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From Sports Xtra to the sports broadcasting field

Students learn production skills in Sports Xtra to create a twice weekly live sports show covering Carolina athletics and prepare for their future careers.

Hussman students Erik Haynes, Kyle Lobenhofer and Cameron Fardy prepare for the show by putting videos in program in the control room.
Hussman students Erik Haynes, Kyle Lobenhofer and Cameron Fardy prepare for the show by putting videos in program in the control room. (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Students in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media’s Sports Xtra class are putting their academics into practice and learning by doing.

In Sports Xtra — an Emmy-award-winning broadcast — students create content for a twice-weekly sports show that is broadcast on Facebook and YouTube. With students working in editorial, field production and studio production positions, the Tar Heels behind Sports Xtra produce highlights, analysis and commentary while gaining professional development experience that prepares them for careers after Carolina.

“The more reps you get at stuff like this, the better you get at it. We have folks who graduate from here and go straight to ESPN and other sports broadcast entities,” said Charlie Tuggle, a senior associate dean at the Hussman School. “So, it’s very hands-on, very much preparation for your work life.”

Students can also join Sports Xtra as a club to attend live shows and help with production and content creation.

Producing a broadcast, preparing for careers

There are many steps that go into bringing the show to life each week, and students drive every aspect.

The process begins with athletics events. Students are responsible for filming and reporting on Carolina athletics, including interviewing players and coaches after the game, writing a script, editing their coverage into a video for the show and getting the video and script ready for the live broadcast.

Sports Xtra reporters Mason Murr and Caroline Routh film a Carolina women’s lacrosse game against Boston College to feature on the twice weekly show.

Sports Xtra reporters Mason Murr and Caroline Routh film a Carolina women’s lacrosse game against Boston College to feature on the twice weekly show. (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Sports Xtra makes an effort to cover every varsity sport at Carolina and features club sports.

“I love shining the light on all the sports at Carolina. Something that bothers me with sports media is that it only focuses on the top two teams of a school with the top three topics in mainstream sports,” says Joshua Dolgoff, a junior and Sports Xtra anchor. “I love how good of a job we do at just covering every single sport that we can. The non-revenue sports deserve so much more recognition.”

The student-reporters choose on-camera or off-camera roles to get experience in various aspects of the production process. Students who want an on-air role try out for an anchor or analyst position at the beginning of the semester.

“As an anchor, my job is to read scripts, bring energy, make an entertaining, dynamic, show environment with my other anchor, with the other analysts, to really engage with the content, create funny ad-libs,” Dolgoff says.

Sports Xtra anchors Joshua Dolgoff and Isabella Geskos and analyst Landon Elliott practice for the show in the broadcast studio of the Curtis Media Center.

Sports Xtra anchors Joshua Dolgoff and Isabella Geskos and analyst Landon Elliott practice for the show in the broadcast studio of the Curtis Media Center. (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Off-camera roles in the show’s control room, such as audio operator, graphics operator, teleprompter operator, director or technical director, focus more on the technical side of the broadcast.

Producers like Carolina senior Sela Nguyen work with fellow students in the studio and control room to create the show. The director works in tandem with the producer to execute the plan.

“I think the producer’s job is to know what everyone’s role is and understand the importance of it, along with being able to bring the best out of that person in that role so they can do their best within it,” says Nguyen, who served as an executive producer of Sports Xtra.

That collaboration, communication and relationship building are essential tools for future journalists but are also translatable to nearly any job. Through Sports Xtra, students are honing the skills that will serve them in whatever career comes after Carolina.

“I think one of the key things about it is it doesn’t matter if you’re going to go into sports television or sports marketing or anything like that,” Tuggle said.  “Whatever you go into, you need to know how to communicate, and you need to know how to work in a team.”

Editor’s note: Caroline Daly is a junior journalism major in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media and is currently enrolled in the Sports Xtra course.