Photo by Michaiah Bushnell
By: Jonathan Chandra ‘17
Staff Writer
On Monday night, Sept. 26, reporter Rob Bradford swapped the beat for the basement.
Bradford, a website editor and Red Sox beat reporter for sports radio station WEEI 93.7FM, formerly of the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune and the Boston Herald, spoke in front of a two-hour introductory journalism class at Gordon College. The class was held in the bottom floor of Jenks Library.
In an engaging speech, Bradford was more conversational than formal, dispensing advice and talking about journalism in a casual and sometimes humorous way. For instance, when discussing his alma mater, Springfield College, he joked, “We’re famous for our highly paid president and inventing basketball. And John Cena.”
Bradford went on to speak broadly about his career, the changing landscape of news, and the world of sports journalism. He challenged students to stick to journalism if it was what they loved, pointing to his hard work over the years to reach his current position.
In one of the highlights of the night, Bradford performed what he dubbed a “party trick,” calling up two students to the front of the classroom. They answered Bradford’s questions about their interests and experiences. By the end of each session, he composed a story based on the important aspects of each individual’s life, illustrating that with the right questions, there is always an interesting story to be told.
After the discussion, one of the interviewees described the experience:
“I felt special. I liked it. It helped me think about certain things. You know, when you get that individual questioning, it makes you think about—about what he was asking.”
In another interesting turn of events, Bradford’s daughter was also in attendance, though as a student rather than a speaker.
“It was really cool to see him talk,” Taylor Bradford ‘19 said. “Usually I’ve only ever heard him talk for seven minutes, so hearing him talk for an hour and thirty minutes was quite the spectacle.”
To view Bradford’s work, visit WEEI.com and tune in on weekdays to 93.7FM, NESN and Channel 7.
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