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Mike has enjoyed glancing at SN to see our reaction to his interview series. He caught DCShockerFan05 a few days ago curious about Mike's role as a broadcaster for WSU...
DCShockerFan05: "What does Mike consider the proper balance between his roles as:
* A journalist whose duty is to deliver the facts and some analysis of them.
* An entertainer who is part and parcel of the event he is covering and whose duty is to enhance the experience of his listeners.
* A representative/advocate/promoter for WSU sports whose duty is to make WSU look good.
* I am also curious if Mike thinks most sportscasters feel the same way he does, whatever that is."
Mike, thanks for doing this, btw.
Mike Kennedy: "First and foremost, I believe my role is to describe what is happening as accurately as I can and to add analysis as to why things happen the way they do. I can't always see everything, or you can also be looking at something in a certain way and miss a possible alternate explanation, which is why I have been blessed to work with people like Dave, and Bob, and Shane, who are great at recognizing things and adding their expertise to the analysis. Beyond providing those basics, I try to add things which I would find interesting as a fan: stats, streaks, trends, and stories and anecdotes. I try to use stats to illustrate a point very specifically - I hate hearing "he's been red-hot" without any additional support. Does that mean .400 in the last 10 games, .600 in the last five? I see myself as a reporter and a journalist from the standpoint of being accurate and fair, and I try to be honest in acknowledging good performance by opponents and not so good performances by the Shockers, but I also recognize that these are still college kids and not highly paid professional athletes. Also, I am representing Wichita State, and while I have never felt an obligation to make them look good or only be positive, I do think it's part of my job to try to give them the benefit of the doubt in being as positive as possible within reason. I believe almost the entire audience is made up of Wichita State fans, and I think it is appropriate for the broadcaster for any particular team to be a proponent of that team, and to get excited when they do well. I don't see myself as an entertainer, per se, but I feel the audience has a right to be entertained, within the framework of an athletic event, and hopefully we achieve that with some interplay between us, humor when it makes sense and actually is humorous, and with interesting information mentioned earlier, as long as it doesn't interrupt the flow of the game. I don't believe anyone tunes in just to listen to Mike Kennedy - they're tuning in to listen to the Shockers, and they want to know what's going on ahead of any of the other stuff. As far as whether most other broadcasters look at their role the same way, I can't really answer that. I hear guys sometimes who seem to think it's about them, or their sweeping analysis of some broad topic, and my thought is always, "hey, I turned this on to watch and learn about Duke and North Carolina, not about you."
Mike has been doing it this way for nearly 40 years. He has been a great mentor to many who aspire to be a sports broadcaster and teaches the very same things he practices. We are blessed to have someone who balances his craft with a journalistic delivery, being entertaining, advocating and promoting WSU.
DCShockerFan05: "What does Mike consider the proper balance between his roles as:
* A journalist whose duty is to deliver the facts and some analysis of them.
* An entertainer who is part and parcel of the event he is covering and whose duty is to enhance the experience of his listeners.
* A representative/advocate/promoter for WSU sports whose duty is to make WSU look good.
* I am also curious if Mike thinks most sportscasters feel the same way he does, whatever that is."
Mike, thanks for doing this, btw.
Mike Kennedy: "First and foremost, I believe my role is to describe what is happening as accurately as I can and to add analysis as to why things happen the way they do. I can't always see everything, or you can also be looking at something in a certain way and miss a possible alternate explanation, which is why I have been blessed to work with people like Dave, and Bob, and Shane, who are great at recognizing things and adding their expertise to the analysis. Beyond providing those basics, I try to add things which I would find interesting as a fan: stats, streaks, trends, and stories and anecdotes. I try to use stats to illustrate a point very specifically - I hate hearing "he's been red-hot" without any additional support. Does that mean .400 in the last 10 games, .600 in the last five? I see myself as a reporter and a journalist from the standpoint of being accurate and fair, and I try to be honest in acknowledging good performance by opponents and not so good performances by the Shockers, but I also recognize that these are still college kids and not highly paid professional athletes. Also, I am representing Wichita State, and while I have never felt an obligation to make them look good or only be positive, I do think it's part of my job to try to give them the benefit of the doubt in being as positive as possible within reason. I believe almost the entire audience is made up of Wichita State fans, and I think it is appropriate for the broadcaster for any particular team to be a proponent of that team, and to get excited when they do well. I don't see myself as an entertainer, per se, but I feel the audience has a right to be entertained, within the framework of an athletic event, and hopefully we achieve that with some interplay between us, humor when it makes sense and actually is humorous, and with interesting information mentioned earlier, as long as it doesn't interrupt the flow of the game. I don't believe anyone tunes in just to listen to Mike Kennedy - they're tuning in to listen to the Shockers, and they want to know what's going on ahead of any of the other stuff. As far as whether most other broadcasters look at their role the same way, I can't really answer that. I hear guys sometimes who seem to think it's about them, or their sweeping analysis of some broad topic, and my thought is always, "hey, I turned this on to watch and learn about Duke and North Carolina, not about you."
Mike has been doing it this way for nearly 40 years. He has been a great mentor to many who aspire to be a sports broadcaster and teaches the very same things he practices. We are blessed to have someone who balances his craft with a journalistic delivery, being entertaining, advocating and promoting WSU.
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