guest, so I do.

00:49:54.581 --> 00:49:56.543
To drop a tape off, be my guest, so I do.

00:49:56.543 --> 00:50:08.677
I'm living in Manhattan at the time, upper East Side 85th and 2nd.

00:50:08.677 --> 00:50:09.621
Get in the car, drive to East Rutherford.

00:50:09.621 --> 00:50:10.242
I'm not a New Jersey guy.

00:50:10.242 --> 00:50:11.268
I know very little about New Jersey at that time.

00:50:11.268 --> 00:50:12.331
I don't understand jug handles.

00:50:12.331 --> 00:50:13.014
I have no idea.

00:50:13.114 --> 00:50:13.536
What do you mean?

00:50:13.536 --> 00:50:14.117
I want to get over there.

00:50:14.117 --> 00:50:14.677
I want to get left Relax.

00:50:14.677 --> 00:50:14.759
You.

00:50:14.759 --> 00:50:15.360
Got to go right to get left.

00:50:15.360 --> 00:50:15.880
I blew by the exit.

00:50:15.880 --> 00:50:16.623
What do you mean?

00:50:16.623 --> 00:50:17.164
I want to get over there?

00:50:17.164 --> 00:50:18.766
I want to get left relax you gotta go right to get left.

00:50:18.786 --> 00:50:19.349
I blew by the exit.

00:50:19.349 --> 00:50:19.489
What?

00:50:19.509 --> 00:50:19.889
do you mean?

00:50:19.929 --> 00:50:20.911
go right to get left.

00:50:20.911 --> 00:50:22.295
That makes no sense whatsoever.

00:50:23.619 --> 00:50:24.483
I have experience.

00:50:24.483 --> 00:50:25.507
I've done the van wick.

00:50:25.507 --> 00:50:25.648
What?

00:50:25.788 --> 00:50:26.329
are you talking?

00:50:26.349 --> 00:50:26.550
about.

00:50:26.550 --> 00:50:29.335
So I dropped the tape off.

00:50:29.335 --> 00:50:32.538
She takes it.

00:50:32.538 --> 00:50:36.201
She comes down to meet me in fact, so we have a personal moment.

00:50:36.201 --> 00:50:41.184
I said out of curiosity, how deep are you in the process?

00:50:41.184 --> 00:50:42.505
She said we're pretty deep.

00:50:42.505 --> 00:50:44.766
We're down to a couple of candidates.

00:50:44.766 --> 00:50:49.489
But I'm going to listen to your stuff and if I like it, I'll play it for my boss.

00:50:49.489 --> 00:50:52.492
This was all college play by play, yep.

00:50:52.492 --> 00:50:55.034
And if I like it, I'll play it for my boss.

00:50:55.034 --> 00:50:55.894
This was all college play-by-play, yep.

00:50:55.894 --> 00:50:59.396
So I included a Seton Hall-Syracuse game that was at the Meadowlands and it was a game winner for Seton Hall.

00:50:59.396 --> 00:51:05.347
Ollie Taylor was a guard for the Pirates and he beat Syracuse at the buzzer.

00:51:05.347 --> 00:51:19.340
My senior year Syracuse had a great team Derek Coleman, Stevie Thompson, david Johnson they should have been a Final Four team that year Billy Owens and that's on the tape.

00:51:20.255 --> 00:51:21.320
She calls me the next day.

00:51:21.320 --> 00:51:23.342
She said really liked your stuff.

00:51:23.342 --> 00:51:25.460
I played it for my boss, jim Lamparello.

00:51:25.460 --> 00:51:26.583
He liked your stuff.

00:51:26.583 --> 00:51:27.726
I said great.

00:51:27.726 --> 00:51:32.226
She said we just need some more recent stuff.

00:51:32.226 --> 00:51:33.050
Do you have some recent stuff?

00:51:33.050 --> 00:51:33.414
I said we just need some more recent stuff.

00:51:33.414 --> 00:51:33.672
Do you have some recent stuff?

00:51:33.672 --> 00:51:38.722
I said absolutely yes, I had no recent stuff.

00:51:38.722 --> 00:51:41.300
I had nothing.

00:51:41.300 --> 00:51:43.782
That was my most recent play-by-play.

00:51:43.782 --> 00:51:45.041
That was the recent stuff right.

00:51:45.074 --> 00:51:49.001
My most recent play-by-play was four years earlier, as a senior in college.

00:51:49.001 --> 00:51:58.340
So I reached out to a friend that I had worked with a bit at NBA Entertainment doing these voiceovers.

00:51:58.340 --> 00:52:08.690
I called him and said hey look, is there any way I can get in there and make a tape off of a game from a monitor, and could you pipe in crowd noise?

00:52:08.690 --> 00:52:11.181
He said, yeah, I think we could do that.

00:52:11.181 --> 00:52:13.467
So I drove over there to Secaucus.

00:52:13.467 --> 00:52:17.400
I called a knick-knack playoff game.

00:52:17.400 --> 00:52:18.242
They recorded it.

00:52:18.242 --> 00:52:20.706
They put crowd noise in.

00:52:20.706 --> 00:52:23.217
I go directly to Amy Scheer.

00:52:23.217 --> 00:52:24.260
This is a day later.

00:52:24.260 --> 00:52:35.188
I hand her that tape and then I get a call the next day saying that our team president, john Spolstra Eric Spolstra's dad would like to meet with you.

00:52:35.188 --> 00:52:42.329
And I said to Amy I said, well, how many people are in the running here?

00:52:42.329 --> 00:52:46.724
And she said it's down to you and another guy.

00:52:46.724 --> 00:52:49.400
Wow, holy shit.

00:52:49.400 --> 00:52:54.144
Wow, this all happened in four days.

00:52:55.456 --> 00:52:56.842
Four days after seeing.

00:52:56.842 --> 00:52:58.759
That's a very net thing to do.

00:52:58.759 --> 00:53:04.282
By the way, Deep in the process You're right, that's an excellent point by you.

00:53:05.335 --> 00:53:14.425
So I end up meeting with John Spolstra and, very similar to my sit-down with Mark Mason, I just felt instantly connected.

00:53:14.425 --> 00:53:20.268
We hit it off and I took a bit of a risk at the end of it.

00:53:20.268 --> 00:53:31.686
We spoke for about 30 minutes and right at the end of our conversation I said hey look, john, I don't know how this is going to go.

00:53:31.686 --> 00:53:36.237
This is the one thing that I do know.

00:53:36.237 --> 00:53:53.690
I believe I'm going to be really successful in this business and if I get this job, you will always be known as the one that gave me my first serious break, and he smiled back at me.

00:53:55.797 --> 00:54:33.226
And that can go on a two ways either the person on the other end things or fortunately his reaction was a positive one Shook my hand, I walked out, my wife and I it was our one year anniversary we flew to San Francisco and did San Francisco Sonoma wine country Napa like, really went for it a year later and had a voicemail on my answer machine in New York from Amy Shearer saying please call me.

00:54:33.226 --> 00:54:36.257
We pulled over on the side of a road.

00:54:36.257 --> 00:54:44.719
I got on a pay phone and called her and she said you got the gig and that was it.

00:54:44.719 --> 00:54:47.945
That really was the break.

00:54:47.945 --> 00:54:54.356
So, larry, to your question break.

00:54:54.356 --> 00:54:55.378
So you know, larry, to your question.

00:54:55.378 --> 00:54:56.059
That was the break.

00:54:56.059 --> 00:54:59.186
And then everything else beyond that was me trying to figure out how to do this job.

00:54:59.186 --> 00:55:02.500
Well, because I really was not qualified at that point to do it.

00:55:02.900 --> 00:55:04.646
Your preparation for all this stuff.

00:55:04.646 --> 00:55:08.963
I mean, obviously you are, you're a font of knowledge.

00:55:08.963 --> 00:55:25.034
I, I, I was joking with the guys before, uh, before we came on a few days ago, which was, you know, I remember back in our FAN days for those who don't remember the old game which was Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon that you know, any actor out there he's six degree.

00:55:25.034 --> 00:55:34.887
You can get Kevin Bacon within six moves or not, and I always remember you as just this, the king of that game.

00:55:34.887 --> 00:55:38.382
You could, absolutely it didn't matter who it was, like Errol Flynn.

00:55:38.382 --> 00:55:40.882
Yes, I can get Errol Flynn in six moves.

00:55:40.882 --> 00:55:45.025
But your preparation, talk a bit about that.

00:55:45.025 --> 00:55:52.300
That the the amount of preparation that you go into, because obviously a lot of what you sound like it sounds so natural.

00:55:52.300 --> 00:55:57.389
I mean, a lot of us always said Ian's a prodigy, but you worked hard at this.

00:55:57.389 --> 00:56:02.043
This was not something where you just sat down in front of a mic, turned it on and then went.

00:56:02.043 --> 00:56:06.039
You spent a lot of time honing that skill to become prepared.

00:56:06.039 --> 00:56:07.101
Yeah.

00:56:07.481 --> 00:56:13.532
Tushar, I think how you separate yourself in this business is based on that.

00:56:13.532 --> 00:56:27.519
So for a Sunday football game, of course what you do in that three hour period is the performance part and it goes without saying you must do well in those three hours.

00:56:27.519 --> 00:56:39.492
But what you do Monday through Saturday is probably the part that defines you a bit more, because that's where the work is done.

00:56:39.492 --> 00:57:11.188
So if that's familiarizing yourself with every player and biographical personal and then every storyline that needs to be covered, goes without saying, and then it's the next level Can you connect with the athletes in a way that extracts information that wasn't in the newspaper the entire week?

00:57:11.188 --> 00:57:12.353
That isn't the low-hanging fruit that is available.

00:57:12.353 --> 00:57:15.458
It's interesting With the internet, I think it's changed the game in many ways.

00:57:15.478 --> 00:57:23.402
Certainly it's changed the game in terms of preparation because there's so much information available, but it's also changed the game because fans are more informed than ever before.

00:57:23.402 --> 00:57:28.795
You cannot bs a true fan.

00:57:28.795 --> 00:57:30.659
Yeah, they're on it.

00:57:30.659 --> 00:57:35.409
They know their team team, they know their sport, they know the matchup.

00:57:35.409 --> 00:57:41.005
Sometimes they know it at a level that you now need to match.

00:57:41.005 --> 00:57:58.661
So if you're doing rudimentary fundamental parts of covering a game, that's all good for the general fan, but you have to know that there is a diehard that is so consumed by this, so I try to remind myself of that.

00:57:59.342 --> 00:58:33.347
Every broadcast and it doesn't matter if it's a big network broadcast, a local broadcast, a radio broadcast, a podcast, an internet broadcast, it doesn't matter your reputation means everything, and that's how I've tried to view this, and maybe it did help me in many ways that a Nets-Wizards game on a Tuesday night is equally important to me as the Ravens and the Steelers.

00:58:33.347 --> 00:58:35.971
A big Sunday, one o'clock window.

00:58:35.971 --> 00:58:37.277
I just don't.

00:58:37.277 --> 00:58:42.514
I don't see the difference in terms of preparation and performance.

00:58:42.514 --> 00:58:46.844
Those two things are non-negotiables if you're going to do this job well.

00:58:47.766 --> 00:58:50.077
That was part one of our conversation with Ian Eagle.

00:58:50.077 --> 00:58:58.454
You can hear the rest of the story in part two by visiting our website at NoWrongChoicescom or on your favorite podcast platform, including YouTube.

00:58:58.454 --> 00:59:00.822
We'll be back with a new episode next week.

00:59:00.822 --> 00:59:06.601
On behalf of Tushar Saxena, larry Shea and me, larry Samuels, thank you again for joining us.

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If you enjoyed what you heard, please be sure to like.

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Follow no-transcript.