By Sean Traynor, Editor-in-Chief



AK: You participated in sports in your younger years. How has this helped in your sport reporting?
JM: Being an athlete through high school helped develop my passion for sports. You take an even greater interest in games when you can relate as a player. I grew up idolizing members of the Lakers and wanting to play baseball like my favorite Houston Astros. Taking an interest at a young age gave me a great knowledge base to work with now and help kindle my passion. I think playing sports also gave me a small understanding of what professional athletes feel. I know how disappointed I felt after a loss or how great it felt to succeed after putting in long hours at practice. Even though my experiences were on a smaller scale, it helps me put things in perspective when I deal with professional athletes. In addition, being an athlete at any level requires discipline and commitment. Being able to apply those concepts to my professional career has led to a job I love and amazing opportunities.


AK: Describe your career journey in sports broadcasting.
JM: I started working in TV as an intern in college. I logged tape, watched games, held the microphone during press conferences and ran the teleprompter. I landed my first job at a small cable station in Dallas (TXCN) as a booker/producer. I worked on a show called "Sports Talk." It was like doing sports radio on TV and my job was to help produce the show but also to book guests. My first sports job in Seattle was as a weekend sports producer for KING 5. I was in charge of all the weekend sportscasts. A producer decides what stories go in a show, which order they go in, how much time is allotted to the story and they write scripts. After about a year, I worked into a full time job as a night-side sports producer. Even though I was a producer, it had always been my goal to be a reporter. In my spare time, and after work, I'd put together my own stories and let my co-workers offer suggestions. I sought help from established reporters and put together my own resume reel. I applied for an open producer position at FSN, which is how I got in the door. My boss at the time agreed to let me do one story on-air a week. I ended up doing quite a bit more reporting and anchoring. It wasn't a traditional path to becoming a reporter but it worked for me, and now I'm valuable as both a reporter and producer. I frequently produce and host my own shows. It's a lot of work, but its fun.


AK: You've had many different jobs in the broadcasting field. What has been your favorite, and why?
JM: My favorite broadcasting job is the one I have right now. I love being on the field or the sidelines during the games and getting a chance to get to know people. I don't spend much time in the office which gives me lots of opportunities to meet really great people. My other favorite job was the summer I spent working for an AAA baseball team in Nashville, TN. I spent the summer of 1999 working at Belmont University in the morning and with the Nashville Sounds in the afternoons/evenings. It was not a glamorous job by any means. Each night we had to pick up all the trash in the entire ballpark. I still cringe at the thought of peanut shells. Even though it wasn't a broadcasting job it gave me a different perspective. Working in the Sounds media relations department gave me a greater respect for people I work with now who are in similar positions.


AK: What have been some of your favorite moments while on your job?
JM: It's tough to pick one favorite moment but they all fall in the same category - walk-off interviews. I really enjoy getting to be the first person to talk to an athlete after a big win. It's particularly exciting if it's a last minute shot or a field goal as time expires. I love the emotion and I love the vividness of the moment. I'm still a fan deep down and it's a thrill for me to be a part of those moments.


AK: One of your hobbies is being a football official. Being able to look at sports from this perspective gives you a unique view of the sport. What advice would you give to parents and kids who want to play sports?
JM: I would tell parents to take it easy. It's frustrating to hear a parent yelling and screaming during a pee-wee football game and acting like it's the Super Bowl. For starters, the players are trying hard. In addition, parents yelling at coaches and officials set a bad example. It seems the media hype around sports has trickled down to every level of the game. While it’s great to have goals and aspirations of playing in the pros, in my opinion, parents need to be realistic and focus more on cultivating a love of the sport.


AK: What qualities do you believe it takes to become a professional journalist?
JM: To become a journalist it really takes passion, a love of communication and storytelling. Contrary to popular belief, journalists don't make much money and we tend to work awful hours. In sports for example, I work a lot of nights, weekends and holidays because that's when most sporting events take place. Your passion will help carry you through those things. If it's just a half-hearted desire, journalism loses its luster quickly. Storytelling happens in all mediums - TV, radio, print and online. Each medium requires a different love of words and writing because TV writing is very different from newspaper writing but every one of them requires a story and a form of communication. Perseverance is another key quality. Writing and TV is very subjective. What you think is good someone else might think is bad. It can be very frustrating and disheartening to hear people critique your work, but you just have to keep going. An ability to stay on deadline is a necessity for any journalist. If you miss a deadline - even a tight one - there are consequences. You need to be able to think and work quickly to hit deadlines.


AK: How do you determine which news stories are worth reporting on? With changes happening so quickly, how do you set up your work day?
JM: My day and my entire schedule are pretty fluid. If you work at a local TV station you'll be given a shift so you know the hours you're supposed to be at the station. Once you get there anything can happen. You need to have good shoes and snacks in your bag because you might be out of the office for a while. My job is a little different because I work at an all-sports station. My schedule revolves around the sport in season. So during baseball, I work primarily in the evenings during the games. During football season, I work on the weekends for the games. I try to make sure I get to the office early to get my research done, return emails and stay caught up on my reading. Determining story selection gets easier the longer you've been in the business. You begin to see what's important and how it relates and compares to other events. If you spend a lot of time reading newspaper stories, or websites and watching highlights, it's pretty easy to figure out what people will be talking about that day. If you work in news, sometimes you'll get press releases that help out, and often there's an assignment desk editor that works the phones all day to figure out what's going on.


AK: You are also a communication consultant to people that would like to speak better. What would you say is the #1 problem people have when trying to speak to groups? How do they overcome this problem?
JM: My focus is more on helping people communicate better in smaller group settings and one-on-one situations. I help people start conversations using sports topics. I think getting started is the hardest part because many people don't have the confidence to just walk up to someone and start talking. I teach people to arm themselves with just a couple pieces of sports knowledge and how to keep asking follow-up questions. Both of these techniques help build relationships. And once you have a relationship with someone, it's easier to talk to that person because the fear factor isn't there.


AK: Describe your 5 step checklist you created for women to be able to "talk sports". Why is it effective?
JM: I developed Talk Sporty to Me based on the things I do every day in my job. I have to keep up on a lot of sports topics and players. Sometimes it's tough to keep track of all the numbers, scores, stats, and schedules so I have to rely on a few shortcuts - like reading headlines. That's the first one of my 5 steps. Unless you're a sports broadcaster you don't need to spend the hours a day that I do reading sports stories, you just need to spend a few minutes running down the checklist to get an overview of what's going on in the sports world. Sports are effective in the workplace, especially for women who work in male dominated environments. Men appreciate a woman who takes an interest in sports. It gives men and women something to talk about. For example, I don't talk to my male co-workers about my big shopping trip at the mall, but I will talk to them about how their favorite team is doing. It makes it easier for us to get along and when we're working on the same project, we work better together. Talk Sporty to Me is effective because it's simple and doesn't require you to be a know-it-all. In fact, that's discouraged. The goal is to enhance communication skills between co-workers, friends and family members. Our society is big into texting, Tweeting, Face Booking and emailing. It's about time we started having real conversations again.


AK: Who has been a mentor in your career and what kind of impact did they have on your life?
JM: My former boss at KING5 gave me the greatest help and advice in getting to where I am in my career. He spent time critiquing my stories before I was even on-air. Encouraged me to keep going even when I wasn't sure I believed in myself anymore. He's been in the business 20 years so his perspective and advice came from experience. He is also one of the hardest working people in the business. I saw him work long hours and take on more responsibilities than others in his position, and still smiled about it. He taught me that working hard will get me noticed and keep me in the business because employers appreciate cheerful workers.


AK: If you weren't doing what you're doing now, what would you have liked to be?
JM: I always thought I was going to be a Lutheran school teacher - right up until my high school guidance counselor suggested broadcasting. If I wasn't working in TV, I'd probably be a teacher.

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