Sportsnet fixture lectures students

Fanshawe's Contemporary Media students who were interested in branching into sports reporting were granted the opportunity to meet Rogers Sportsnet's Rob Faulds.

The students who gathered to listen to the veteran announcer on December 7 were treated to an hour-long autobiography followed by a question period. Although he has years of experience in the sports reporting business, students were just as intrigued by Faulds' sense of comedy and story telling.

Getting his start on local London radio station CFPL, after being introduced to radio broadcasting while attending Western, Faulds has since worked at both CTV, covering the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 1994 Lillehammer Olympic games, and Roger's Sportsnet as a host. He has also called the play-by-play for the Blue Jays, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens.

Faulds made sure to cover everything from noontime drinking with a potential employer to comical stories about the smelly side of doing play-by-play at equestrian events.

“If you're going into a case you're not sure about, lean on the people you're with,” explained Faulds, referring to the times when he was sent to a cover a sport he was unfamiliar with as a play-by-play man. “That's what they're there for. They're called colour analysts because that's what they do.

“And there's more than one section to the newspaper - read them because it's amazing how everything is connected.”

But hidden beneath the colourful stories was a common vein that he was careful to stress to the students, that the name of the game in creating a successful media career is not just to be persistent, but that making, and more importantly keeping, contacts throughout the industry is what will get you to the top.

“You can't ever begrudge anyone advancement,” he explained.

Because you never know, those bridges you may have burned might just be the ones you'll have to cross to make it big.