Transcript: Season 2, Episode 2
Jill Gearin
Terri:
Jill Gearin is a female. She is a female broadcaster. She is a female sports broadcaster. That's not real common. In fact, she's only the third female broadcaster in minor league baseball history. That's the headline. That's what you and me and she will always hear when she's introduced at speaking events, cocktail parties, and news features written about her, and they are written about her. As she'll tell you, she's super proud to be one of the very first few female baseball announcers. That's what representation is, and she believes she's privileged to do it. Jill also played ball all her life and was a four-year starter on the Emerson softball team, which she led as co-captain senior year. All while doing more internships than I can keep track of on one hand, including an internship at the Boston Red Sox, which changed the course of her career early and fast. She's proving herself to be one hell of a good announcer who happens to be a woman.
I give you Jill Gearin on making it as a sports broadcaster.
Terri:
Now look, Jill, a lot of people love baseball. Like, a lot, a lot of people love baseball. A lot of people, they play baseball when they're young, they dream of maybe having careers or careers in sports if they can't do baseball. It's a dream for a lot of people and it usually stays that way. And yet, you have had screaming success very early, which gets you a lot of attention and can also read as a lot of pressure. And I'm interested in hearing from you. What is the first thing people usually ask you? Not broadcasters. I mean, when people talk to you about your career, what's the thing that they tend to ask you the most?
Jill Gearin:
Well, when I tell them I'm a broadcaster for minor league baseball team, they say, "Oh, you mean like you're at the game and you're on the radio?" And I say, "Yes, that is exactly what I do." I think they also want to double check what it is because it is such a specific thing that I do. So it's usually them clarifying exactly what it is, but then they usually ask me other questions surrounding like, "Oh, what's it like with the team?" And "Oh, what does that mean for you?" And they just think it's all fun and games and rainbows and everything, but the minor leagues are a grind.
Terri:
Well, it's a job. Anything you're going to do and become good at. It's a craft, it's something you learned. But do you think that there are, and that is an interesting question, actually, that you're saying here. Is the assumption that, because your job is centered on America's pastime, that it must feel like you're doing a hobby or doing a fun thing all the time? What are some of the misconceptions or the assumptions people have about someone who has the job you have?
Jill Gearin:
I think the biggest thing is that you just show up and start broadcasting. That is not what I do.
Terri:
They don't just throw you a hot mic the minute you show up to the game, five minutes before it starts?
Jill Gearin:
Yeah, no, definitely not. Because first of all, I'm the one setting up the microphone and all of the equipment. So on top of that, and I prep for the game, I write all of the game notes, which also is distributed to media personnel, the visiting broadcaster. I help with roster changes. I help get interviews. If there are TV reporters or other reporters there, I'm recording a pregame interview. I'm doing social media, helping with whatever promotions are going on. There's so many things, and that's very specific to minor league baseball, you do a lot of everything on top of broadcasting. But in terms of just focusing on the broadcasting part, there's so much more to it where I'll know my guys pretty well by a week or so into the season. But it's the visiting team that I'm still learning, always learning about them, especially again with the minors. There's so many roster movements. We had over a hundred different players in 2019 come through Visalia.
Terri:
And so you're learning, you're always trying to learn other people because you're the one who's interpreting for everyone, especially people who aren't at the game and aren't watching themselves of what's going on. So you're not just calling the shots of your friends.
Jill Gearin:
Right.
Terri:
Yeah. And I don't really know what goes into doing what you do either, but it sounds like you're producing it the way someone who's a news broadcaster might produce a segment because it's minor league, so you're not just like, "Hey, I have people for that." You're learning from the ground up by doing all of it.
Jill Gearin:
Absolutely. And also I'm in charge of the commercial breaks.
So sometimes we have sponsors that will send us a prerecorded ad, other times it's a smaller business that says they want us to record it. So I'll go get a friend or someone else in the front office and be like, "I need you to read this script," I record it, I lay music underneath it, and I have to make sure that plays during the commercial breaks. And then I also have to be paying attention during the commercial breaks to what's going on in the field. Are there defensive changes, offensive changes? Did I make sure I wrote down the score book correctly? I'm also in charge of talking to the PA and the official scorekeeper on weird plays that happen. And there's only a 90 second break between innings. So there's a lot going on.
Terri:
You're a director, a producer, a whatever. I mean, obviously you have a passion for sports. Do you tend to think of yourself as a sports person who broadcasts or do you think you were always more of a broadcaster who also happened to like sports?
Jill Gearin:
I definitely view myself more as an athlete and a former athlete that broadcasts. I think that's just me being in denial that I'm not playing softball anymore.
Terri:
That might be part denial.
Jill Gearin:
But it's also, I wasn't the person growing up practicing broadcasting into a fake microphone.
Terri:
You were not. You were not talking into a hairbrush in your bedroom.
Jill Gearin:
No, that was not me. I mean, I didn't come up with the idea that I wanted to be a broadcaster. I was 12, so I was still young, but it was more because I loved the game. I loved the strategy, I loved what's going on. And then through my playing career, I love how much of a mental sport baseball is, how you can fail seven out of 10 times and you are considered elite. That is insane. Insane.
Terri:
What an interesting Way of looking at it.
Jill Gearin:
Yeah, because when you're up to the bat, if you get a hit three out of the 10 times you are there, that is good. And it's really hard, especially because there were baseball players who are perfectionists and I was one of them as a softball player. So I love getting into the minds of players and that's one of my favorite parts of the job.
Terri:
Oh, that's fascinating. We don't think of it. If you think of people who are star athletes or people who got as far as they get to play in games that people watch and broadcast about, that we think that they must just do everything right, but they still have a margin for failure in some ways, whatever we think about it. And you're interested in not just the mechanics of that game itself, but the way an athlete looks at it. And this is proving my ignorance around sports broadcasting, but would we say that most people who are sports broadcasters also played a sport? Because I wonder about if, you see things as an athlete, I don't know if all sports broadcasters see through an athlete's eyes.
Jill Gearin:
I think some do. The ones that are in my league, the California league, a lot of them played at least in high school or they followed it or maybe they were the team manager. They were a part of it that way, but not many played through college. I think I'm the only broadcaster in the California league that played in college. However, Tim Neverett, who's an Emerson alum and I interned for him with the Red Sox, he played baseball in college and I think that has helped him a lot, too.
Jill Gearin:
But I mean, these broadcasters have been around the game for so long that they know the sport as if they were an athlete. I think the only thing that I might have an advantage on is understanding the mental side of it because it's been less than three years since I last played a collegiate game and the players respect that.
Terri:
I could watch people play or act in a show or play the cello for decades. I could report on it if I were in a position to do that, I still not the same thing as playing it. And you are so fresh from the team. Like when you say you miss it, but it was really less than five years ago you were playing. And the fact is, Jill, that if things go well and you continue to love and flourish in your career, you're going to be a broadcaster longer.
Jill Gearin:
Right. And it's weird. That's so weird.
Terri:
It is weird. So you're still not there yet. Right? I mean, you graduated in 2018. So it's almost like when that point comes where you have been broadcasting longer, you'll have the mind of a broadcaster longer than you'll have the mind of an athlete. It's kind of fascinating to think about.
Jill Gearin:
I know. I wonder if my broadcasting style will change when that happens or in terms of the insights that I give. I'm interested.
Terri:
When people talk to you about that, about maybe people who have an eye toward wanting to be in a sports broadcasting in that world, when people ask you specifically that about it, when they're in that wanting to be in that business, maybe students or alumni or whatever, do they tend to ask you about the how the most? How did you get this? How did you do that? Or the why?
Jill Gearin:
Definitely more of the how, yeah.
Terri:
They want to know how you got into it. And when anyone asks anyone, if you ask a best-selling author, how did they get a bestselling book? There is no easy answer to how, but how do you address that question? Because you're going to get it forever.
Jill Gearin:
Right. I usually respond to them that it was a lot of luck, but also preparation meeting luck. This is kind of a story of the Emerson mafia, to be honest.
Terri:
How so?
Jill Gearin:
Because I got my big internship with the Red Sox my senior year of college because of Tim Neverett, and he wanted an Emerson intern. So I got it that way. He then put me in connection with the Nashua Silver Knights who are a summer collegiate baseball team in New Hampshire, and I was able to do games there, actually get real reps behind a microphone. And because of that, I was able to send it out to certain minor league teams when I graduated from Emerson. And in Visalia, Julian Rifkin, who graduated from Emerson three years before me, who was on the Emerson baseball team, happened to be working there. And he put me in touch with the general manager.
Jill Gearin:
So everything just worked out perfectly because of that. And that is why I tell people who want to go into broadcasting that it's partially luck, because the stars were aligned for me. That Tim wanted to hire an Emerson person, that I was able to get reps through Nashua, and that Julian was willing to put in a good word for me with the general manager. But I also did the preparation for it. I knew how to be a good broadcaster. I asked Tim questions. I asked other broadcasters questions and I was well-rounded enough, not only in broadcasting, but in marketing and social media and just my work ethic that the Rawhide wanted to hire me for multiple reasons.
Terri:
And I have news for you. That is not luck. Right? So yes, of course, there were opportunities and connections that you made by virtue of the school you chose, the people you reached out to, or how responsive you were to them. You saw an opportunity, you went for it, and you continue to make good on and deliver for the people who chose you. I just think it's funny because the people who are always so successful tend to give a lot of credit to luck and don't take enough credit. So I'm telling you to take more credit.
Jill Gearin:
It might be a defense mechanism.
Terri:
It might be. It might be, but that's okay. I mean, it's very humble, right? There's a lot of humility in that. But when you did the Red Sox internship and you're getting your feet wet and you're learning, you're hungry to learn all these things. You can't do an internship and not think about, "Gee, I wonder if I would like this, if I could do this." Was your mindset like, "Oh, I think I could do this. I could do that," or was it like, "Oh my God, I'll do anything to work in this industry." Like someone who wants to work in the fashion industry, they're like, "I will empty trash as long as I'm in the building where the stuff's happening, and I'll work my way up from there."
Jill Gearin:
I mean, I loved my internship. It was amazing. And the part about my internship, it wasn't grunt work. I was sitting in between the two Red Sox play-by-play broadcasters during home games, handing them notes that they would say on air. I was in the clubhouse before and after games interviewing players. That was almost exactly what I wanted to do with my life. Just put a microphone in front of me and then we had it set for what I wanted. So in terms of, yes, I'll do anything to be in the sports industry, I definitely had that mindset, but I'm very happy that I wasn't just taking out trash at Fenway Park.
Terri:
No, of course. But then also, you delivered. You were like, "Hey, what about this?" Like, there's initiative, right? You get rewarded for showing that. You weren't waiting for someone to give you a job. I mean, that's sounds like that's not your style.
Jill Gearin:
No, definitely not.
Terri:
Of doing stuff. Was that ever a thing in your mind where you're like, "Oh, I love this broadcasting. I think I could do it for anywhere." You weren't like, "Oh, I could do it in sports, but I could also do it in entertainment." Or did you know you were dyed in the wool sports?
Jill Gearin:
Definitely sports. Sports has just been a huge part of my life since I was six years old. I've I've been known as the softball girl in high school and middle school. And probably even in college, I lived with a film student and I was known as the sport roommate. The softball roommate.
Terri:
The softball roommate.
Jill Gearin:
Right, exactly. So if broadcasting doesn't work out, I would rather be involved in sports than try to do broadcasting in entertainment.
Terri:
Oh, interesting. Now obviously it's exciting, right, because some people wait a little bit longer to find an in and find an opportunity. You created opportunity very early, and maybe the stars aligned, who knows how things happen, but you have had very early success where you were right out of the gate doing something that you loved, which is the dream. You've also made history, right? You've made history already as a third woman broadcaster in minor league baseball.
Terri:
And so the question is, does that go, "Wow, now I'm cooking with gas. I'm just going to cruise on this for a while and keep getting better and doing what I do." Or is there a level of pressure in that, "my God, if I broke records right out of the gate..." do you feel you have to keep breaking records, kind of thing? Is that pressure or is that opportunity?
Jill Gearin:
A little bit of both. I mean, I feel very good with where I am now, where I'm learning and I'm ready to hit the ground running when season does happen. But there is a lot of pressure. I was 22 years old when I got the Rawhide job. And all of a sudden I'm in charge of my own broadcast. The general manager said, "I don't care what you do, just get up on air and make sure you hit the sponsors, ads and stuff like that." And the rest was all me. I was very, very in over my head.
Jill Gearin:
So there was pressure just from my age, in my experience, or rather somewhat lack of experience behind a mic. And on top of that, there are people in the social media world who have said women make lousy broadcasters. And I felt a lot of pressure. And granted, I put the pressure on myself a little bit, where if I suck, what if there's a person out there who thinks, "Oh, because she sucks, no other woman can become a broadcaster. I'm never listening to another woman broadcaster." That was where I started freaking out.
Terri:
I see. You thought you were going to slam the door shut on every woman by virtue of your own actions. Which, of course, is, no.
Jill Gearin:
Yeah. Right. Not real, no. And because there's two more women broadcasters in minor league baseball now since I've been hired. So there's more coming, which is great. But I think the pressure is kind of more off of myself now because I've proven myself in the people that I work with and work for have my back, and they've stood up for me before. So I'm very grateful for that.
Terri:
Isn't that terrible? The pressure. There's enough pressure as is, even if there was no such thing as social media, but because there is, and like you said, there are some people on social media who say that women make lousy broadcasters. There's people on social media who say that brownies make lousy desserts. There's people with all kinds of contrary opinions and ideas that don't really have any bearing on whether you continue to do your job, but it's different. If you were doing this, I was going to say 20 years ago, but I don't know. I don't know if you'd be able to do it 20 years ago. Right? I mean, the very criticism you get from culture is the very culture that it also supports and wants to see more women in those roles.
Terri:
But here's a question. The headline with Jill Gearin is she's the third woman broadcaster in minor league baseball history. She's a woman broadcaster. Now in school, it was like, you were the softball girl, right? There's always a kind of thing that we're described by, but when is it, do you think, where you get to just be a broadcaster?
Jill Gearin:
I think I'm slowly getting there. I've been featured in a few articles recently. One was in The Athletic during quarantine, and The Athletic is an online publication that covers all sports in America. And they were just interviewing random broadcasters about how they were doing during quarantine, what they were doing, and not once did they mention me as a woman or as breaking barriers. I was just known as a broadcaster. And that was the first time that's happened for me. So I think I'm slowly getting there, which I'm cool with. That's what I want. I just want to be known as a broadcaster that happens to be a woman, but I also am very aware of being a woman every single day at my job. I'm extremely aware of it and I don't want that to go away.
Terri:
You're never not reminded of that. It's not cool anymore. People can't point that out and be like, "That was pretty great for a girl." You can't say that stuff at work.
Jill Gearin:
Right? No, it's not that at all, because I'm a good broadcaster whether or not I'm male or female. That's not a thing. I also am a good broadcaster partially because I'm a woman and I bring a different perspective than any other broadcaster in my league for two reasons; well, three. Former athlete in college, young, and a woman. You have three different perspectives from anyone else in the California league.
Terri:
Yeah. I love that because part of me wants to cheer and support and call attention to it. But are we really as evolved as we want to be if we have to keep calling attention to it? And yet you're going to. You've made your mark, you're going to be given keynote speeches, you're going to be invited to big parties because you are this particular person, this kind of female royalty in baseball history. And I wondered if that was something you were celebrating or something that was sort of annoying to have to always represent something rather than just be something.
Jill Gearin:
Yeah. I think I've come to terms that I'm okay with always representing it. When I was 22, it was really cool that I was having articles written about me and that state congressmen were tweeting about me, stuff like that. But as I got older, I just kind of wanted everything to go back to normal because I didn't want the guys on the team who I'm supposed to work with, I didn't want them to think of me differently. That's what I was most worried about. But now that I'm seeing all of this stuff coming out with more women, and we just had International Girls and Women in Sports day, and I'm realizing I want it to be talked about because I want girls to see that they can do it. And it's not about me, it's about having representation. When you hear someone that sounds like you, or see someone that looks like you doing a job that you didn't know you could do, it subconsciously makes you think, "Oh, I can do that."
Terri:
That's the role. And you're right. It's not about proving to people, your peers, or proving to people who came before you, going, "See, see, I told you I could do it." It's more like if girls don't see themselves in the roles, they won't do it. And so that is the reason, you're saying, is worth staying on that and holding a flag for that, is just so that more women will do it and more women will choose it.
Jill Gearin:
Yeah, absolutely. That's what I want. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the attention is nice and it's nice being reminded that I'm doing something cool, but I already know I'm doing something cool. I love my job.
Terri:
Right. You don't need to be reminded that you're doing something cool. And you definitely don't need to be reminded that you're a woman because you wake up a woman and you know you're a woman. So there you go. Is there any other part of the craft that you've discovered that you're like, "Oh, I didn't think I was good at this, but it turns out I'm loving learning it."
Jill Gearin:
I think it's kind of more of a specific thing in the broadcasting realm. I knew I knew baseball. I played it. I understood what listeners wanted to hear from the game, but there are so many little things that go into a broadcast that are just the nuts and bolts that you need to have for a good broadcast. And I found that pretty early. I had a really good, what's called pace for play. And I've been told that by other professional broadcasters, because we trade tape and critique each other. I've had some major league guys listen to it as well. And they've said to me, "For how little experience you have, you have a really good base in terms of your understanding for the game, the pace of play and understanding what people want." So that was really, really nice.
Terri:
Pace for play, meaning the rate at which you share information?
Jill Gearin:
So it's kind of being able to understand each pitch is important and being able to set up for each pitch. And I wasn't perfect at it in the beginning, and I'm still not perfect, but I had a really good base for it that I can work from. The best compliment I had was from a AAA broadcaster. And he told me, "You have a 95 mile an hour fastball, you just need to locate it." Which in baseball terms is a very great compliment because it's saying you have all the right stuff, you just need to hone it.
Terri:
And you did just kind of start. I mean, you have all the time in the world to get better at it, but it's helpful when you know where your strengths are. You just strike me as someone who's not afraid to learn stuff and to kind of just get in there and do it. And I feel like that's probably 90% of succeeding in any field.
Jill Gearin:
Definitely. I mean, you have to always be learning and adapting because things are changing so quickly. I mean, a lot of people who go to Emerson, a lot of our careers involve technology and just that alone evolves every single year, and baseball evolves every single year. So it's different. And I like the challenge. I like being able to adapt. That was something that I loved about the sport of baseball and softball. So I like that it has evolved in my career, too.
Terri:
10 years from now, it could be, "Here, Jill, just swallow this little robot and it's going to broadcast your thoughts directly into the media. So don't think of any swear words." You know what I mean?
Jill Gearin:
Yeah, that would not work out well. That would not work out well
Terri:
Well, let's slip back for a minute into your Emerson days, which are not long ago days. Every institution leaves its fingerprint on us. And so Emerson, undoubtedly had some kind of influence there. What do you think that that sort of Jill Gearin Emerson shaped mark is for you, that the school left in you that you find helpful and useful? That you're still you, but if you went to another school might have been different.
Jill Gearin:
It's really hard because the cliche answer is that playing for the Emerson softball team left a huge imprint on me.
Terri:
Why is that cliche? That's true, right?
Jill Gearin:
Yeah. I think it's cliche because again, I'm the softball girl, but it was so many different things in purely a academic way. Softball helped me a lot because you're busy as a collegiate athlete. You're lifting, you're going to practice, you're going to games and you're busy as a minor league broadcaster. I'm traveling on the road for four hours. I need to learn how to be able to do work on the bus. And I already knew how to do that from playing softball. It was being able to take on all these different things and juggle them and succeed at almost every single one of them. And that is very important in the "adult world." So I think it's definitely in the shape of a softball.
Terri:
Yes. And having that opportunity to play certainly did that. And then you also took classes that had nothing to do with maybe exactly what you do now. Is there something a teacher told you or remarked on that stuck with you at Emerson, even if had nothing to do with your major or with softball?
Jill Gearin:
There's so much. I mean, Marsha always said follow the money
Jill Gearin:
And at first I was like, oh, that doesn't apply to sports. That applies for corrupt politicians and stuff like that. And I'm sitting here realizing how much of a business sports is, because you don't realize that as a fan. And I'm sitting here being like, Oh my God, she was right. Marsha was right.
Terri:
What would you say is a good thing for someone who isn't right exactly where they should be yet?
Jill Gearin:
I think my advice would be figure out your priorities. That is a very important thing. Because if you end up being in a job that you don't enjoy, you're not going to make that a priority and you're going to then hurt your career. And it's one thing if it's a stepping stone to the next thing, because that's important too, but you need to remind yourself, my priority is this job because it's going to help me get to where I want to be. And if your priorities, sometime, let's say you have a kid and your priority all of a sudden is well, this kid is more important than my job. That's fine. That's your life. That's totally okay. There are people in this career who ended up finding the love of their life and their spouse doesn't want them traveling as much. They want to have kids. And so they switched broadcasting careers. That's fine. That's your priority. That's just not where I am right now. So it's, to me, figuring out your priorities and then being able to make them happen in an organized manner. And it's a lot easier said than done.
Terri:
Totally. Yep. I assume that. And last question. What does it mean to you, Jill, to make it, and how will you know when you get there?
Jill Gearin:
For making it, to me, the idea of making it is making it to the big leagues, becoming a major league broadcaster. That's what I want to have happen. But I think also if I'm not happy there, then I wouldn't have made it. In order to make it, I need to be happy. And I think I've partially made it. I'm a professional broadcaster and not many people can say that they are a professional broadcaster. And I'm happy doing that, but I'm not where I want to be. I'm not where I want to end up yet. So I haven't officially made it because of that.
Terri:
But it sounds like you're pretty happy.
Jill Gearin:
I'm very happy. I love being at the ballpark. I don't care that I get four hours of sleep on home stands. I don't care. I get so much more energized being at a ballpark.
Terri:
Sleep is not a priority yet.
Jill Gearin:
Sleep will become a priority later.
Terri:
Yes. Jill, we were so proud of you. Emerson is so proud of you. Really proud to have you part of the community. And thank you so much.
Jill Gearin:
Thank you so much, Terry.