When the Toronto Blue Jays played the Philadelphia Phillies for the 1993 World Series, Joe Carter of the Blue Jays hit a 3 run game winning home run at the bottom of the ninth inning during the sixth game of the series giving the Blue Jays the victory.
When Ryan Kaufman heard the announcer for the game speak with such excitement over this historical moment in baseball, he knew that he wanted to do that.
“I just knew then that sports broadcasting was what I wanted to do,” said Kaufman of this moment in his life.
Now at the end of his third year with Rev 89, Kaufman is set to graduate in the fall of 2008 with a job offer from a radio station in Sterling, Colo.
Following his love of sports, Ryan hosts the Monday at Mac’s show for Rev along with Joe Cervi of the Pueblo Chieftain. The show is broadcast from Andy McCarthy’s from 6:30 to 7:30 every Monday night. The show spends half of its time discussing CSU-Pueblo sports and the other half talking about major league sports.
Kaufman also delves into political talk as he hosts the Talk the Talk Wednesday nights on Rev. The show features a panel of four and often brings in guests to speak on the show. Recently they had a spokesperson from the Barack Obama campaign and will be bringing in a guest speaker from the John McCain campaign as well.
Although Kaufman said he enjoys hosting the political show, his passion will always be for sports broadcasting and radio.
“Rev confirmed I love radio,” Kaufman said.
Coming from the small town of Limon, Kaufman had little opportunities for radio; but he did take advantage of his high school newspaper. He said he has a passion for speaking about sports in general.
Although Kaufman said his first choice will always be radio, he also gets to practice his sports writing for two local-based Web sites. He writes for coloradosportstalk.com, which covers Colorado teams like the Colorado Crush arena football team and the Mammoth lacrosse team.
Kaufman recently had the chance to experience what he refers to as “the highlight” of his sports writing career. While covering the Colorado Rapids soccer game, Kaurfman interviewed David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy.
“He’s a nice guy,” Kaufman said of the soccer star/celebrity.
Kaufman also writes for the Web site MMAbuzz.com, which covers local mixed martial arts. Both Web sites are based out of Colorado Springs.
Kaufman said he is open to television but his first love will always be radio.
“I have a face for radio,” he laughs.
One reason for this he said may be that Rev has offered a very authentic simulation of commercial radio. Although Rev is a non-commercial station, its purpose is to give students as much experience as possible and commercial radio is most likely where Rev students will end up, Kaufman said.
“It’s extremely unique,” Kaufman said of the station.
It’s particularly certain that Kaufman has a love of sports and broadcasting is where he channels it. As quoted on Rev’s Web site, “I have other interests besides sports. I don’t know what they are, but I’m sure I have some.”
