What WZBC Sports Meant to My Boston College Experience

By Kevin Fritz, Co-Director WZBC Sports ’15-16

It was a little under four years ago that a fresh-faced version of myself confusingly wandered down Linden Lane during the annual Student Activities Fair for the first time. The weather was incredibly hot during that day in early September, and I did not even know where to start when it came to finding organizations to get involved in on campus. Luckily, I ran into a guy that lived across the hall from me in Fitzpatrick Hall that year by the name of Aaron Potts, who shared my desire to get heavily involved in a number of groups.

From the freshman activities fair to broadcast partners on football road trips

The Student Activities Fair is essentially a competition between every club to get the attention of primarily freshmen, and have them sign up for the mailing list of an organization as a first step in recruiting them. Different groups get very creative with how they do this, and I swear I have seen it all during my four years on the Heights- everything from live dance performances to an inflatable Kool Aid man-looking thing that appeared to be straight out of a used car dealership. Aaron and I pretty much signed up for everyone’s email lists, including the equestrian club. For the record, I hated pony rides as a kid.

As we prepared to head back to the lovely Upper campus, we came across a table tucked in the back corner with a banner that read “WZBC Sports”. Aaron and I both loved sports, so we figured there was no harm in checking it out after already signing up for about 20 clubs. The two guys at the WZBC table sold me on it instantly- they described the organization as an opportunity for us to have our own sports talk show on AM radio, travel with the football team to road games, and get treated like we are ESPN personalities at BC football, hockey, basketball, and baseball games. I had zero radio experience whatsoever, but I just figured I could worry about that later.

Eventually, I figured out the whole broadcasting part…

I was only a week and a half into my college experience, but I made one of the best decisions during the entirety of my time in Chestnut Hill that day.

My involvement in WZBC Sports over the past four years has been more rewarding than I ever could have imagined, providing me with sports broadcasting experience, the ability to meet an incredible group of people, and memories to last a lifetime. After all, I would be hard-pressed to name other student organizations that provide opportunities such as broadcasting multiple Beanpot games from TD Garden, covering the Frozen Four in Tampa, co-hosting a live talk show from outside Alumni Stadium before every home football game, and having your own designated press box in both Conte Forum and Alumni Stadium. This list goes on; I barely even scratched the surface in terms of the incredible opportunities that WZBC Sports provides.

Covering the 2016 Frozen Four!

WZBC Sports press box, 2014 Beanpot

I was also incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to serve on the executive board of the club for the past three years, as Promotions Director, Assistant Sports Director, and finally Sports Director this year. Over the course of serving in each of those roles, I worked with a fantastic group of individuals who have all dedicated so much of their own time and effort into making WZBC Sports the best that it can be. Thanks to all of this hard work, the club has made some great strides over the past few years, and I am so excited to see where future leadership takes WZBC going forward.

In recent years, WZBC Sports has added immensely to its original line of programming, which consisted of covering BC football, baseball, basketball, and hockey, in addition to AM talk shows on weeknights and “Sports Saturday” on 90.3 FM every Saturday from 1-3 PM. In the fall of 2014, we added a new program called WZBC Sports Gameday, which can still be seen before any home football game between the Flynn Recreation Complex and Gate E of Alumni Stadium. Just a few months later, we covered our first ever road hockey game, live from Matthews Arena on the campus of crosstown rival Northeastern University.

WZBC Sports Gameday

The fall of 2015 saw our largest expansion of programming in recent years, as the EagleVision initiative was launched as a partnership between the Boston College Athletic Department and WZBC Sports. Men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, volleyball, lacrosse, and women’s hockey were suddenly added to our broadcasting lineup, which can all be streamed through BCEagles.com. These sports also represented our first foray into a TV-style broadcast, as we had camera crews on hand to cover the visual element of the production. We also launched our new website, www.wzbcsports.com, and have been hard at work since producing articles and sport-specific blogs such as Light the Lamp and Birdball Recall.

The fact that I am now an alumnus of Boston College is still sinking in, but I leave the Heights knowing that WZBC Sports is on its way to becoming something even greater in the next few years. Next year will see the full rollout of our state-of-the-art Comrex broadcasting equipment, which was purchased this year thanks to an incredibly generous donation to the club. The increase in sound quality is incredible when Comrex is used, and the technology will only make our broadcasts that much better.

We’ve also begun to connect with our accomplished alumni network, which includes a number of professionals in the sports media industry. This should lead to reunion events, valuable input from past leaders in an executive board conference call each semester, and future speaking engagements with these alumni.

Finally, a bold vision for the future of WZBC Sports has been forged by the incoming leadership, which is centered around making our organization “the ESPN of Boston College Athletics”. This not only means top quality live broadcasts of a growing number of sports at BC, but also the most dedicated coverage of all things Eagle athletics outside of game times, on a number of different mediums. Plans are in place to increase the amount of articles we produce on a large scale, making WZBC Sports one of the premier news outlets covering the Eagles. Our social media presence, led by our Twitter, is only going to grow further. There are also plans to expand into podcasts, which will be available on iTunes, and to partner with BCTV’s The Talon program for TV-style coverage.

The list of exciting things to come from WZBC Sports goes on, and with that said I’m thrilled to hand off the torch, along with my Co-Director Ryan Poor, to Anthony Iati and Casey Hague for the 2016-17 year. The future of the club is bright with the incoming executive board in place, and I cannot wait to keep an eye on what they are able to accomplish.

Covering BC vs. Fordham at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with Anthony Iati and Steve McAlee

BC vs. Northeastern from Matthews Arena with Casey Hague

It would not be appropriate to officially sign off from WZBC without a thank you to everyone who has helped make my experience over the last four years what it was, which is too long of a list to spell out here. To my fellow WZBC Sports members, the executive boards I was able to work with, individuals in the BC Athletic Department, the WZBC station staff, graduating seniors Ryan Poor and Aaron Potts, and all others in between: thank you, I am forever grateful.