Sports announcing camp offers hands-on experience
Shannon Snyder, a junior at Waynesburg Central High School, gets help from Doug Wilson, from WANB radio, on how to read through her 30 second radio commercial spot during the Sports Announcing Camp held at Waynesburg University.
Megan Boyles, a senior at Carmichaels High School, sits cool and confident as she reads a TV sports report from a teleprompter during a session at the Sports Announcing Camp held at Waynesburg University.
Richard Krause (red polo), assistant professor of communications at Waynesburg University, demonstrates to students in the Sports Announcing Camp how to keep track of the progress of a baseball game using a scorecard.
In this file photo, Lanny Frattare shows students in the Sports Announcing Camp at Waynesburg University how he kept score during Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games during his 33 years as an announcer. Frattare recently reflected on the resurgent Pirates.
Megan Boyles, a senior at Carmichaels High School, records a radio interview at the Sports Announcing Camp at Waynesburg University. She is interviewing Waynesburg University assistant football coach Dylan August who, for interview purposes, is pretending to be Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
WAYNESBURG — Thirty-one high school juniors and seniors from around the country had an eye-opening experience when they attended Waynesburg University’s Sports Announcing Camp hosted by Lanny Frattare, assistant professor of communications.
?The camp, held Sunday through Thursday, let students get hands-on experience of what it is like to work in the field of sports broadcast journalism.
“When the university asked me to do this, I thought it was important that the camp had an equal amount of lecture, hands-on experience and fun,” said Frattare, who was the voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates for over 30 seasons.
For their lecture, students learned what announcing was all about from KDKA’s Bob Pompeani, the voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins Paul Steigerwald and former KDKA and WTAE sports anchor John Steigerwald. Students also learned ethics and how to keep score during a baseball game from assistant professor of communications Richard Krause.
On Tuesday, Frattare made sure the students got hands-on experience with each side of sports broadcasting. Students rotated throughout the day between six stations including TV and radio sports reports and interviews, sports talk radio and a 30-second radio commercial.
Frattare said the fun part of the camp came from trivia, bag toss and a softball game during non-classroom hours.