Len Kasper the play by play man of the Chicago Cubs since 2004 and Dan Bernstein of 670 the Score came to Columbia College Chicago and both spoke to the co hosts of the Locker Room on WCRX the college’s radio station. They both spoke about the industry and what they learned and said things that we could all learn about. Both talked about the sports teams in town as well.
A busy person like Kasper works from March-September that as much as much as he likes his job he misses his home life. He said he can get a chance to be a “normal” person, being a dad and husband. He can do stuff at home he isn’t able to do at home during the season. Kasper said, “I can follow the sports I want and be a fan of hockey or football. I love baseball and it’s my passion and job but I like being able to watch hockey or football.”
He has also shot the puck at the Blackhawks one of the times he attended the game. He made the first shot but the other shot he missed and learned “They cheer the little kid and women but boo the men.”
Besides from enjoying the offseason with his family and watching sports he isn’t taking a vacation. He actively studies baseball during the day reading everything about the hot stove and it is the most fun to be a fan over the winter. That is the time he will learn about players and have a human interest story to talk about during the next season when that player plays against the Cubs.
He is also a fan of team president Theo Epstein and has been for awhile. He is proud to be a part of the Cubs going from good to bad seeing it from “the ground floor”. He asked Ernie Harwell about being a broadcaster for a bad team and how to get through it. He said, “Playing at Wrigley Field is play to play because when the Cubs win it means something no matter how the good the team is they support the team and its players.”
He is a fan of Maddon and rock music as well. He had a feeling when Maddon became a free agent he was going to come here. He also views that sports and music have so much in common which I agree is true. Kasper said, “The team work and ability to slow things down are the things sports and music have in common.” His advice for young broadcasters is to slow down and realize you have time and “To let it breathe.”
Dan Bernstein went to college at Duke and never studied radio and was more into television and knew how it all worked. He only stumbled into sports broadcasting when he took an elective for play by play. He did some college play by play till he got a job calling basketball games with the Raleigh Bullfrogs but then the league and team went out of business. He got a job calling games for the Rockford Lighting and calling games for the Cubs and Royals minor league teams.
There weren’t shows that just talked about sports so until he listened to the Score and saw he liked what they had going he applied to work there as a reporter then eventually worked his way up to have the longest running sports talk show in Chicago. He and Terry Boers have been doing the Boers and Bernstein show for 15 years.
He talked about that being a reporter you need to be objective but if you’re on a sports talk show you can just speak freely. He really loves his job the talking part what he hates is that he has to watch all the games when he rather spend time with his kids or reading a book. His biggest piece of advice is you should only have a job your passionate about because it will be fun to go to work and not just go to get paid. Find your passion and find a way to make money from it.