Meet Jeff Lemmon, voice of the UConn Women’s soccer team and current holder of the coveted position of WHUS Sports Director.
Name: Jeff Lemmon
Graduation Year: 2017
Major: I’m majoring in Broadcast Journalism and Communications, which focuses more on live TV/Radio as opposed to written journalism.
What’s your position? I’m the sports director at WHUS, UConn’s very own radio station. My job includes broadcasting sporting events and games as well as scheduling events. This means that, in addition to live broadcast, I’m in charge of making sure the radio slots are open for our games, that we have enough material for the allotted time slot, and that everything runs smoothly. I’m going to Rutgers this weekend for women’s soccer but there are football and men’s soccer games this weekend as well so I have to make sure someone is available to run those shows.
How did you get that position? I’m really passionate and wanted to get involved quickly. Freshman year I joined the Sports Department [at WHUS] after meeting a representative in one of my journalism classes. It was really easy actually; I just asked WHUS if I could broadcast some games, they said yes, and I worked my way up. My sophomore year I was Assistant Sports Director and this year I earned the position as Director.
What’s the best part about your job? Probably getting to follow the teams around because I’ve always been a huge sports guy and an even bigger fan of UConn sports. It’s also a great opportunity to be able to practice and get better at broadcast because that’s what I’m looking do as a career.
What’s the most challenging part? Sometimes the responsibility is overwhelming, with having to make sure that everyone is doing their job, that the show is going to run smoothly. I mean, it is live broadcast so there’s little room for error. For example, we always need a sound engineer and I have to make sure the comrex is working. I’ve gotten a lot better at thinking on my feet since I have to come up with things to say during downtime on the show.
How will this job correlate with future career goals? Well, I want to be a sports broadcaster for a major network like ESPN or NBC so this job is perfect. It allows me to improve my skills, get some great experience and advice, and make some important connections that could help me land a job after graduation.
Can other people get involved? Yes! Anyone can join the sports department at any time! [More information listed on the WHUS website]
You can listen to Jeff commentate sporting events on 91.7 WHUS.
All pictures credit to Jeff’s Instagram account, @j.lemmon