Academics

CommRadio students embrace opportunity to cover NFL Draft

Cooper Deck (inset left) and Zach Kaplan will serve as CommRadio's on-site hosts for coverage of the NFL Draft in Nashville in April. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As the NFL Draft moves this week to "Music City" — Nashville, Tennessee — for its selection process identifying future professional football players, some future professional broadcasters from Penn State will be on hand to cover the event — for the 11th year in a row, CommRadio broadcasters will cover the draft in person.

Senior Cooper Deck and junior Zach Kaplan will anchor the coverage in Nashville while more than 30 CommRadio members will contribute to studio coverage, which can be heard online at psucommradio.com or through the RadioFx app. CommRadio is the internet-based, student-driven radio station housed in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.

Draft coverage begins at 7 p.m. April 25 for the first round, with continuing coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. April 26 for the second and third rounds.

Deck, Kaplan and dozens of other CommRadio students produced extensive online coverage leading up to the NFL Draft in recent weeks. That includes several broadcasts as well as NFL division breakdowns and profiles of draft-eligible players.

Penn State’s relationship with the NFL Draft enters its second decade this year. CommRadio was the first collegiate media entity to cover the draft from start to finish and Penn State students have been on location more often than their counterparts from any other school to cover the event in the past decade.

More than 150 students participate with CommRadio each academic year. It provides news and sports coverage from Penn State with opportunities ranging from advertising and promotions to on-air duties such as conducting play-by-play of sports, covering news or hosting a talk show.

Last Updated June 2, 2021