WAER
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WAER is a radio station in Syracuse, New York. It is located on the campus of Syracuse University, and is an auxiliary service of the school. The station features a jazz music and National Public Radio format, with a news and music staff providing programming around the clock. It is best known, however, for its sports staff, which has produced the likes of Bob Costas, Marv Albert, Mike Tirico, Sean McDonough, Ian Eagle, Dick Stockton, and many others.
[edit] Sports Staff
The WAER Sports Staff is made up entirely of students, and provides daily sports updates as well as play by play for Syracuse University football, men's basketball, and men's lacrosse. During the summer, WAER also broadcasts Saturday night home games for the International League's Syracuse Chiefs, the AAA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The WAER process is somewhat unique in that all training is done by the students, with only casual supervision provided by the news director. Every fall, the process begins with a recruitment meeting, where students (mostly freshman) fill out applications and submit broadcast writing samples to the directors of the sports staff. Typically, there are anywhere from 30 to 50 applicants. This number is whittled down to 20, using the applications and personal interviews as guidelines. The new memebers, called writers, then begin their training process.
It starts with each writer being assigned one morning a week to come in and hand write a sportscast and voice it onto a portable recording device such as a mini-disc or cassette tape. After each cast, the writer meets with his or her assigned personnel director, who is responsible for critiquing the cast and telling the writer what he or she needs to improve upon. The process continues week after week, until such time as the personnel director deems the writer ready to advance, or decides the writer has not progressed enough and needs to be let go. On average, writers take anywhere from two to four semesters to be cleared for air. Though the initial class starts with 20 members, the average class size on the WAER sports staff is about 7 to 9.
