by John Alosi ’94m

Big on sports radio

Mike Urrunaga ’98 is in front of his computer pounding the keyboard. His colleague is in front of a device that looks similar to a mixing board at a rock concert. They are surrounded by eight TV screens. The show’s host sits behind a microphone next door in the sound booth, separated by a glass wall.

Mike and his lovely bride Melissa on their wedding day, October 4, 2003. Right: Mike shows Jamal Mashburn of NBA fame the inner workings of one of ESPN’s control rooms.

This is no ordinary radio station. This is ESPN Radio and Mike is the producer of an exciting show called The Pulse with Doug Gottlieb on ESPN Radio. It started in November of 2006.

They’re on the air.

Mike types on his screen and sends it to the show’s host. “My writing skills are important,” Mike says. “I’m giving instructions. I’m writing the script as the show goes on.”

On this particular night, things are busier than most. The NBA draft is underway and ESPN is covering every minute. Frank Thomas hit career home run number 500 earlier in the day and Craig Biggio is in hot pursuit of the 3,000th base hit of his career. ESPN has cameras following these two stories. Camera crews record Biggio’s every at-bat and commissioner David Stern’s every pronouncement.

The television screens are displaying other various ESPN productions including ESPN Classic.

The show is a call-in and the host asks, “Does Frank Thomas belong in the Hall of Fame? Despite hitting 500 home runs, is that enough in today’s era of home-run inflation?” The phones light up.

While that was going on, Mike called Mike Conley, Sr., the agent for both Greg Oden and Mike Conley, Jr., the two Ohio State stars who were drafted in the first round. He’s looking for material he can use on the show. Oden, selected by Portland, was the NBA’s top pick, Conley, at number four, went to Memphis.

Some of the callers comment on Wally Backman’s tirade earlier that week. The manager of the South Georgia Peanuts was tossed out of a game and went berserk using foul language in front of seats filled with children for Day Care Day for Kids Night at the ballpark.

How He Does It

Mike said, “You have to be good at planning, but you have to be quick and think on your feet. We’re going 110 percent while on the run. It’s a constant race against the clock.

“You have to keep things moving. If for example, a scheduled guest is a no show, you have to have a backup plan.

“College basketball is like one big fraternity. All the coaches know each other. We can get comments from anyone whenever a college basketball story breaks,” Mike noted.

“My job is to find different angles to a story. I have to attack big news if the news broke early in the day. When it’s my turn, I have to ask myself, ‘How do I present the news with a different angle to draw more people in.’

“In addition to our own reporters, we monitor a bunch of websites, including Fark.com, to find interesting stories. Blogs are also useful,” Mike said.

“We have dossiers on all prominent athletes. It includes their telephone numbers, their agents’ phone numbers, and their teammates. Plus PR guys call us anytime of the day or night.”

With all this at his fingertips, Mike culls through items large and small, searching for that angle, twist, or unusual fact that he can use.

“Listeners then call in or write e-mails. E-mail has grown to the point where it consists of 95 percent of our feedback from listeners. Now everyone wants e-mail. In the past if we wanted to get a guest on one of our shows, we had to type the request on letterhead and fax it.”

Working at ESPN since his graduation from Ship, Mike has steadily climbed the ladder there and is a Radio Producer 1. The Pulse with Doug Gottlieb airs three nights per week and on August 31, he began producing a Friday night show called ESPN Radio Primetime with Bill Parcells, Keyshawn Johnson, and Chris Mortensen.

Charles Barkley is just one of the many sports personalities Mike gets to meet. Right: On location in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for College GameDay on ESPN Radio.

The early years

Mike did well in high school and applied, and was accepted at Penn and USC. His parents were unable to make up the difference between tuition and the financial aid package. Mike applied to several more colleges and learned he had a full scholarship from Shippensburg as a gifted minority student.

“It was extremely foggy the day I visited but I loved the campus. And it was just far enough away from home (near Norristown).

“I started out in pre-med, but then I got into radio. I just loved it.

“WSYC is where I developed a passion for broadcasting,” Mike said. “I had my own show. It was a chance to get on the air and it wasn’t just a class assignment. I had to do it for real and that was a big thing. People on campus and in the community were listening to the show. I also worked for WCHA in Chambersburg, By the time I graduated I had a lot of experience.”

This experience showed in the audition tapes Mike was sending out to potential employers, including ESPN Radio. It was somewhat scary when Mike learned he had the job. Seems the call came on the emergency-only line while he was spending spring break with the Campus Ministry in New Orleans. Once he realized it was good news, Mike was thrilled.

His first job was editing tapes and screening. And he found he likes the literal challenge of formatting shows.

He found his experience at Ship, from interviewing coaches to using equipment, left him better prepared than most of his peers. “Many of my co-workers came from large broadcasting schools like Syracuse and Missouri. They weren’t able to get near a microphone until they were a junior or senior. And be the play-by-play voice for your university football and both basketball teams for four years like I did? No way!
“What I was able to learn and gain in experience during my education at Shippensburg I would not have been able to do any place else.”

Mike’s words of wisdom for any would-be broadcaster: “Work at your campus stations. You find out if you really want to do it by working there.”

Mike lives in Connecticut with his wife Melissa, their two sons, Jameson Richard now two and a half, and six-month old Jackson Nelson, and their seven-year old golden retriever, Maggie.

John Alosi was the SID at Shippensburg for 32 years before he retired in 2004. He is the author of Shadow of Freedom that explores slavery in post-Revolutionary War Cumberland County.