The newly added sports media department got a new addition this year, Pat Janssen, a Wayne State College alum who will be joining the program.
“What I love about Wayne is if you want to do something, the opportunity is here,” Janssen said. “I got the chance to do everything that I wanted to do.”
Janssen’s journey through sports media started when he was 16. Janssen announced baseball games that his own team was not playing in and was quickly accepted at the Nebraska City radio station to assist him in calling games
Janssen relentlessly pushed to be on the air, and with studying and perseverance, Janssen would go on to call games over the radio. During his time at WSC, Janssen also worked out of the local radio station, KTCH. The winter of Janssen’s junior year, KTCH promoted him from calling high school games to calling games for WSC. Then during his senior year, the station made Janssen the sports and news director for the station.
One time while Janssen was calling a game for WSC, he ended up with a concussion after he hit his head on the ceiling of the press box due to. jumping up and down after an exciting play.
Janssen’s experiences after WSC led him to call minor league baseball, work in the athletic department for Virginia Commonwealth University, work and call games for the Patriot League, and work as the news and content director for News Channel Nebraska. During his time at NCN, Janssen spent a lot of his time teaching what it takes to be in the sports media field.
“What’s always been important to me is learning and growing and continuing to evolve and finding a way to make your own craft better,” Janssen said. “I put a lot into myself when I was in college. Wanting to get better is something you can teach people to a certain extent, but it falls on the person to find that in themselves.”
Janssen also has ventures working in the entertainment scene. The main aspect to his non-broadcasting work is comedy.
“Stand-up was always a thing I wanted to do,” Janssen said. “In this area of Pennsylvania, where I was living at the time, in Lehigh Valley there was a surprisingly good comedy scene. So, I went and did an open mic.”
Janssen admits his first time wasn’t the greatest, but he kept finding open mics. Janssen now teaches comedy classes at the Norfolk art center as well as being the board president for the Great American Comedy Festival in Norfolk. Eventually, Janssen got into the world of sketch and improv. Janssen spent time in California where he got to be in some writer’s rooms, have shoots for national commercials and even be in a music video for Glass Animals.
This semester, Janssen is teaching sports writing and helps the sports media workshop class as well as sports media majors.
“Find the things that you like and do it a lot,” Janssen said. “Now is the time, if you’re in college, to do as many things as possible and find really what it is that gives you joy and learn how to do it well. I can’t emphasize that enough.”
