With a quiet, earned confidence, 10 Bryant University undergrads take their place at their Radio Row booth in San Francisco’s Moscone Center as professional athletes pass them in mission-driven strides and media personnel scuttle around them preparing for the busy day ahead. The room, cavernous, loud, and charged with vibrant energy, invigorates the group as they reach the Bryant table, set down what remains of their breakfast, and step into action.
The Bryant students, all enrolled in the university’s “Advanced Sports Broadcasting: Road to Radio Row,” course, have joined industry titans on Radio Row, where they spent three days broadcasting live shows and creating social media content ahead of Super Bowl LX between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. This football hub is a massive, week-long media event where broadcasters, journalists, podcasters, content creators and even celebrities, all take part in the coverage leading up to the Super Bowl.
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After plugging in microphones and setting up the technology they’ll be using for their broadcasts later that morning, the students — already showing the experience they’ve gained — split into three radio show groups, huddle up and walk through their day. From there, they scatter throughout the event hall in hopes of connecting with as many people as possible and recruiting them to spend 5 or 10 minutes on air with them. After an hour of networking, undergrads regroup at their home station and discuss who will be joining them during their broadcast.
It’s one last chance to prepare for action.
“That means making interview questions, researching the person if we don't know them, and formulating a game plan,” says Communication major Kori Zelano ’26.
And then: It’s showtime.
The students, guided by Professional in Residence Christian Fauria — an accomplished broadcaster and former NFL tight end — and Communication and Language Studies Department Chair and Communication Professor Chris Morse, Ph.D., have been developing their sports broadcasting skills since September in preparation for their trip.
But nothing prepares you for doing it live.
Entering the big league
On Super Bowl Opening Night, the first night of their trip, undergrads find themselves in San Jose Convention Center amidst a flurry of media who are all vying for the New England Patriots’ attention. Starting players and head coach Mike Vrabel take questions at their podiums while other team members mingle throughout the room. After filling the next hour with conversations, the Patriots are eventually replaced by the Seattle Seahawks who filter in for their own round of interviews and photos.
For undergrads, quickly building connections with players is key — and they’ll use any tool at their disposal.
“[Seahawks Quarterback] Sam Darnold's high school used to play my groupmate Luke O’Brien’s high school, so he got to ask Sam a question about torching his high school. Sam had a smile on his face like it warmed him up,” says Leadership and Innovation Management major Chris Sanders ’27.
As someone who developed a successful podcast, “Best for Business” through a previous Bryant class and has been conducting in-depth interviews with professional wrestlers, referees, commentators, and other industry figures for the past year, Sanders is comfortable talking to people on the fly. Being able to go up and start a conversation with a multitude of professional athletes who are all in the same room together, however, is surreal.
“The fact that Bryant made this a class is insane,” says Sanders.
Gaining confidence in real-time
Seated across from ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes, Communication and Digital Marketing double major Aurora Pedwell ’27 can’t help but feel awe. Pedwell grew up watching Kimes on TV and listening to her podcast and now, the two are chatting about football and the implications of the upcoming big game.
For Pedwell, who plans to pursue a career within the sports industry, the conversation provides a major confidence booster. While she is already heavily involved in content creation — including filming student-athlete interviews for Bryant Athletics, doing sideline reporting for the university’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, and running her own podcast — this moment feels like a game changer.
“I’m like, ‘Wow, I can dissect the game with her. Maybe this is something I can do,’” says Pedwell.
In addition to conducting interviews with current and former professional athletes such as TJ Ward, Patrick O’Connell, Tommy Devito and broadcasters like Rich Eisen, Pedwell was also able to go booth to booth connecting with industry professionals and watching in real-time how other media outlets function — from how they produce content on a tight deadline to their interview structure.
“I came back home feeling inspired to up my game with more fun, creative content ideas,” she says.
Taking on the challenge
Throughout their four days at Radio Row, students interview many more sports industry figures, including former NFL player Jason Kelce, journalist Rob Parker, sports media personality, podcaster, and host Katie Nolan, NFL anchor Erin Coscarelli, and former NFL player Seth Payne.
Marketing major Jacob Turbitt ’26 finds that seizing any window of opportunity is paramount. That’s how he got into a conversation with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy and Adam Devine, an actor from Pitch Perfect and “Modern Family.”
“The experience showed me how much I need to grind and how much I'm going to need to network and grow my resume,” he says.
Turbitt’s passion for sports media dates back to high school when he started his own sports broadcasting show.
“A big reason I chose Bryant was because it was so easy to get involved with that kind of stuff. I looked at a couple other schools, but to get involved with the radio and sports media, you had to wait until sophomore or junior year. Here, you were involved on your first day,” says Turbitt, who hosted a football talk show on the campus radio station and currently serves as the organization’s treasure and helps plan events.
For Turbitt, who’s also worked on marketing efforts within Bryant Athletics, the course has already opened opportunities. One media professional that students connected with through the course was Cam Rogers, a digital media manager and on-air host for Bleav. Following Radio Row, Rogers inquired if anyone would be interested in doing a podcast on a professional sports team several times a week. Turbitt jumped at the opportunity and will now be hosting a podcast called Bleav in Cubs — covering the Chicago Cubs.
It’s a steppingstone, Turbitt hopes, to even more.
Inspiring momentum
If there’s anything undergrads students learn over the course of the week, it’s the importance of adaptability.
“One thing that Professor Fauria always told us was that you're going to make schedules but be ready for them to blow up at any point,” Zelano says.
That extended even into the broadcasts, Pedwell adds. There would be times when her group would be on air and Fauria, familiar with the atmosphere as a two-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots, would grab someone walking by and tell the students, ‘Okay, change of plans. You're interviewing this person next. Whatever you were just about to do, throw it out the window, because their coming on right now.’
That meant that sometimes they’d have maybe five minutes to research the person, get a baseline of what they do, and ask questions out of curiosity.
It was a little intimidating at first, reflects Pedwell, but soon felt like second nature, and she now feels like she has a foot in the door of the sports industry.
“Just interacting with media professionals used to feel so far away, but now it feels like it's right there. I'm right there,” she says.