From
Campus Drive to the Road to Indy: PortRadio catches up with Jake
Mastbaum after he returns from the NCAA Division I Basketball
Championships.
Everyone has their start. For Jake Mastbaum his start was right above
the Student Commons, at the WDOT station before his career hit new
levels at Cornell University. Mastbaum recently had time to catch up
with station intern Harrison Remler and discuss college life. Mastbaum
continues to cherish his WDOT ties as he spends time in Division I
locker rooms, making recruiting videos or chasing Kentucky superstar
John Wall.
When was your first interview or assignment?
My first project with Slope Media was back in my Freshman year at
Cornell. I was asked to produce a pre-game show called the "Big Red
Pregame Show" which aired every Saturday before Cornell Football
games. The first show that we put out, my assignment was a dual
interview with Cornell wide-receivers, Horatio Blackman and Stephen
Liuzza. It was a nice short interview for my first College media
production.
I continued to make the Pregame Show show for the Football team that
season. Later in my Freshman year, I moved on to broadcasting Cornell
Basketball games and producing highlight videos for the Basketball
team. Today, as a Junior at Cornell, I'm still broadcasting
Basketball games and covering the team.
How have the professors helped you or shaped your broadcasting
techniques?
One of the nice things about Slope is that it is a completely student
run organization. For me, it's nice because any time I have an idea
for a video or a story, I can just do it. There is really no red tape
or anything to go through. As long as I’m willing to put in the time
to make a project happen, I can.
To specifically answer your
question, because we are student run, Cornell professors haven't
really shaped my broadcasting techniques. Every now and then I will
have a professor who has seen a video that I produced and say
something to me, which is nice, but we don't really get critiques or
constructive criticism from them.
How did your experiences at Schreiber's Port Radio help prepare you
for college broadcasting?
WDOT was huge in terms of preparing me for college broadcasting. I
definitely would not be in the position I am in now without it. I've
joked about this with Mr. Klaff sometimes, but if Alex Solomita never
asked me to co-host "The WaterCooler" with him (which I still contend
is the greatest WDOT show of all time simply because Solomita would
eat Jolly Ranchers on the air), I probably never would have gotten
involved with Slope.
Whenever I talk to people at Cornell and it comes up that I had a High
School radio station, they can't believe it. From my experience, High
School radio station are rare, they’re really rare. I believe the
experience gives you a leg up simply because it allows you to get
comfortable presenting yourself in a public forum. A lot of people
whose radio shows I've helped out with are a bit nervous to talk on
the air. For me, it was something I had done already and that really
helped with the first time I called a basketball game or the first
time I stood in front of the camera.
What was your favorite assignment thus far?
My favorite assignment that I have worked on is definitely making the
Cornell Basketball recruiting video. At the end of last season, we
got an e-mail from one of the Cornell Assistant Coaches, who is now
the Head Coach over at Army, asking if we would be interested in
producing their recruiting video. We met with him, he showed us what
they were looking for, and we went on to make the video.
Getting the
e-mail from Coach Spiker about making this video was great. It was
really nice having our work acknowledged by the coaching staff. It
showed us that we were doing something that people enjoyed and I guess
provided some value to the team, which definitely made doing the work
more fun.
The best part of the project was that we got to present the video to
the team and the coaches at the annual Basketball banquet. Seeing the
video viewed on that stage and being able to witness the reactions of
the players first hand was special.
We are currently in the process
of making this year’s recruiting video, which I will say in a little
spoiler alert, will be better than last years. We will be presenting
it at the team banquet again next week, so stay tuned for that.
What is it like to be inside the locker rooms, with the coaches and
around the players during such an intense tournament such as March
Madness?
In a few words, it was pretty cool. That goes without saying.
I'm a huge college basketball fan so being around the NCAA Tournament
and having that kind of access was a lot of fun. The part about it
that people have to understand is that there is a level of
professionalism that needs to be maintained so you can't really have
that little kid in a candy store look when your inside the locker
rooms. You are there to get certain quotes from certain people to put
together a story so you can't get too excited that you're talking to
John Wall, Coach K, or whomever.
I will say the locker room scene is really hectic. I'll give you one
example from this year's Sweet 16. At one point in the Kentucky
locker room, a random Kentucky player just yelled, "HEY IT'S JOHN
WALL." Immediately you see 50+ grown men drop their interviews or
whatever they were doing to try to find this 18 year old kid. It was
quite a scene. The best part was John Wall wasn't actually in the
locker room when that was yelled.
Overall, the NCAA Tournament was an amazing experience. I've been
fortunate enough to go two out of the three years that Cornell has
played in it since I've been a student. You get to see the best
tournament in all of sports and watch some great basketball.
What advice do you have for students who are looking to get into
broadcasting during college?
Just get involved. People always love kids who are enthusiastic and
willing to work. I would say that you need to understand that if you
are coming into an established college station you may not be calling
a basketball/football game or interviewing the head coach on your
first day as a Freshman, but that doesn't mean there aren't
opportunities out there. Seek out those opportunities and you never
know where you will end up. For example, I signed up to do a sports
radio show during the beginning of my Freshman year and two months
later I was calling Cornell basketball games and a year after that I
found myself sitting court-side at the NCAA Tournament with a press
pass.
I will say that broadcasting Basketball games and doing everything
that goes with it has definitely been the highlight of my college
career so far. It's so much fun and you get to meet a lot of really
impressive individuals whether it is coaches, players, or other people
in the media world. I would highly recommend it to anyone considering
getting into college broadcasting.
And finally, does Cornell have a chance to make a Butler like run
in the near future?
Ahh tough question here. If you asked me a month ago if Cornell could
make a run to the Final Four or beyond, I would have said absolutely.
They really had a special team this year. They had the star power in
Ryan Wittman, Louis Dale, and Jeff Foote. But just as important, they
had guys rounding out the starting in Chris Wroblewski, Jon Jaques and
bench players like Geoff Reeves, Mark Coury, and Alex Tyler who had a
defined role, knew that role, and executed it to perfection.
I
really feel comfortable saying that this team could have done what
Butler did. Look at what they did against Kansas. They took a lead
into the final minute. Bill Self, the Kansas Head Coach said after
the game, if the game was played on a neutral court, the Jayhawks
would not have won. Now let's fast-forward to the Sweet 16 game
against Kentucky. Everyone looks at the final score and thinks it was
a blow-out, but it really wasn't. Cornell made it a 6 point game with
under 6 minutes to go. If some shots fall for the Big Red that
normally do, maybe we are talking about a different ending. You never
know. So my point is that Cornell could have beaten anyone this
season and they really could have done something like Butler, but what
they did do was pretty special.
I guess the main point that should be made is that looking at what
Butler, Cornell, Northern Iowa, St. Mary's, and Murray State did in
this year's tournament should tell you something. There is a lot of
parody in College Basketball. Mid-Major school can compete with
schools from the power conferences and make runs deep into the NCAA
Tournament. Look for this trend to continue.
To address your question about making a Butler like run in the near
future.... No disrespect to my team, but I don't see them competing
for a National Championship in the next few years. Cornell Basketball
is going to experience a lot of turnover. We have 8 graduating
seniors which include 6 of our top 8 players and to top it off, our
head coach Steve Donahue took a head coaching job at Boston College
(well-deserved might I add). While Cornell may not be competing for a
National Championship in the near future, I don't want to marginalize
next year’s team. There is a lot of talent coming back for Cornell.
Chris Wroblewski and Errick Peck are as good as anyone in the league
and top that off with veterans like Max Groebe, Adam Wire, Mark Coury,
and Aaron Osgood, Cornell will be very competitive in the Ivy League,
there is no question about that.