(Editor's Note: This is the seventh in a series of stories about College of Communications students completing summer internships.)
Broadcast journalism student Alex Bobbyn may have just completed his freshman year at Penn State, but he is already laying the foundation for his future. This summer, the New Tripoli, Pennsylvania, native is interning with Westwood One in New York City.
Bobbyn put his early Penn State connections to good use to help secure the opportunity. As a freshman, Bobbyn was involved with ComRadio. Recent graduate and former ComRadio general manager Mike Esse had previously interned with Westwood One and connected Bobbyn to the right people.
So far, Bobbyn has had a wide range of experiences and has helped out with a variety of tasks. He’s done everything from archiving broadcasts to writing 20-second “flashback moment” vignettes for broadcasters to read during the upcoming NFL season.
The summer is slower in terms of live sporting events, but Bobbyn has been on-site at the studio for golf’s U.S. Open, softball’s Women’s College World Series and baseball’s College World Series.
“Whenever they have a sporting event, I’ll stay in for that and I’ll watch how they do it,” said Bobbyn. “The board operator will come in. We will have our producers there. Then, we have producers who are at the game actually producing it. I’ll listen in. I get to listen guys like Kevin Kugler and Kevin Harlan and really good broadcasters, which is really, really cool.”
In addition to his connections from ComRadio helping him get the internship, Bobbyn also has used what he has learned at the student-run station. Like Westwood One, ComRadio does play-by-play broadcasts for sports and uses the same system, Access, that Westwood One uses. Bobbyn also brought important editing skills to the internship because of his time with ComRadio. On top of that, he’s adding leadership skills he can bring back to campus for his sophomore year.
“I think what I’m going to take out of it the most is that work is a lot easier when you’re passionate about what you’re doing,” said Bobbyn. “The best way to get started in this business that I’ve noticed from my internship is the connections that you make and the people that you meet. It’s always really important to follow back up with those people.”
Westwood One -- the CBS radio affiliate, and the leading multi-platform provider of sports, music, news, spoken word and digital audio content -- has built ongoing connection to Penn State because of the driven, talented students found in the College of Communications. Most recently, Esse served as a producer for Westwood One’s radio coverage of The Masters, and four students worked as production assistants for the men’s college basketball NCAA Tournament.