CommRadio Member Spotlight: Jon Gross

Story posted June 22, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Matt Freiler

Throughout the summer, CommRadio will be highlighting its growing presence around the country by telling the stories of current members and their summer internship experiences.

Week 1: Jon Gross, Sports Director

Gross is a senior from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey who aspires to be a full-time play-by-play broadcaster. He has had many great experiences through ComRadio, including calling the 2017 Rose Bowl and the 2017 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships. This summer, he has taken his talents to upstate New York to serve as the voice of a popular collegiate summer league baseball team.

Internship: Director of Broadcasting – Saugerties Stallions Baseball - Saugerties, NY

Duties: Play-by-play broadcaster for all Stallions games throughout the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball (PGCBL) season. Broadcasts include video streams via Facebook Live for home games and Mixlr audio streams for away games on the Stallions Broadcast Network. Gross also conducts player and coach interviews and hosts a weekly podcast where individual players are highlighted while ssisting in other social media, marketing and equipment management tasks as assigned.

Q & A with Gross:

Q: What has been your favorite part about the internship thus far?

"Working with a great organization and being able to do what I love at the same time."

Q: Any good stories you can tell about your experience?

"I had the chance to interview Darryl Strawberry, who had a storied career in the majors and was in town for a public speaking event. He stopped by to talk with the team before one of our home games, and I got a chance to interview him afterwards. We posted that interview to our Facebook page and it has around 6,000 views. Also, we had a game where some of the parents approached me and told me they appreciated what I was doing and complemented my broadcasts. It was nice to get reassurance that I’m bringing people quality content they can enjoy."

Q: What’s life like in Saugerties? Anything fun to do?

"Saugerties is a nice town. Lots of nice people, my host family is great. Good restaurants around town, but I don’t have a lot of free time otherwise."

Q: What do you hope to accomplish the rest of the summer?

"Improve as a broadcaster and help the Stallions grow as an organization. Also, just continuing to network and develop relationships that will help me advance throughout my career."

 

 

Member spotlights are coordinated and written by social media director Matt Freiler. Freiler is a rising senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email psumatt95@gmail.com.