Sports In The Making

Mark Gleason is a network sports television camera operator, working on many high profile sporting events in the US and around the world. He shares his journey in this industry, explains what different camera positions do on a baseball game before Game 2 of the NLCS, and shares how much he loves his career, all while continuing to be a radio disc jockey.

Mark Johnson has been "The Voice of the Buffs," the University of Colorado's play-by-play announcer for two decades. We talk about his career progression, how the addition of Coach Prime Dieon Sanders has affected his job during the football season and how he describes the Colorado Buffs fan base. Mark also shares how important faith and family are in his life.

Oscar Sanchez is Director of Broadcast Operations for CONCACAF and helps people navigate the broadcast industry with his posts on LinkedIn. Topics of discussion are how people who work in sports broadcasting should understand every position to help them be better, how artificial intelligence will affect broadcasting and the characteristics he looks for when hiring personnel. He is also the creator of "The Ministry of Broadcasting," a weekly newsletter talking about sports broadcasting.

Jed Drake is one of the most influential people to have worked in broadcast sports television. He spent nearly 30 years with ESPN as Senior Vice President & Executive Producer of Remote Production. Jed talks about his early years at The Worldwide Leader, what goes into producing live sports, the stories behind ESPN's First-And-Ten Line and ESPN's K-Zone. Jed also talks about his company, Jed Drake & Associates and how he helps advise companies such as C360 and Cosm to create new viewer experiences with sports.

Owen Scannell is Founder and CEO of Premier Rugby Sevens. He started the league in 2020 and completed its third season in 2023. We talk about how he came up and developed the project, how important community is in building a sports league, how branding is important for the fans and more.

Mike DeRoches is a rare mix of engineer, artist and salesman. In this episode of Sports In The Making, Mike shares a bit of his background working for Sony Electronics, how camera technology is changing in sports and entertainment coverage, and some of the cool event’s he’s been a part of.

As a youngster, Amy Smolens always tried to make her mark on sports, whether it was competing against the boys or being a women's pioneer in sports television. She visits with me to talk about her career covering many Olympic Games, world championship events, sports broadcasting and her love of cycling.

Terry Brady has been responsible for the production operations for many high caliber events in his career, including the Olympics, World Championship events and many more sports. In this episode we talk about how he started in the tv sports business, what it takes to manage the production operations, from the smallest to the largest events in the world.

Dave Raymond performed and created the personality of one of the most iconic characters in Major League Baseball, the Phillie Phanatic. Dave shares his story growing up as the son of a hall of fame college football coach, what he learned as he developed the Phanatic from scratch, how he’s helped teams and businesses create meaningful mascots and how the Phanatic saved him from a dark time in his life. A great episode on importance of having fun.

A recap of the first nineteen episodes of Sports In The Making and includes short sections from some of the most memorable responses.