There’s a new show on campus that’s bringing the athletic side more to the light.
Alexandria saurman / managing executive editor
For almost two years, Dr. Chad Nye and Dr. Mark Timney, both of whom are journalism professors here at Keene State College, along with Assistant Athletic Director of Sports Information Abe Osheyack, discussed the making of a sports show.
“We in athletics have been looking for a way to digitally showcase our stories a lot more, we had done a little bit but it was half hazard,” said Osheyack, who is the executive producer for Inside Owl Athletics.
“We’d find somebody to do it then they would graduate, we’d find somebody else to do it then they would do it differently, maybe their story-telling was not as good or one of us on staff would do it, but only when we had time to do it. So, this gave us some consistency.”
Inside Owl Athletics’ first season was fall semester of 2017.
It was mainly run by senior Justin Mahan.
Mahan is news media journalism major with a minor in public relations.
“Last semester I was like the sole person for the show, but now we brought on three or four more people,” Mahan said.
Last semester, he would work on the show every day.
This semester, Mahan still works on putting together the rundown, writing scripts, editing scripts and quality-checking the show but now, with the help of others, he only puts in 9-10 hours.
Mahan explained that, at one point in the beginning, two students who were involved in making of the show backed out of the idea, which lead him, with the help of Nye, Timney and Osheyack, to take a majority of the responsibility onto his shoulders.
“I was in awe seeing from the planning process up to that first show when we put it online and it was all that planning, all those ideas are now finally together,” Mahan said.
He explained how it one of his biggest feats here at KSC.
“I think last semester was a huge accomplishment. I mean, having just me solely editing the show, putting together videos, video stories and packages and then editing the show. Doing all of that made me more appreciative of what the show is,” Mahan said.
Mahan had big responsibilities to fulfill. He mainly did everything.
“The main difference is having more people in the show. We went from myself, to lead correspondent, and two game correspondents, editor, graphic designer. So getting all that creativity in the show this semester, makes it a more unique show,” said Mahan.
With the help of co-producers Nye, Timney and Osheyack, he made it work.
“There’s some instances where Dr. Nye or Mark Timney were there when I had a questions about editing or anything to help me guide through that. Abe as well, when I had a question about a statistic or fact right. Or about a team, he was definitely a great help and support system making sure all the facts were correct,” Mahan said.
It being Mahan’s second semester of his senior year, he said he likes how he has taken a step back.
“I like taking that step back to formulate what I’m going to do with my career and everything with that,” Mahan said.
He is looking at a few news stations for after graduation, as well as sports information and public relations jobs.
Co-producer Nye explained how last semester did nothing but exceed his expectations.
“We’re trying to build on that, now we have more talent involved. We actually have three on-air reporters instead of just one,” Nye said.
He also said they’re trying to build on the content the show has. Now, with the help of others, the show can focus on more weekly highlight stories.
“I will say, losing Justin will have an impact. He’s the type of student who works hard and has a passion for this. Whether you can physically replace a student like that or not, you can’t really replace the desire and the spirit of a student like that,” he said.
“The show will go on, I’m very encouraged by the younger talent we have, Tyler [daRosa] and Pete [Dubois]. I hope we will continue to grow new talent as other younger students come into the TV production class,” Nye said.
With this show, Nye wanted to help students out with more learning opportunities.
He also wanted to make sure students were prepared for the real world.
After this season, the show will have completed a full cycle covering all of the sports.
Nye hopes with this, it’ll help them know what to do better or improve on.
“This is all about visibility for the college and the athletics and we have opportunities for students and we’ll be true to that,” Nye said.
Inside Owl Athletics has already given students the opportunity to grow.
A junior news media journalism major and student intern for the show, Peter Dubois became involved after asking his advisor for help with an internship.
“I got thrown into the growing team of Inside Owl Athletics team this semester. It’s definitely a well oil[ed] machine,” Dubois said.
He is a sideline reporter who does highlights for women’s basketball games and will be reporting on women’s and men’s lacrosse games when their season starts.
Having Mahan at the games with him has helped Dubois.
“It’s really nice having Justin Mahan at the games because he’s done this before. He helps and guides me on what to say,” Dubois said.
Just like Mahan, Dubois hopes Inside Owl Athletics will help him when it comes time to look for a job. “I hope this internship can help me build enough experience so I can show employers so that it can help build a better chance for me to get a job,” Dubois explained.
You can catch Inside Owl Athletics every Friday afternoon at keeneowls.com or on their Facebook page, Keene State College Athletics.
Adriana Sanchez can be contacted at asanchex@kscequinox.com
