(July 26, 2017) Brian Crozier gambled by leaving a job without having another to go to. The gamble has paid off. An STAA member, Crozier is joining Keystone Media’s four-station cluster in Durant, OK.
“I will have an on-air shift Monday-Friday afternoons. I will also be doing play-by-play for high school football and be a sideline reporter for Southeastern Oklahoma State University football. Finally, I will be part of the coverage team for Southeastern women’s basketball, men’s basketball, baseball and softball.”
Its possible Crozier will handle play-by-play for SEOSU women’s basketball and do color on the men’s broadcasts, though those roles haven’t been finalized. He will also likely have a role on SEOSU baseball and softball broadcasts.
Most recently, Crozier worked at WMMC Radio in Marshall, IL where he handled play-by-play and a variety of office duties. He resigned in May after nearly two years at the station.
“I decided that I really needed a new challenge, and I was hoping to find something with college sports included as part of the position,” he says.
Though Crozier’s experience handling a daily air shift is limited, he is eager for that part of the job in Durant.
“Broadcasting, for me, is all about connecting with the audience,” he says. “An on-air shift will allow me more chances to do that, just in a different way than a sports broadcast does. Another positive is the fact that Durant is a growing community of about 15,000 people with Dallas-Fort Worth about 90 miles away. So I get to still live in a nice ‘small’ town while the big city life is less than a two-hour drive away.”
Crozier is in his 17th year as a play-by-play broadcaster. His resume includes six cities in Illinois and stops in Sturgeon Bay, WI, Lebanon, MO and Burlington, IA. Besides play-by-play, he’s done news and sports reporting, sports talk show hosting, copy writing, commercial production and administration.
Crozier cites two things about the sports broadcasting industry that he wishes he knew 10 years ago. One is that radio jobs are now more than just broadcasting. Being skilled in audio, video and social media are critically important. The second thing Crozier wishes he knew a decade ago is how tough the competition is for sports broadcasting jobs.
“The good news is with streaming becoming more and more of a realistic option for sports broadcasts, I think young broadcasters, or out of work broadcasters, may be able to ‘hire themselves’ by selling ads for games that are streamed on the Internet. That option wasn’t really available 10 years ago,” he says.
Crozier is a charter member of STAA.
“One of the biggest [benefits of STAA] is the understanding Jon Chelesnik has for his members,” says Crozier. “Jon knows what it is like to be looking for a job and what it feels like to be frustrated by the process. He works with STAA members to build a resume and demos that get results. Jon is also honest about the member’s work. If members listen and take the advice to heart, they will get better and eventually have a chance to get the job they want.”
(Visit Brian’s STAA Talent Page).