Northeastern Next Podcast

Northeastern Next Podcast Season 1: Episode 3 Air Date: October 23, 2018 Tom Giles, AS 09 The Voice of Boston Sports Welcome to the Northeastern Next Podcast. Your channel for the latest alumni stories in Boston and beyond. In this show, we will catch up with Northeastern Alumni who are out there achieving what's next. It s October, which for Boston Red Sox fans means the World Series. With Boston s four professional teams in season, today s guest is working overtime. A 2009 graduate in Communications Studies, Tom Giles can now be seen weeknights 9 to 11PM as a Co-Host of NBC Boston Sports Tonight. Hi, Tom! Welcome to the Northeastern Next Podcast. Thanks for being here! Thank you, Meghan. It's great to be here. I don't know where I am right now because I know when I went to school here like ten, twelve years ago when I graduated it looked nothing like this... I know we have... Construction all over the place! We have a lot going on outside this building. I'd love to just jump in. Could you talk about your current job right now? What's a day in the life for you? So, I'm at NBC Sports Boston right now. I've been there for about a few years. I freelanced there for a little more than a year and a half and went on full-time and we launched a new show I wanna say about a year and a half ago called Boston Sports Tonight. And, it started off as a three hour show, nine to midnight. So, that was quite the undertaking because radio three or four hours is not a big deal. But TV, to put a project together, to put a show together like that every night is um, it was something that I don't really know how many other networks have tried to do it. You'll see it every once in a while, but we did it for three hours a night. Page 1 of 11

Now, we're down to two hours a night (laughing) which is a little more manageable and we think the show's really kind of hitting its stride now that it's about two hours a night. But yeah, it's an interesting day for me! I typically am not up before 10AM (laughing) I mean, sometimes, yes! But, you know, because I'm at work past midnight and it takes a little while to unwind, I'm not exactly going home and able to go to bed right away so my day does start later than most people and it's just, for me it's just we cover the four major Boston teams primarily so it's just trying to keep up on that. You know, we've got e-mail chains going throughout the day with the producers and the other people that are on the show with me Michael Holley and Danielle Trotta and we try to, you know, hammer out what the best topics of the day are, the topics which we feel most passionately about. So, then I'll go in early in the evenings and kind of prep for the show at the studio. We'll go through some meetings there and then we get ready and we hit it at 9PM and have fun for a couple hours! So, you get, you know, paid to watch sports as part of your job. Yeah, I watch sports, I talk about sports, tell bad jokes, a lot of Dad jokes on there so, that's pretty much it, yeah. Do you have a favorite team or sport that you follow? I love the fact that in this city, we've got four teams that we can count on to be competitive in post-season play. I mean, it's also amazing in this city that you've got a team that's like, you know in first place but everyone's just, "What's wrong with them? They can't win! They've got too many problems!" And I'm guilty of it because we're spoiled here because we've seen so much winning. I don't necessarily have a favorite of the pro teams because I just love the fact that when one of them just feels like it's getting tired or it's just played out, there's always something going on. But if you wanna ask me my favorite team or my favorite sports moment of the last year was I asked for a Monday night off in February because I said, "They're gonna win The Beanpot this year." So, I went and saw Northeastern win the Beanpot! So, those are the moments. You know, that and going to see the basketball team win the CAA Tournament a few years ago. Those are the moments that I really love the most because, you know, it's Northeastern. Yeah, a little nostalgic! Page 2 of 11

I wanna see them do well! Yeah, absolutely. Great! So you're from Massachusetts originally? From Massachusetts, yeah. So you definitely grew up in a Boston sports town. So what interested you in this field of Sports Industry/Sports Journalism? You were a Communications Major at Northeastern?. Yes, communications. And took some field and studio classes. Michelle Carr, Sam Lotuff and Joe Castiglione when we was here, took his class as well. So, got some experience that way. I mean, the co-op program is really what I think helps you get into the field because it's one thing to go and do classes and everything else but it's another to actually go out there and get work experience and then actually get into it. My first one was at NESN, so I worked at NESN for six months back in 2006. I was just, it was really cool to me, like the adrenaline of just like a live show! It's like alright, this is it, you can't screw it up, this is live! I'm just sitting there running the teleprompter, and I'm like, I have to make sure everything's in the right place or Hazel Mae is gonna get, you know, she's not gonna like that! I mean, she needs that! So, it was really cool, you know, just to feel like you were a part of something, a big collaboration that was putting a show together so that work experience was huge. Then I worked in San Diego for another co-op at an NBC station out there, so that was one of those situations where it was kind of like I don't really know if I wanna do the Boston Winter this year. Let's drive to San Diego get jobs and hang out for six or eight months. Getting that work experience certainly helped already having been kind of a producer when I got my first on-air job in Grand Junction, Colorado. But I've kinda always - to your question about how long have I really, like - when I was a kid I watched SportsCenter instead of cartoons. I was the weird one in that sort of way. I always kind of played out games in the backyard even by myself just talking by myself... (laughing) I did have friends but in those situations they weren't always around. (laughing) Doing the play-by-play on your own. Yes so I had my own play-by-play in the backyard and you know, I just always played sports growing up and I was never good enough to make it to the next level so this was the next best thing. Page 3 of 11

Exactly! And so, you also, I mean at Northeastern you were part of the campus radio station, right? Yeah, WRBV. That was a lot of fun, because I mean right around, I think it was my middler year when I really got involved with the basketball team. And that was Bill Coen's first year here so they played a ton of just big, high-profile teams. So, we were going to Syracuse, we were going to Michigan, we were going to Louisville, like all these top-tier programs to call games. And at that point, we might've had commercial radio, but we were kind of the voice of Northeastern basketball. So, we're sitting court-side at all these awesome venues in front of these gigantic crowds and it was a lot of fun. (laughing) It was tough to win some of those games going up against some of those powerhouses so, you know, that part was... you kind of got to watch the program grow into what it is now. Bill's certainly got them competing every year at the top of the CAA but just being involved with that, going on the road, you know, it was a great experience. With Adam Jones, whose actually you know doing Sports Radio in town, so it was the two of us just kind of running amuck in random cities just gaining more experience but I loved doing that. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, safe to say you built a lot of your resume just while you were still an undergrad which is unique about Northeastern in general. It co-ops and these other on-campus involvements. But, I think others might be jealous of that! You have a leg up when you go out into the real world. Absolutely! Yeah. You know, a lot of times when I go into my field you meet kids from Arizona State or Northwestern or Missouri... some of these like Washington State, these big journalism programs that kind of, people just gravitate towards, they all say they go out there but in those situations, they've got their campus TV stations and everything else. Maybe they do an internship or two, but I loved doing it. I loved gaining the experience the way I did. You know, having the flexibility to kind of pick and choose where you wanna go. I mean, San Diego might've been a move mostly because it was like, let's just try somewhere new. I just wanna try somewhere new and live somewhere warm for the Winter, but I'm honestly like, it's... One of my best mentors, Derek Togerson who's out there is just... he was someone that really helped me grow in my career and then helped me after I was done. I came back here, I finished you know, my final year and then he helped me try to find a job when I graduated and actually someone that I met when I was out there on that co-op helped me get my first on-air job in Colorado. It's all about the networking, right? Page 4 of 11

It is! It is so weird it's such a small world. It really is for us, too. Yeah! And so, we hear from our Alumni all the time. The Sports Industry is so interesting to people. If they like Sports, they're like, "how do people actually make a career out of this?" And you've even been generous to donate your time to Northeastern, Alumni Relations, you moderated a panel for us a couple years ago at Fenway Park. It looked like a really cool venue with the President of the Red Sox and I think the President of TD Garden. What was that like for you - kind of coming back and being part of those events and giving your time? It's, I mean at this point really time is the best thing that I feel I can give. To come back in those situations, I mean I was very genuinely interested, too. That was more of a Sports/Business seminar I guess you'd say, a Round Table that we did that day. It was fascinating, but yeah, I mean anytime that - and I'm very much in contact with everyone Meghan in your office - still in contact with the basketball team. I like being involved with it. I like being a part of the community. Even though maybe I don't get to come down here as often as I do, which is why I'm so shocked when I look out here and there's new buildings all over the place! It's constantly changing! I'm like, I used to sneak into that parking lot across the street! That's where I would go when I lived two blocks from here. But yeah, it's just doing that as well as the Top Dog Awards this year, being able to Host at that which was an awesome event. I was really impressed. And that's the Athletics, right? Yeah! I couldn't believe it. I was like, I'm not really sure what this event's gonna be like and then it's like the lights are down, it's like they setup The Emmy's inside Matthews Arena. I was really impressed with it. So, just being able to do that and stay in contact, I've always loved it. Yeah, we actually met at the Athletics Golf Tournament this year. Yes! And so, that's kind of another fun way to you know, who doesn't like a working day on the golf course, right? When you can get together with your Northeastern friends! That's one of those things, just a heads up, that I'm always available for. Page 5 of 11

(laughing) So if you guys ever need that I will jump at the opportunity. Yes, noted. (laughing) We've done that a few years in a row. Jack McCorkle always keeps us in mind and we appreciate that, to get out there and we haven't won, we've never been close to winning, but we definitely have the most fun I think. Yeah, I mean my colleague won I think the Women's, but we've only had a handful of women that were Alumni. And I wasn't included in that, so. Oh come on, no there were thousands! There were thousands! She put together... (laughing) Oh yeah, we gotta bring more women to the Athletics Tournament next year and then we can make it more competitive. There you go. It's fun when you can get together with your Northeastern friends and kind of reminisce I think everyone can relate to that. But, do you have a favorite Northeastern memory? Favorite Northeastern Memory... That's a good question. The funny thing is that it's kind of hard to separate all of them because I've remained close with my core group that I became friends with here on campus. And so, it's kind of tough to separate which ones were at what point. But that's kind of, for me, it's just the fact that we've all remained in touch and a lot of them are still in the Boston area. It's really cool as far as that goes. I mean, graduation is a great memory. Not that - it was and it wasn't (laughing) so, it was a great memory because it was like, alright, this is a happy day! This is great! Your family is there, you got all your friends and you're in the TD Garden. It's a great day. But at the same time, you're like ah I just graduated? Five years wasn't enough. Now I gotta get the real-world job, get something ironed out, so it kind of, it was one of those bittersweet moments probably. And you went to Colorado for your first job after Northeastern? Yeah, Grand Junction, Colorado. And then, where did you go after that? Like, your path until NBC Sports Tonight. Page 6 of 11

So, Grand Junction, Colorado is a very small town like three and a half hours West of Denver. So, it's very kinda isolated. It's a very small town and that's kinda where a lot of times people will go to get their experience being on-air. So I did that for a couple years and then I moved up to Spokane, Washington which is no closer to home. I was reminded of that when I took the job. So it was up in Washington State in the Pacific Northwest for a few years which was really cool. You know, there's a couple big colleges out there like Washington State [inaudible 00:13:46] and a little more college athletics. And I got to go to the Super Bowl covering the Seahawks so that was a lot of fun. And then, I actually, when I was in my senior year here, I was working at WHDH channel 7 downtown in Boston. And I stayed in touch with a couple of the producers and one of them, John Zannis, had moved over to NBC Sports Boston which was Comcast Sports Net New England, CSN, I don't know we've gone through five name changes since I've been there, so it's kind of hard to remember. But, I just stayed in touch with him and he said, "Hey, would you wanna do some freelance work? It's basically just you're not guaranteed how many day's you'll work but you get paid for each day that you work." So I kind of slowly started to make my way back here and I was freelancing for a while but I felt great about it, love the people that I work with and I knew I would take a full-time position (laughing) when it popped up and that's kind of how it all happened. So, besides - I know you talked about staying in touch with these contacts and this network - do you have any other tips for Sports TV hopefuls of how to get onair on TV and really reach these types of jobs? Yeah, it's, you really have to open yourself up to doing things you wouldn't normally do. What I mean by that, what I say is that like you might not know anything about wrestling, but go out and cover it. If someone gives you an opportunity, go do it! Go do it, because you're gonna learn something not just about wrestling but you're gonna learn something about how to also approach something that you're not used to. You know what I mean? And just kind of being able to expand your knowledge and everything else. There's a lot of opportunities now because it's so easy it seems to just go out there with a camera. I mean, everyone's got a cell phone now, you can just put stuff on social media and everything else. That would be another tip, too. Just be careful on social media. Let's remember that stuff's pretty much around there forever. But, just go out there and be active in it and also be passionate about it but try to have fun while you're doing it and really figure out if this is something that you wanna do to keep going forward. Page 7 of 11

And so, this is called the Northeastern Next Podcast so, what's next for you? You've been kind of all over the country, you probably seem happy in your job, but what do you thinking of in that next step of life career or personal or...? Yeah, it's kind of weird because I think when people asked me that a few years ago or five years ago or ten years ago, it always felt like well, you keep moving up in the media markets. And then, you want to maybe go national, maybe you wanna go to ESPN. It's just changed so much, the industry, where you know, a lot of stuff is online, a lot of stuff is hyper-local, sometimes as well. For us, we are in the best sports city in the world and it's kind of tough to beat that. And all four teams, as I mentioned before, they're competitive. So it's really difficult to imagine leaving the region. But it's about kind of trying to figure out how to be better on Instagram and Twitter and everything else. So, it's trying to become... I don't know it's just trying to maximize and be better at what I do, that's kind of the next step I'm at right now. I don't know where I'll be in three years. I don't know where I'll be in five years, I mean I hope it's here. I hope it's with NBC Sports Boston where I am, but you know, if other opportunities come up you always have to keep an open mind to that as well. But it's really kind of trying to figure out where the industry's going, because it keeps evolving and just trying to stay out of it. It's so much harder than it sounds. I know, I mean I'm obviously new to this audio podcasting thing, but, so do you have any tips for me? How do you practice your voice skills or being on-air and TV? Do you have any little, you know...(laughing) Well, I'll start with this, you're doing a fantastic job being conversational and using just your normal regular talking voice. Because a lot of times, people will get in here and they'll just like start reading questions or something like this and they'll just be like, you know use their broadcaster voice. That's one question, I bet my voice changes a little bit when I'm on-air, but I don't want it to. The whole point is just being yourself and showing your personality and everything else, so, when people will be like, "Give me your podcasting voice! Read a highlight for me!" I'm like, ah there shouldn't be a broadcasting voice, but okay, fine. Alright, whatever, we'll do it. (laughing) You're doing a great job! Got some good questions nailed down there, you asked a couple tough ones in there. Page 8 of 11

See I just asked you to like pump my tires a little bit. I have a few speed-round questions for you just to let you know. What was your first job? Uh... Ever. Ever? Yeah, going back to like when you first started working as a kid. Okay my parents own a garden center in Hadley Mass, the Hadley Garden Center so they had me there. They put me to work at a pretty young age. I also worked on farms growing up. It's a very agricultural area so, you know, picking corn, packing corn... Builds character (laughing) All that stuff. Let me tell you, it really makes you appreciate that right now, as you mentioned before, I get paid to watch and follow and talk about sports. Yeah. You gotta work hard to get there, so. You do! Even if it's just on the farm. Absolutely. Working hard. In another life, what do you think your career would be? That's a great question. I actually really enjoyed - I think my middler year here - when I was co-oping I also had a little bit of time. I coached JV Boys Soccer at Milton Academy and I really enjoyed it quite a bit. You know, just teaching, learning from them but teaching, and coaching and everything else so I think it's hard to say but I kind of like the idea of teaching. And who knows, like maybe someday if there's like a university out there that has a Communications Program or a TV Program, I would love to. I would love to get into the teaching field as well. It's just very rewarding. It definitely is. And then, I mean you've been in a lot of different cities. If you could live in any city in the world besides Boston - anywhere in the world - where would you go? Page 9 of 11

Man, this is embarrassing because I really haven't been out of the country much, so that would be - uh - it wouldn't be wise for me to pick anywhere outside the country. Uh, any city in the world outside of Boston. I mean, I loved San Diego when I was there. It's not the most passionate sports town, so I don't think I'd be working on sports as much. Maybe the teaching career. Yeah, maybe! That'd be good. I did enjoy my time there. I've seen a lot of the country. There's a lot of good cities. I've made the road-trip a few times because of the co-ops and everything else but San Diego is up there as one of my favorite cities. That'd be a tough one, Boston's pretty good right now. I feel that way, too. People have asked me that question and I'm like, "Boston's the best!" And I mean, I'm biased, I'm from here too, but it's hard to leave. You went to Lehigh, like Lehigh near Philadelphia? Yeah, so it's in between New York and Philadelphia. I mean I wanted to come back here so I've been at Northeastern working ever since. Yeah, New York to me is just a little big. It's a little outside my comfort zone. Like, I can go there, I can spend a weekend have a great time, but just trying to imagine just the hustle and bustle and the grind, like every single day, that's... It's fun for a weekend for me and then I'm like this is not sustainable, gotta go back to my little town. Feels a little overwhelming a little bit so Boston just feels manageable, it's a great city. I'm sure you feel the same way. You kind of take it for granted once you're gone. Mm-hmm (affirmative) definitely. You know? Well, thanks so much for your time today! Yeah, absolutely. This was easy. Yeah, just a conversation! Like we're on the golf course. I love it, alright. Meghan, thank you so much. Thanks so much. Page 10 of 11

That was episode 3 of Northeastern Next. For show notes and more information about Tom Giles, visit alumni.northeastern.edu/next. You can follow Tom on Twitter at @TomGilesNBCS. Please subscribe, rate, review and tell a friend. New episodes are released every other Tuesday. This is Meghan Brisson from the Office of Alumni Relations. Go Sox! Page 11 of 11