On the Air!

Play-by-play announcer John Sartori and color analyst Wesley Boone.

Southeastern’s Award-Winning Student Sportscasters

They – could – go – all – the – way! And why shouldn’t they? Southeastern Louisiana University students who work with The Southeastern Channel to cover Lion Sports receive real-world and in many cases real-time experience in sportscasting—opportunities afforded students at only a handful of universities across the nation and only at Southeastern in Louisiana. Students at the Emmy-winning Southeastern Channel cover all announcing and technical crew positions for live broadcasts of almost every university sport with their work often airing on national sports networks. The professional-looking quality of their broadcasts has been honored as among the best in the country.

Camera operator Courtney Bruno.

The Southeastern Channel was recently named fourth in the nation for “Television Sports Event Production,” winning the Award of Excellence from the Broadcast Education Association at its 2018 Festival of Media Arts in Las Vegas. The channel won for its live broadcast of the Southeastern vs. Southern University - New Orleans basketball game on December 14, 2017. The same broadcast has also received honors from the Emmys given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Suncoast Emmy region. The all-student production featured John Sartori of Mandeville as play-by-play announcer with Wesley Boone of Alexandria as color commentator. Dylan Domangue of Houma was the courtside reporter, while Freddie Rosario of Hahnville was both director and technical director. Other student crew members included Andrew Scherer of New Orleans, Tyler Guidroz of Ponchatoula, Jordan Rheams of Baton Rouge, Courtney Bruno of New Orleans, Richie Solares of New Orleans, Tyler Rogers of Hammond, Alexander Castro of Hammond, Schuylar Ramsey of Springfield, Zechariah Cameron of Baton Rouge, Taylor Sharp of Walker, Blair Joseph of Hammond and Adam Cortez of El Paso, Texas.

Southeastern Channel students man the control room during a Lion basketball broadcast.

“You get to have that first-hand encounter with how professional broadcasts are put together. You learn the formats and proper etiquette. You get the experience of prepping and interviewing coaches and players to prepare for your broadcast,” says Sartori. “Southeastern pulls back the curtain and reveals how these broadcasts work professionally and then introduces you to how you as a student can become a professional yourself. The experience is second-to-none, nationwide.” Sartori was described by Broadcast Education Association judges as “easy to listen to” and “able to show excitement when it was called for, but not obnoxious about it at all.” They wrote that they were especially impressed with how he let the pictures tell the story and adeptly followed his monitor. “Personally, play-by-play announcing before arriving at the Southeastern Channel was merely a dream, a bucket-list item,” says Sartori. “But here I am, having the opportunity to live out a dream multiple times a year at the Division 1-level, which is something none of us students take for granted. We understand some individuals never reach this point in their career at any stage, and we are being given this opportunity before we reach the age of 25.” Regarding technical aspects of the production, judges wrote, “The directing was solid. This was a very well-done production. I loved the graphics. They were clean and easy to read. The game camera did an excellent job of following the play-by-play. They were framed just right for normal coverage. Overall, really nice production and well done.” The winning broadcast was just one of 14 produced by the 15-man student crew during the past year, including Lions’ football, soccer, baseball, softball, and men’s and women’s basketball games. Plans are to add volleyball to the mix this fall. “We’re one of the very few universities in the entire country where students do the television play-by-play announcing, color commentating, sideline reporting and live-event directing for Division I-sports events,” says Southeastern Channel general manager Rick Settoon. “Almost all other colleges hire professionals for those highly sought-after positions and use students only for cameras. It’s very gratifying that respected industry executives and professionals have recognized and honored the professional quality of our entirely student-produced broadcasts.”

Camera operators Christine Grunder and Dante Butler.

That quality has enabled students’ work to be seen by a larger national audience beyond the Southeastern Channel’s 240,000 potential northshore viewers on Charter Spectrum 199 channel and via its live 24-7 webcast on thesoutheasternchannel.com. The game broadcasts now stream live worldwide on the Southland Conference Digital Network and appear On Demand at southlanddigitalnetwork.com alongside professional network game productions, increasing viewership by thousands. “Every aspect of Southeastern Channel live productions is high quality,” says Chris Mycoskie, Southland Conference Associate Commissioner for Television and New Media. “From the announcers to the camera work to the graphics, we’re consistently impressed. The ability to simulcast those broadcasts on the Southland Digital Network gives us some great programming and allows fans to watch the games on our website and apps, as well.” In addition to the SLC Digital Network, the channel’s game broadcasts air on the Cox Sports Television Network for 5.5 million viewers from California to Florida. “The students at the Southeastern Channel do a great job of putting on a game broadcast,” says CST Executive Producer Jeff Brenner, producer of CST games for the last 15 years. “It’s not often that a completely student-run game, from the announcers to the camera operators, etc., looks so professional. These are skills that take years to develop, and the Southeastern Channel has its students well prepared to join the working world right out of college.” Settoon notes that recent graduates such as Mycoskie, Kati Morse and Jessica Province have gone on to work professionally as game announcers for networks including ESPN3, Cox Sports Television, American Sports Network, Fox Sports Southwest and 11 Sports, along with Southland Conference Television, the Sun Belt Conference and Conference USA. And former student cameraman Chris LeCoq now runs camera for ESPN, CST and SEC Network live game events. Mycoskie, as play-by-play, and Morse, as color analyst, teamed up on an SLC softball title game broadcast recently that was named a national finalist at the 2018 College Sports Media Awards in Atlanta. Morse states that her time at the Southeastern Channel was instrumental in leading her to the career she enjoys today as new media director for Tulane Football. “The hands-on curriculum, the passionate faculty and the on-campus studio are unlike any other program in the country. I learned a variety of skills in the field of broadcast and digital services: behind and in front of the camera, show production, even editing and set design. These skills allowed me to stand out in the job market after graduation. In fact, I secured a job two months before walking across the stage!” she says. “But most importantly, the Southeastern Channel was so much fun to be a part of. I gained life-long friends while learning, and that is the best part of any higher ed experience.” Southeastern’s Director of Athletics Jay Artigues says that having a channel capable of producing such high-caliber broadcasts makes everyone a winner in his mind—the students involved with the broadcast production, the student athletes featured in the broadcasts and the Lion Athletics program as a whole. “We’re very appreciative of the exposure our student athletes receive from the high-quality Southeastern Channel broadcasts of our athletic events,” Artigues says. “The Southeastern Channel provides a great product and is an asset not only to SLU Athletics but the university as a whole. Having our games broadcast not only helps us reach our fans, but assists in our recruiting efforts as well.” Most young sports fans can only dream about one day becoming play-by-play announcers for the Super Bowl or World Series like broadcasting greats Al Michaels, Joe Buck or Jim Nance, or even college football announcers like Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit or Brad Nessler. Give it a few more years and youngsters will likely be dreaming about being Mycoskie, Morse, Province, Sartori and Boone instead.