By Savannah Schwartz, Guest Writer
Those who listen to Newman sports on the Jets Audio Network may have noticed a new voice doing play-by-play announcing.
It belongs to Jackson Schneider, who took over for Blake Cripps when he left Newman after nine years to take a job as play-by-play announcer at Emporia State University.
Schneider, who started in the fall, said his mother once worked at a radio station, and that made him want to become a sports broadcaster.
Schneider is from Lawrence and graduated from the University of Kansas in 2019. He is a huge fan of both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals, he said.
His job at Newman, which also includes hosting the weekly coaches show, The Jetcast, is not Schneider’s only job in sports broadcasting, though. He also works full time as the sports director at 1150 KSAL in Salina, where he oversees sports broadcasting for four radio stations.
His focus there is on “everything from high school sports to scheduling college broadcasts, conducting interviews, writing stories for the website and hosting a daily sports talk show called ‘In The Zone,’” he said.
Schneider said he loves the small school feel at Newman, which he said is like a family. He has also enjoyed getting to know everyone, especially the student athletes, he said.
“Volleyball is the most challenging sport to cover because it is such a fast-paced sport and it can be tough to keep up with all the action and accurately describe what’s going on,” he said. “But it’s a challenge I greatly enjoy.”
Before college, Schneider worked many jobs. He was once a busser/server at a pizza restaurant and also worked in a leasing office at an apartment complex. He even had a stint as a bartender.
Since he graduated from college, though, he has only had jobs relating to broadcasting.
Brian Hanni, who is the”Voice of the Kansas Jayhawks” is his biggest mentor, Schneider said. He’s known Hanni since he was a kid, and Hanni has helped him professionally and personally.
“So I credit a lot of who I am as a person and a broadcaster to him,” Schneider said.
Sports broadcasting sometimes requires working long days, Schneider said, and it requires a lot of work that the crowd and media doesn’t see. Schneider said he puts in hours of research and studies each team that comes to Newman, learning rosters and stats and watching film – all to prepare for the broadcast.
“I don’t think I have a favorite athlete just yet, but I have enjoyed getting to know many of our student athletes so far, and I love watching them all play,” Schneider said.
PHOTO: Courtesy photo, Unsplash
