Sophomore Trio Spearheads Sports Podcast

Note: This is another feature I did for school.

ITHACA - If you find yourself in the lobby of the Roy H. Park School of Communications on a Wednesday afternoon, there is a good chance that just a few feet away, in Room 218, you will hear what sounds like an afternoon drive sports talk radio show.

But if you go into the room and ask for the volume to be lowered, there will be no radio on. Instead you will find three sophomores recording a weekly sport talk podcast, called “The Asman and Budick Show.”

After a few microphone checks, the show opens the same way it does every week: a pre-recorded voice telling the listener “The Asman and Budick podcast starts right now”, followed by the familiar guitar riff from The Heavy’s 2009 hit song “How You Like Me Now?”

The roots of the podcast can be traced back before college. Sophomore co-hosts Jake Asman and Daniel Budick went to high school together in Syosset, New York and were able to host a sports-talk radio show at their school every week, normally on Mondays. Each said they had been listening to sports-talk radio for much of their lives, so they knew it was something they would like to get involved in.

“We did a lot of local and national and New York sports stuff,” Asman said. “It was pretty much just basic sports talk, similar to what the podcast is. When we both came to Ithaca College it was something we wanted to do.”

Asman said one factor in creating the podcast was being able to do a show that focused on what the duo wanted to talk about and allowed them to do it every week in order to enhance their skills in front of the microphone. Budick also mentioned that doing a weekly podcast allowed them to have the flexibility to tape the show whenever they were able to.

Getting the show the green light from Ithaca College Televisions’ special productions department was the first hurdle they cleared, so they went looking for a producer. That is where sophomore Jake Chernok came into the picture. He did not know Asman or Budick before coming to Ithaca College, but he ended up being a good fit for the podcast.

“These guys were looking for a producer and I volunteered, and its worked out great so far,” said Chernok, who, much like Asman and Budick, is an avid fan of sports-talk radio.

Chernok is the shows’ utility man. He not only plays the role of producer, editing the show after taping is complete, but is also a part of weekly segments, and books special guests for Asman and Budick to interview. They have had numerous high profile guests on the show, from Sal Paolantonio of ESPN, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, and TNT basketball broadcaster Kevin Harlan to name a few. Part of their ability to book some the bigger names in the sports industry was being approved for as media credential for the NBA, NFL and MLB, allowing them access to the same contacts list ESPN reporters have.

When asked what each of their favorite interviews were, all three agreed that their interview with Craig Sager Jr. in April 2014 was special and emotional, talking about his father’s diagnosis with leukemia and the powerful interview he conducted with San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

“There’s so much negativity surrounding sports all the time,” Chernok said of the interview. “Every single story that comes out is so negative and to have something good come out of that was really, really awesome.”

Budick also mentioned the first interview they ever did on the podcast as being a special moment for them.

“I remember the first guest we had was John Yastrzemski of WFAN,” Budick said. “Just us interviewing him I felt like it was really cool because I’ve been listening to these guys for so long and it’s almost like, ‘Wow, they’re calling into my show now’, and I think that was a big eye opening experience.”

Aside from Yastrzemski, the co-hosts draw inspiration from current sports-talk personalities that they listen to on a daily basis. Budick said he tries to model his interview style on WFAN’s Marc Malusis and Mike Francesa, while Asman will routinely wake up an hour before his 8 a.m. class to watch Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton’s television simulcast and take parts from their show, as well as others, to create his own style.

Asman said that trio plan on continuing the podcast through college, and he hopes it gives all three of them valuable experience in the sports-radio business.

“We hope it continues to make us better so when we do graduate college, it gives us an opportunity to have a leg up on the competition when we’re searching for jobs,” he said.