After a career in play-by-play, STAA client Jeff Lasky is making the move to sports radio. An STAA client, Lasky has been hired as a sports update anchor at San Diego’s top-rated sports station, XX 1090.
“After seven years of doing minor league baseball, it’s really exciting to be working for the Padres flagship station and knowing that I’m going to be part of the pre-game, in-game, and post-game shows,” Lasky says. “Plus, I’ve always loved San Diego. I loved visiting here often and I’ve loved it even more living here for the past few months. Best of all worlds!
The opportunity is a good melding of Lasky’s professional and personal goals.
“My girlfriend is in the TV news business, so our relationship has had to be long distance for many years. We’ve been looking for a market where we could both advance our careers and be together. She got hired in San Diego in 2011, so my goal has been returning to Southern California (he is an L.A. native). Now I’ll be working for a great sports station with a signal that my friends and family can get clearly in L.A.”
Lasky first learned of the opportunity through the STAA forums. “I’d been taking the summer off to live in San Diego and had been considering moving here, so I sent an introductory e-mail to the program director [Jack Cronin].”
Cronin emailed back two days later to set up a personal meeting. “I had a good feeling about the interview and it’s worked out,” Lasky says.
Lasky’s play-by-play career includes minor league baseball’s Inland Empire 66ers and Lancaster JetHawks, as well as football and basketball for Montana State University. He’s been an STAA client since 2006.
“What I like to do with STAA is to use [CEO] Jon Chelesnik as a sounding board. I’ve been doing a lot of interviews for a variety of different types of positions in the last two years and I’ve found it very helpful to call Jon beforehand to get his suggestions. An experience may be new to me, but chances are he has guided someone through a similar experience and he can help me think of things I hadn’t come up with.
“In this particular case, the job is right in Jon’s backyard, so he knows the station and many of the people there and was able to help make me feel comfortable that this would be a good fit for me. And in moving from play-by-play to an anchor/reporter position, Jon was able to give me some very concrete tips on how to prepare myself for this new adventure. I was certainly more prepared interviewing for the job and more prepared for being hired because of the conversations I’ve had with Jon over the last month.”
(Visit Jeff’s STAA Talent Page).