So we are unveiling a new series at Buffalo Wins. Basically we are going to ask some media members -The cool ones who don’t hate us- about their careers. We won’t be asking them about the Bills/Sabres because you can obviously get that info on their own platforms.
For our first installment, we have sports reporter Joe Buscaglia from Channel 7 to dish the dirt on his career. We get into what he did in college to prepare for a life in broadcasting, how he got into WGR, and how he became the station’s NFL draft guru. Additionally, Joe B. gets into whether he can cover a sports team as a fan instead of a journalist and whether working for a flagship station can influence his coverage. I think Joe gave some really honest answers and I think you guys will enjoy this.
1) Were you a sports fan growing up? If so, what were your teams?
I was a humongous fan of sports growing up. Most of my sports experiences were based on playing the game (football, basketball, and baseball) growing up, and then trying to know every little piece of information that I could about players, teams, depth charts, so on and so forth. I’m now a 29-year old man and I still do the same things as I did when I was 10, so in that respect, I’m really freakin’ lucky. That fact will never be lost on me. As far as favorite teams are concerned, I never really got hooked on one. My sports hero growing up was Brett Favre — yeah, I know, insert joke here — and I remember crying as an 11-year old after Favre’s Packers lost Super Bowl 32 to John Elway and the Denver Broncos. I went to Bills games, even threw on a jersey every once and again just for appearances when I was younger, but I never really got into them. I just loved the game, the sport, and wanted to know everything I could without being jaded by anything. Yep, I’m weird.
As for other sports, my dad was a huge Yankees fan, so I couldn’t give him the satisfaction (even though I love Joe Sr. to death), so I really liked the Toronto Blue Jays growing up. Then, they switched their uniforms to those awful blue-and-black trainwrecks and I could never get back on board. All the charm was lost. Yep, weird. So I got hooked on the St. Louis Cardinals, and now that there is no longer any league and division-based conflicts with good ‘ole Joe Sr., I’ve never looked back. The Cardinals and Florida State athletics are the only two I really, really follow. In my spare time, I coach the freshman level of high school basketball, so any basketball I can get my hands on, I’m in. I’m a big NBA dude, too, but I watch it for the purity of the game and don’t bother with a favorite team. Did I mention I’m weird?
2) When did you decide you wanted to work in broadcasting?
I think it was decided for me at a young age. When I wasn’t outside playing some kind of sport with actual friends on the streets of Lakeview, New York, I was usually playing a sport outside by myself. And whilst doing so, I would concoct teams that played each other, write down brackets, and do the play-by-play in my mind while actually playing the game. This whole ‘weird’ thing is going to be a theme. Taking it even a step further, I had an overpacked binder of baseball cards, separated by team (and players by position), and I’d trot out two teams to ‘play’ one another. I used paper bases, the floor of my living room, and a marble to play out these ‘games,’ and did the active play-by-play for each one. Once I got to Buffalo State College as a junior, I met some people that made me fall in love with the idea of sports radio, and I was hooked. Without guys like Tom McCray (former professor at Buff State) or Andy Roth (former program director at WGR Sports Radio 550) believing in me early on, I don’t know where I’d be.
3) I’m quite envious that you went to FSU for college as the parties…I mean, the course work must have been stellar there. Did you major in broadcasting then? What was that experience like going away to college?
Those two years were a blur, man. Those big college football games have a reputation for a reason, because most of it is true. It was a lot of fun down there, but the unfortunate part of it all is that they weren’t the best school for what I wanted to do. The school I wanted to go to all throughout high school was actually the University of Florida. They had a great communications program, and it seemed like everything I wanted. Then, they did the best thing that’s ever happened to me: they rejected me. So I decided to go to Florida State, shot off a few emails during my sophomore year to people up in Buffalo, and then figured moving back was the best thing for my career.
Fortunately, I figured right. If I got into UF, I’m not sure I am where I am today, or that I’d have the inner-drive and mentality that I still carry. You have to want it in this industry, and they inadvertently made me want it even more than I ever did. To your last question, going away to college was a fantastic experience, and I recommend everyone move away from their hometown at least once in their life. You meet new people, you find out what happens when your security blanket is gone, and you mature as a person. It’s a humbling experience, and one that I loved.
4) When you transferred to Buffalo State, what sort of experience did you get when it came to broadcasting (IE: WBNY/TV Station) and did you find it to be important for you when it came to preparing for a profession in broadcasting?
When I transferred to Buffalo State, it took a couple of months to really get settled. One random night, I strolled over to WBNY and asked the then program director Dave Vogan (who ironically enough now works with me at Channel 7, which is awesome) what it took to be an on-air DJ. He gave me a 30-question test, I passed, and away we went. I met a couple of other guys there in Mike Jafari and Brandon Andersen, who invited me to take part in a weekly sports show. We had about three callers total, but, it was fun. I couldn’t get enough of it. Eventually I started hosting a one-day-a-week morning show by myself from 6 to 9 am, with no callers and no commercials. I got *real* used to my voice doing that. Through those relationships, I wiggled my way into doing some play-by-play and color commentary of football at the school, and then eventually hooked on with BSC-TV. I started to find my voice, and I thought maybe I had a little potential if I worked at it enough. Mostly, it was something I loved and was passionate about and wanted to chase. I wanted to do whatever it took.
5) Who were your broadcast influences growing up?
I didn’t get heavy into broadcasting influences until I really started to hone in on it during college and the years after that. I like to look at successful people in the industry, and think to myself, ‘What makes them as good as they are?’ You pick new, fresh things up from people as you go along — which I think is vital. If you’re comfortable with being the same thing year in, and year out, that’s good on you. But to me, the evolution of the craft is the fun part. It’s not reinventing yourself by any means, it’s basing it off what’s gotten you to where you are, and then adapting to help yourself even more. So, as far as influences, there are the broadcasting ones that I know personally (Andy Roth, Howard Simon, Jeremy White, Mike Schopp, Chris “The Bulldog” Parker, Nick Mendola, Dan Hager) and then the ones that I may not know personally, but look up to a hell of a lot. The top dog in the game, for me, is Scott Van Pelt, and it’s not even close right now. He has equal parts of being informative, authoritative, entertaining, and personable. To me, that’s how to do it.
6) How did you get your foot in the door at WGR?
This is going to be a long one, so I’ll apologize in advance. It really boiled down to just being proactive about it. I somehow found the email address of Andy Roth and shot him a quick line, essentially giving him my GPA, what I’ve done to that point (I was entering my junior year), and asked if I might be able to help out as an intern. He sent me back an email really quickly — like, maybe even 10 minutes quick — and essentially said, ‘When you’re back in Buffalo, you let me know.’ So, I got my feet wet at Buffalo State doing random things, and in the spring semester of my junior year, I emailed him again to touch base and update him with the things I’d done to that point (WBNY, BSC-TV). This time he called me — basically within 10 minutes of sending the email — and asked that I come in for a formal interview. I was super nervous, for obvious reasons, but I wanted to come across confidently. The interview was really anything but an interview — at least it didn’t seem like it at the time. Instead of ‘what are you strengths and weaknesses,’ and clichéd things like that, Andy wanted to get inside my mind. He asked me to spout off random bits of sports knowledge. He asked me the first time I’d been to a sporting event, and to describe it with as much detail as I could.
Thinking about it way after the fact, it was a brilliant way of interviewing, because it created a relaxed environment, and gets you past all the canned crap you come to expect from the interview process. As I left, he told me he wanted to get me in there to intern with the morning show, but that I needed college credit to do so. The next day, I basically busted down doors trying to figure out how to make it happen in the summer or fall. To my disappointment, I didn’t have the prerequisites to do an internship — which seemed insane to me, and that I couldn’t physically intern until my final semester of college. I relayed the news to Andy, and he proceeded to call and berate one of his contacts in the Communications Department at Buffalo State because they wouldn’t let me do it until Spring of 2008. Right then and there, I knew if this guy was willing to go to bat for me like that after one interview, I better work my ass off and make sure I don’t disappoint whatever impression I initially gave him. Fast forward to Spring of ’08, I interned with The Howard Simon Show three days a week — Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I was there from about 5:50 am to anywhere from 12-to-2 pm every day…. unpaid. As for classes, I took 22 credit hours that spring semester and was on campus from 8:30 am to 9:30 pm every Tuesday/Thursday. That was my life, but, I knew I wanted to give WGR my all. When I was there, I did everything I could. I was only asked to cut the whiner line and make promos, but I started to create opens, write sportscasts, write articles, voice sportscasts… I couldn’t get enough of it. I constantly asked for advice from Andy, Howard, Jeremy, Dan (Hager), and Nick (the morning show team at that time).
On one of the last days of my internship, I thanked Andy for the opportunity, and he said something to the effect of “Hold on there, we’re not letting you get away that easily.” They brought me on part-time in May of 2008. You remember the button from LOST that they had to push after so much time? That’s basically what I did to trigger the local commercials during NASCAR races, or Sunday Night Baseball. In between the button pushing, I was making music beds, creating opens, writing articles… basically, not just sitting on my hands and mindlessly going through the motions on the internet. I did that for a little over two years, making minimum wage for 10 hours a week on the weekend, and working as a full-time bank teller as a 9-to-5 during the week. Then, WECK 1230 decided to go to an all-talk format, and my friend and colleague Nick Mendola (who had a coveted full-time job) made the move over. I made my intentions to Andy quite clear, that I wanted that full-time gig. He interviewed a few people, before officially bringing me on full-time in July of 2010. From there, I served as morning show producer for basically a month, and then, after having been writing about football for a couple of years, Andy took a chance on me and made me the full-time Bills Beat Reporter after I covered training camp and showed what I could do in that respect. Here we are, in 2016, and I’m still covering that football team. I told you it’d be a long answer. Sorry, guys and gals.
7) You seemed to really get a following when you became the WGR draft guru. How did that opportunity come about?
It was really just me speaking up in a meeting when I was still an intern. They were talking about doing a draft podcast, and that’s when I spoke up and offered my services if they wanted them. In typical Andy Roth fashion, he put me on the spot and made me list the top-five quarterbacks that year without hesitation. I did it in about five seconds, and we ended up recording a podcast a few days later. Then, during all my time as a part-timer, Andy would ask me to write draft and football-related articles while I was on the clock. Of course, I did it both while on the clock, and most of them came when I wasn’t getting paid. He set the table for me because we really didn’t have someone that concentrated on the draft like that, so I tried to take it and run with it. He liked what I was doing enough to the point that he sent me to Indianapolis to cover the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine. I believe I was the first one from the station to have ever been sent to that event, and I did so as a long-haired, 21-year old idiot. As it went along, I found out what worked, what didn’t, and just wanted to connect with the fans of the team — because after all, they are what it’s all about, not me. And here we are today, and I’m still watching as many prospects as I can a year as soon as the season ends.
8) What makes you different from other draft experts?
Well, I don’t consider myself an expert, more an enthusiast than anything. That’s probably the first thing. In recent years, I’ve really based my draft coverage around looking at prospects with a Bills lens, and what they might covet and look for. That specializes the content to Bills fans, and it hopefully gives them a little bit of a different perspective on these guys when April/May comes along.
9) Obviously you are paid to give your opinions on players selected in the draft. What were the picks you totally nailed or failed on when it came to evaluating players in college based on what they are now doing in the NFL?
Oh boy, I have to dig for this one. Since mostly Bills fans will read this, I’ll stick with Bills players. Ones that I “nailed” (meaning whether I liked or disliked the pick immediately): Ed Wang (2010), Nigel Bradham (2012), T.J. Graham (2012), Cordy Glenn (2012), and then, of course the EJ Manuel selection — although he’s still on the team at this point. My failures? Shawn Nelson (2009), Aaron Williams (2011), and Zebrie Sanders (2012) are the ones I whiffed on.
10) When you look back at the way you started covering the draft in 2009, what, if any changes have you made with the way you cover the draft in 2016? Additionally, what improvements have you made since then on your verbal/written presentation as a broadcaster?
Really, the interest in it changes from year-to-year, so I don’t think I would change much. Probably just better allocation of time on things that people want to know about. You learn more and more every year. I’ve definitely learned quite a bit over that time. From a writing perspective, you figure out what style works best for you over time. How you cover the game shifts over the years as well, because what people look for in content changes over time. As far as the broadcasting side, I was always a quick talker — and still am to a certain degree. I’ve had to slow myself down from when I first started out, and I learned to channel that adrenaline. That’s been my biggest adjustment.
11) When it comes to radio, it always seems that hosts seem to have more leeway when it comes to being a fan of a certain team they cover. You never seemed to be a fan of the Bills and you seemed to be more of a journalist when you covered them for WGR because you didn’t have a rooting interest. You always hear hardcore journalists talk about how its impossible to be objective if you are a fan of a team as a media member. Did you find that to be true and did that have anything to do with the way you covered the team?
For me, I believe it to be really important. In my job, I don’t want to even have an inkling of jaded coverage, because in my mind, I’m disrespecting my readers who have come to know me for what I’ve done. Some people can balance the two, but I don’t think I have the personality to do that. I have to be all the way on something. If I got hired to cover the St. Louis Cardinals, I’d forget I ever was a fan. There really is no in between for me. There can’t be.
12) Sideline reporters always seem to get a bum rap because they tend to report on stuff that the announcers could easily say. How did you try to be different from that and what was your experience like on the sidelines for the Bills?
I tried to combine analysis and observations from the field level into one thing. Pointing out something — a substitution, a special sub-package that isn’t normally seen, etc. — in addition to the injury updates I had to provide from on the field was how I tried to discern myself9-. I’ll never forget the experience of being on the sidelines for two seasons. It’s an entirely different world down there. You think these guys are moving fast on television, or even in the stands? Watch it happen 40 feet from you at the same level. It’s crazy what those humans can do. Plus, I once caught a one-hopper from Ryan Tannehill one-handed. It’ll be on NFL Game Rewind forever, and you can’t take that away from me SO DON’T EVEN TRY.
13) There always seems to be some people (Myself included), who often times wonder if being the flagship station for a specific team would jade their coverage. Did you ever have any sort of experience like this when you were covering the Bills for WGR?
I can only speak for me, obviously, but it didn’t matter what relationship there was. In my mind, I’m still doing the job the same way that I’ve always done. Heck, Channel 7 is even the flagship station of the Bills, but that’s not changing me and how I cover this team at all. If they’re doing well and I’m impressed? I’ll tell you why. If they stink, and certain players are weaknesses? I’ll tell you who. It’s really that simple.
14) What made you decide to transition from radio to TV?
Before Channel 7 and I started talking, I wasn’t sure what they had envisioned for me, or how serious they were about it. After all, I was a radio dude. And although I had TV experience over the years in doing some freelance stuff for Channel 2, Channel 4, and Time Warner Cable Sports Channel, I’d never shot or edited a thing in a professional setting. When we met, they told me they basically wanted me to do everything that I had been doing (web, social media, interactions, radio type stuff), but they wanted to teach me TV. Was it a little scary? Sure it was. But, by the end of the meetings, I was excited about what we could do as a team.
15) What has the experience been like to go from having a 15 minute spot on WGR daily to adjusting to having 3-4 minutes on an actual sports cast?
Well, that’s only if you limit yourself to those 3-4 minutes. I still write for the web as much as I ever did, maybe even more now, than when I was with WGR. People consume news in a multitude of different ways, so you can’t just limit yourself to that little time slot during the 6 or 11 pm news. People determine when they want news, not the other way around. So really, it’s not a ton different. If anything, it’s helped me be a lot more concise when I do radio interviews during the season.
16) How important is it for a MSM personality to have a social media presence?
How important is it for a human to breathe? The answer is one in the same. I’m of the belief, and I know it’s not for everyone, that people like to follow people — not news bots. If all I’m doing is tweeting links to my work, am I really adding to the experience on social media? So, sure. I’ll tweet about socks. I’ll post a video of me and a colleague singing Vanessa Carlton. But the majority of the time I’m tweeting about the Bills and pieces of information that helps the fans feel more connected to their team.
17) You’ve been in professional broadcasting since 2009, were there any co-workers or people within the Buffalo media who you found to be your biggest influences?
I’ve named a lot of them already. Everyone at WGR in my first few years taught me a lot about what’s important, and what type of person I wanted to be in this industry. Outside of WGR, Jerry Sullivan, who gets a bum rap, is one of the nicest human beings if you take the time to know him. I randomly sent him an email for help with an assignment in college, met him at a Starbucks for what should have been a 20-minute interview, and we ended up just chatting about life for over two hours, and then he told me that if I ever needed anything from him, to just let him know. He still calls me that “snot-nosed kid” to this day. Tim Graham is another one, because he’s someone that never stops giving to kids just trying to make it.
Here’s a story that perfectly describes Tim, and how great of a guy he is. One random Sabres playoff game, I went up to the press box to help out with the radio broadcast whatever way I could. At that time, Tim was still the AFC East blogger at ESPN.com, and was there during the Sabres-Bruins series doing freelance work for The Boston Globe. We had never met before this day, but, of course I knew who he was. And again, I was this long-haired idiot just trying to hustle, and in the jam-packed elevator on the way down to the locker rooms, Tim looked at me and said, “Hey, you’re Joe, right?” I was in a bit of shock. I hadn’t been writing all that long, but I was just doing a lot of draft content at that point. All I did was muster up a “yeah,” and he looked at me and said “I just want to tell you that I think you do a phenomenal job, keep it up.” From that point forward, we forged a friendship and I’ve learned a lot from him. Because of those two guys, and the kindness they really didn’t have to show me way early on, any chance I get to talk to high school or college classes… I jump at it.
If someone reaches out to me that’s interested in the industry, most times, I’ll meet them out for a coffee to talk about them, what they want to do, and try and help them any way I can. I wouldn’t be where I am without people believing in me, and it’s really important to me to help out whoever I can. That’s how Sully and TG influenced me the most.
18) What is your ultimate goal in terms of where you want to be in the broadcasting field?
You’re going to hate this answer, but it’s the absolute truth: As long as I can talk about sports on a a day-to-day basis, I’ll be a happy, happy man. I’m never going to take this job for granted, and I try to report and tweet with that mindset. I’m just a dude who is passionate about sports and this industry, and I hope I exude that.
19) What sort of advice would you give to any college kid looking to get into the media?
To break in, you need a combination of a few things: passion, hard work, luck, and some skill. I am extremely fortunate to have been given the opportunities that I have today, and I know I sound like a broken record, but I will never take it for granted. Another thing about this industry: complacency is your mortal enemy. Any time you feel like you’ve made it, or that you don’t have to go the extra mile…. that’s when you should start to worry. Because if you’re not going the extra mile, someone else is. It’s that simple. I can’t tell you how many times I saw an intern come through, and rather than working their ass off, they felt like they already made it and did the bare minimum while at the job. A lot of them had the idea that because they interned, they were in line for a job at the end of it. That is *never* the case, unless you know someone.
You never really know if the opportunity you have at the present moment will be the last crack at it, and if you’re truly passionate about the industry, you need to make it worth your time. Get there early, stay late, do more than your asked, do things on your own time, show that the opportunity means everything to you. If you do all that, and speak up every once and again (not aggressively, but just when there’s an opportunity), odds are someone is going to notice. And if you don’t get those chances, reach out to people in the industry and pick their brains. The more people you know, the better. And hey, if you ever need my help, I’m literally a tweet away.
20) Who will end up on the iron throne and does R+L=J?
Yes, R+L abso-freaking-lutely equals J. It’s hard not to root for the Daenerys, Tyrion, Varys and Grey Worm combo, and if they ever join forces with J? Bring it the hell on. But of course, knowing Game of Thrones, all of these characters will be brutally murdered by the end of the season. That’s why I love this freaking show.
On a special aside, thank you, Joe, for giving me the opportunity to do this and being interested enough about my story. Some snarky tweets aside, football fans mean a great deal to me, and anything I can ever do to help, please, never hesitate to ask. Y’all are the best.
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