UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — With months of preparation in the books, two College of Communications students will head to Chicago to cover the NFL Draft for ComRadio this week. For the eighth-straight year, Penn State students will be on site for the entire three-day event.
Senior broadcast journalism majors Jeff Jezewski and Tyler Zulli will be inside the Auditorium Theatre from April 28-30. Several other students will provide coverage and insights of every pick of the draft, which is in Chicago for the second year in a row, from the ComRadio studio at Innovation Park on the University Park campus.
“There are so many opportunities that we have been given in ComRadio,” said Jezewski, a native of Nanticoke. “It’s a tremendous honor. It’s something I was kind of hoping that I got starting my senior year and it’s pretty much a dream come true to be able to go.”
Coverage can be found at http://comradio.psu.edu, or with the Tune In radio app (www.tunein.com) on portable devices. Jezewski and Zulli will go live from Chicago at 7 p.m. EST April 28, an hour before the draft begins. ComRadio will have a crowd mic to capture the atmosphere and a live feed of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reading picks.
ComRadio was the first student media entity in the nation to cover the NFL Draft in its entirety and be located inside the main draft auditorium, previously at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Penn State is one of only a few colleges or universities to have a spot in the auditorium.
“I think it’s going to be exciting,” said Zulli, a native of Bensalem. “It’s going to be a great time to be out there and just be able to not only take in the city, but also be able to work for ComRadio, work hard and get a little bit of networking going, and put this whole thing together.”
Preparation for the trip included help from countless ComRadio students, compiling a 400-page draft book featuring about 600 athletes. The book includes a breakdown of the players, as well as stats. While all of the players in the book won’t be drafted, the students need to be informed on as many athletes as possible.
In addition, ComRadio has conducted interviews and produced several episodes of “The NFL Draft Show,” as well as the “Road to the Windy City: ComRadio NFL Draft Show” radio program. Students also wrote stories and produced podcasts relating to the draft and have a Twitter handle (@NFLDraftShow) highlighting their work.
During the draft, students will rotate in and out of ComRadio’s on-campus studio to discuss picks, add analysis and make predictions. Others will be writing blog posts as players are selected. Students will be using all three studios at Innovation Park throughout the draft to complete the production.
Established in 2003, ComRadio is an Internet-based radio station operated by the College of Communications. Students involved with the station work on teams for news, sports, production, sales and management. The station produces a variety of public affairs and talk shows, broadcasts a nightly newscast and provides coverage of most Penn State sports, as well as some State College Area High School athletic events. During the 2015-16 academic year, ComRadio produced more than 930 hours of live Penn State varsity sports coverage.