ABOUT JOE

My entire life I’ve been fascinated by two things: sports and media. As a kid, I always pictured my future profession as being a starting shortstop in Major League Baseball. Like many young boys, I had fallen in love with the game at an early age and dreamt big. But around age 12 I realized I was lacking a certain athletic gene that would be necessary to achieve my big-league dreams. So, what was the next best thing? Going into sports media, of course!

            Beginning in high school I leapt at every opportunity I saw to develop the skills needed to be successful in that field. I wrote feature stories on athletes for the yearbook, announced play-by-play for our football and basketball games on the local access station, and was the sports anchor for our weekly school news program.

            By the time I got to Linfield, covering sports had become a passion. Linfield was the perfect place to develop my skills: a small school that was sports obsessed. I was able to stand out and jump on the opportunities that Linfield provided, going to work for both the Sports Information Department and the campus radio station within the first month of my freshman year.

            I am incredibly proud of my work as a student-broadcaster for the Wildcats and the on-air versatility I was able to develop covering six different sports. I worked my way from a backup soccer broadcaster and a football camera operator to becoming the lead play-by-play announcer covering men’s and women’s basketball, our nationally ranked softball program, our rising women’s soccer program, and the sideline reporter covering our championship-contending football program.

            At our campus radio station, KSLC 90.3 FM, I hosted and produced several different radio shows and podcasts, most notably “For The Record” with my witty and talented former cohost Sam Walsh. I also worked in administrative roles for the station, starting as the Assistant Sports Director before climbing the ladder to General Manager my senior year. In my role as General Manager, I helped spearhead a reorganization of Linfield’s digital student-media, launching a podcast network and switching from a traditional FM signal to an online stream, the beginnings of Linfield’s new “Wildcat Radio.”

            My years within the Linfield Journalism and Media Studies department and the Sports Information Department have prepared me for a plethora of roles within digital media. In today's ever-changing modern media landscape we, as journalists and content creators, must be prepared for any challenge ahead. Linfield has gotten me to that level of preparation. Let’s get to work.