The voice of the Pistons, Mark Champion, will be teaching Sports Broadcasting at Oakland University this summer.
Champion brings 31 years of experience doing play-by-play for the National Football League and 21 seasons broadcasting NBA basketball.
The
journalism class is designed to introduce students to the world of sports broadcasting, and that includes a lot of networking.
“I’m still very active in the business, that’s my primary job: broadcasting,” Champion said. “I bring in many of my friends in the business to talk about various things. Not that there’s anything wrong with reading out of a book, but (the course is) basically tapping into the people in the business.”
Students get the opportunity to ask questions and swap business cards with guest speakers.
In addition to networking contacts and a breadth of experience, his former students say they appreciate his teaching style as well.
Matt Pocket (CAS ‘13), who now does the play-by-play for MI Prep Zone, met Champion and several mentors in this class.
“He doesn't simply lecture from on high; he relates to us, shows us how he's a human being who loves what he does and does what he loves,” Pocket said. “He's incredibly passionate about sharing his experiences with young broadcasters, and he is fully committed toward seeing us succeed in this field.”
The course isn’t just for aspiring sportscasters, either. Student athletes can get a valuable perspective on what it’s like to be on the other side of the mic, and all communication or journalism students can get some valuable insight as well.
“I get all kinds of students. I’m going to get the hardcore, ‘This is what they want to do’ student, some that are more journalism focused, but they see this as beneficial because there’s such a crossover today between journalism and broadcasting, and some that look at is an easy, cool class,” Champion said.
But don’t expect to just “show up and talk sports.” Champion will have his students writing and producing a sportscast, do play-by-plays, and host a sports talk radio show on
WXOU, OU’s student radio station.
COURSE DETAILS:
JRN 480 - ST: Sports Broadcasting - 33868
Levels: Graduate, Post Bachelor, Doctoral & Ed Specialist, Undergraduate
Prerequisites: JRN 200 or instructor permission.
Where: Vandenberg 106
When: Summer II semester, June 30 - Aug. 20, 2014
Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 - 4:20 p.m.
Register online today by logging into
mysail.oakland.edu.
