Episode 4: Episode 4: Randy Gore

Brady welcomes Randy Gore to the podcast and they talk about his upbringing in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Randy talks about growing up a Pirates/Steelers/Penguins fan. In fact, he was born in 1979 when the Pirates and Steelers had won world championships in during that calendar year.
Randy attended and graduated from Waynesburg University (https://waynesburgsports.com) where he majored in Communications with an emphasis on Sports Broadcasting. He describes the practical experience he gained at Waynesburg, first learning production work before getting a chance to broadcast games for the Yellow Jackets student-run production.
Very similar to Brady’s training at Northern Kentucky University (https://nkunorse.com), Waynesburg provided a student-run television production for the athletic department under the supervision of the professors. Once he became an upper classman, Randy earned a talent position on the Waynesburg broadcasts.
Randy interned as a college student for the Pittsburgh Penguins (https://www.nhl.com/penguins/). On game nights he was part of the crew that executes the in-game entertainment segments. Among other things, on non-game nights he did things such as log file footage of highlight clips to be used at a later time for things such as hype-videos and sponsor video. Interns from the Penguins were also able to work as production assistants for ESPN and FOX coverage of Penguins playoff games.
Once Randy graduated from Waynesburg he bounced around as a freelance prouduction worker in the Pittsburgh area before landing a job at WJPA Radio (https://wjpa.com) (95.3 FM, 1450AM) in Washington, Pennsylvania.
At WJPA, Randy started as a producer and board operator before landing his first on-air opportunity in the news department as a Saturday morning weekend reporter.
Randy talks about the early struggles breaking into broadcasting when its hard to earn a living and how his parents were supportive of his pursuit of chasing the dream even when times and money were both lean.
Randy was able to earn more opportunities and gain full-time employment at WJPA. He thanks Operations Manager and Sports Director Bob Gregg for having the confidence in him in order to gain more sports experience.
WJPA was the flagship station for the Washington Wild Things (https://www.washingtonwildthings.com) of the Frontier League (https://frontierleague.com) and in 2005 Randy becomes the team’s play-by-play broadcaster.
The first road trip for the Wild Things that season was to Chillicothe and Evansville which were both long standing franchises in the Frontier League.
Randy talks about the most important thing for a baseball play-by-play broadcaster which is the relationship that needs to be developed with the team’s field manager. Randy was lucky enough to start with John Massarelli as the Wild Things skipper who was happy to show him the ropes.
The discussion turns to being in the tough position of describing a mistake made by a player and not upsetting his family who is at home listening.
Randy talks about going through the process of exploring other baseball opportunities but ultimately staying with the Wild Things for 11 seasons which is a long tenure in the Frontier League.
What would be a conversation about minor league baseball without discussing the long bus rides and trips. Randy does protect the innocent by not going into seedy details but does refer to it as some of the best times of his life.
Despite all of the success, after the 2007 off-season was a bit of a turning point for him in his broadcasting career. Feeling the need to find a job with a pension and more secure insurance benefits, Randy applies for a job with his father’s company. He did not get job which kept in broadcasting full-time and shortly thereafter he enjoyed the best success of his career up to that point.
Randy, who was a two-time Frontier League Broadcaster of the Year (2008 and 2011) and he tells the story about learning that he won the award for the first time. He also won three Associated Press awards in 2008 through his work at WJPA.
In 2010, Randy joins the North Allegheny Sports Network (athletics.northallegheny.org). Randy was previously working for the company part-time which was founded by Don Vandergrift. Randy was hired full-time by athletic director and former Wild Things manager Bob Bozzuto after Vandergriff’s tragic passing in 2010.
A year later, Randy along with Justin Pyles and David Singer create to PAC Network (pacstream.net). The venture starts out with a basketball game of the week in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (https://pacathletics.org) and grew to broadcasting other sports including conference championship tournaments.
Brady joined the PAC Sports Network in 2015 making cameo appearances along with Randy when Thomas More would host conference championship tournaments.
Some of the talking points include the 2016 baseball championship when Randy had to go back home to see his ailing mother and Brady has to broadcast the final game with PAC Commissioner Joe Onderko filling the role as producer.
The softball championships were usually held the weekend of the Kentucky Derby. With Thomas More (https://www.thomasmoresaints.com/landing/index) hosting this gave Randy a unique opportunity to watch the Kentucky Derby while in the state of Kentucky which the local take for granted.
Randy also tells a funny story about coming to Cincinnati with his wife to watch his beloved Pirates and a wild brawl breaks out.
To close out the podcast Randy reveals that in celebration of the 10th season of the PAC Sports Network (whenever that can happen thanks to COVID-19) he will release a highlight video. The video will have some of the best moments in PAC Sports Network history.
You can follow the PAC Sports Network on Twitter @PACSports (https://twitter.com/PACSports) and the Presidents' Athletics Conference @PAC_Athletics (https://twitter.com/PAC_Athletics)
You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe
Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm)
For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to [email protected]
Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

Brady welcomes Randy Gore to the podcast and they talk about his upbringing in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Randy talks about growing up a Pirates/Steelers/Penguins fan. In fact, he was born in 1979 when the Pirates and Steelers had won world championships in during that calendar year.

Randy attended and graduated from Waynesburg University where he majored in Communications with an emphasis on Sports Broadcasting. He describes the practical experience he gained at Waynesburg, first learning production work before getting a chance to broadcast games for the Yellow Jackets student-run production.

Very similar to Brady’s training at Northern Kentucky University, Waynesburg provided a student-run television production for the athletic department under the supervision of the professors. Once he became an upper classman, Randy earned a talent position on the Waynesburg broadcasts.

Randy interned as a college student for the Pittsburgh Penguins. On game nights he was part of the crew that executes the in-game entertainment segments. Among other things, on non-game nights he did things such as log file footage of highlight clips to be used at a later time for things such as hype-videos and sponsor video. Interns from the Penguins were also able to work as production assistants for ESPN and FOX coverage of Penguins playoff games.

Once Randy graduated from Waynesburg he bounced around as a freelance prouduction worker in the Pittsburgh area before landing a job at WJPA Radio (95.3 FM, 1450AM) in Washington, Pennsylvania.

At WJPA, Randy started as a producer and board operator before landing his first on-air opportunity in the news department as a Saturday morning weekend reporter.

Randy talks about the early struggles breaking into broadcasting when its hard to earn a living and how his parents were supportive of his pursuit of chasing the dream even when times and money were both lean.

Randy was able to earn more opportunities and gain full-time employment at WJPA. He thanks Operations Manager and Sports Director Bob Gregg for having the confidence in him in order to gain more sports experience.

WJPA was the flagship station for the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League and in 2005 Randy becomes the team’s play-by-play broadcaster.

The first road trip for the Wild Things that season was to Chillicothe and Evansville which were both long standing franchises in the Frontier League.

Randy talks about the most important thing for a baseball play-by-play broadcaster which is the relationship that needs to be developed with the team’s field manager. Randy was lucky enough to start with John Massarelli as the Wild Things skipper who was happy to show him the ropes.

The discussion turns to being in the tough position of describing a mistake made by a player and not upsetting his family who is at home listening.

Randy talks about going through the process of exploring other baseball opportunities but ultimately staying with the Wild Things for 11 seasons which is a long tenure in the Frontier League.

What would be a conversation about minor league baseball without discussing the long bus rides and trips. Randy does protect the innocent by not going into seedy details but does refer to it as some of the best times of his life.

Despite all of the success, after the 2007 off-season was a bit of a turning point for him in his broadcasting career. Feeling the need to find a job with a pension and more secure insurance benefits, Randy applies for a job with his father’s company. He did not get job which kept in broadcasting full-time and shortly thereafter he enjoyed the best success of his career up to that point.

Randy, who was a two-time Frontier League Broadcaster of the Year (2008 and 2011) and he tells the story about learning that he won the award for the first time. He also won three Associated Press awards in 2008 through his work at WJPA.

In 2010, Randy joins the [North Allegheny Sports Network](athletics.northallegheny.org). Randy was previously working for the company part-time which was founded by Don Vandergrift. Randy was hired full-time by athletic director and former Wild Things manager Bob Bozzuto after Vandergriff’s tragic passing in 2010.

A year later, Randy along with Justin Pyles and David Singer create to [PAC Network](pacstream.net). The venture starts out with a basketball game of the week in the Presidents' Athletic Conference and grew to broadcasting other sports including conference championship tournaments.

Brady joined the PAC Sports Network in 2015 making cameo appearances along with Randy when Thomas More would host conference championship tournaments.

Some of the talking points include the 2016 baseball championship when Randy had to go back home to see his ailing mother and Brady has to broadcast the final game with PAC Commissioner Joe Onderko filling the role as producer.

The softball championships were usually held the weekend of the Kentucky Derby. With Thomas More hosting this gave Randy a unique opportunity to watch the Kentucky Derby while in the state of Kentucky which the local take for granted.

Randy also tells a funny story about coming to Cincinnati with his wife to watch his beloved Pirates and a wild brawl breaks out.

To close out the podcast Randy reveals that in celebration of the 10th season of the PAC Sports Network (whenever that can happen thanks to COVID-19) he will release a highlight video. The video will have some of the best moments in PAC Sports Network history.

You can follow the PAC Sports Network on Twitter @PACSports and the Presidents' Athletics Conference @PAC_Athletics

You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe

Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm

For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected]

Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com