(March 18, 2011) David Riggs knows sales experience is often key to advancing in minor league baseball broadcasting. His new position is going to give him the opportunity to learn sales from one of the more reputable mentors in minor league baseball. An STAA client, Riggs is joining the Rockford RiverHawks as a broadcasting and sales intern.
Riggs will learn under veteran broadcaster Bill Czaja, who has been with the RiverHawks since their inception in 2002.
“The opportunity to be in group sales is really important,” Riggs says. “Even though I don’t have any experience, its important to get it because a broadcaster who can sell in the off-season is going to have a better opportunity to stick with a team full-time. It’s going to be a challenge at first but it’s something I need to learn.”
Riggs is also eager to learn from Czaja.
“Just from the phone interview and talking with him after I accepted the job, he seems very open to answering questions,” Riggs says. “Considering he’s been with Rockford since they’ve been in Rockford is also important because he knows the team and community. To learn from someone like that is really important.”
A client since STAA’s inception in 2005, Riggs saw the job posted on the STAA website then submitted the demo and resume package built for him by STAA.
“It was all the STAA materials,” Riggs says. “After I accepted the position, [Bill] told me he had hired STAA clients in the past and it had worked out well for him. The STAA name just helps out — the fact people know STAA and it is well respected throughout the broadcasting community. [Being an STAA client] says ‘this guy knows how to present himself and is committed to being involved with this.’”
Riggs has broadcast baseball each of the past two summers, first for the Geneva Red Wings and last season for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. He has also broadcast men’s and women’s basketball for Bloomfield College in New Jersey. Riggs graduated Cum Laude in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University in 2008.