The summer of 2022 is one that Noah Friedman will always remember because it provided the opportunity of a lifetime. He spent July in Israel covering the Maccabiah Games, also known as the Jewish Olympics.
The games debuted in 1932. They are the third-largest sporting event in the world and are held every four years. More than 10,000 athletes compete. Friedman soaked it all in while building his resume. Now he’s parlaying that experience into his first full-time broadcasting position. The 2018 Arizona State University grad is joining New Media Broadcasters in Havre, MT as an play-by-play broadcaster and on-air personality.
Motivation
Covering the Maccabiah Games re-affirmed to Friedman that broadcasting is what he wants to do. “That was my first on-air broadcasting since graduating from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. That lit the biggest fire under me to get going and pursue my dream.”
Friedman has been working as a production assistant since graduating from ASU. He felt, though, like he was settling when applying for jobs. “I want to do whatever it takes to get into sports broadcasting, so I’ve interviewed for jobs that don’t have play-by-play because you’re not supposed to be picky in this business. But when you see that a job offers play-by-play — even though it’s not as important as the other aspects the radio station offers — you can’t help but feel giddy because it’s what I want to do for a living. And starting in the fall, I will get to do that.”
Surprise Opportunity
Friedman recently returned from another trip to Israel. He didn’t expect to find a play-by-play opening upon his return. “The saying is the opportunities come about when you least expect it. This was definitely the least expected time for me to find something like this.”
Besides play-by-play, Friedman will write and produce newscasts for New Media Broadcaster’s three-station cluster. He’ll also deliver weather, sports, road conditions, and community-related events. Friedman adds excitedly, “When the calendar turns to the fall, I get the opportunity to do sports play-by-play that the region offers!”
Calling games will feed the passion that was re-kindled in Friedman following his experience at the Maccabiah Games. “The play-by-play dynamic was part of that fire,” he states. “It’s such a good feeling to know that I’ll finally get my shot to pursue this part of the industry after having worked in production for almost five years.”