By: Emily Dick
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| 7 News' Mel Busler |
“I take what I do seriously, but I don’t take who I am seriously.”
Those are the words Busler lives by. The modest reporter says he’s just doing what he loves, and he gets paid to do it. What he’s really doing is providing his 7 News viewers with quality sports coverage, a job he's been doing for 32 years.
Many aspiring journalists dream of making it big in a major sports city, but Busler is living his dream in his small upstate New York hometown.
“I never really tried to get a job at another place. This is what I wanted to do, as a kid my goal was to work at channel 7,” Busler said.
He had an unusual start to his career. Busler worked at WATN Radio in Watertown after high school and worked his way into a part-time position at 7 News while he was attending junior college.
A few years later he was promoted to full time sports anchor.
Busler said he's never modeled his performance after anyone else, even though he’s been told he has Chris Berman’s “good looks”. Instead, he learned by gaining on-the-job experience and used his personality to make his sportscasts entertaining.
“I just wanted to have my own personality. I wanted to make my own niche,” Busler said. “I add humor to a lot of what I do. Whether it’s on the air doing a sportscast or if I’m doing crazy commercials.”
He soon became a local celebrity and prided himself on his ability to connect with his viewers.
“I like them to think of me as somebody you can have a beer with or could talk sports with,” Busler said. “When I walk around locally, they call me by my first name. ‘Hey Mel! Hey Mel! How ya’ doing?!’ And to tell you the truth, that’s the best compliment you can have.”
Although Busler’s unorthodox path was successful for him, it’s not something he recommends to aspiring journalists. He said having an education is very important.
Even without that educational background, Busler continues to emulate his personal motto for the people of Watertown, especially when it comes to the local sports he grew up loving.
“I take seriously getting the message out,” he said. “I like to feel we give them professional style coverage, even though they’re not professionals.”
But as always, “Mel” refuses to take himself too seriously, “I’m the luckiest man in the world! That’s why I play the lottery all the time. If I could get a job doing this for a living then maybe someday I’ll hit the Mega Millions!”
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Mel Busler Interview Transcript
ED: Mel, you grew up in Watertown and you’ve been covering sports here for over 30 years. What kept your in Watertown and have you ever had a chance to leave?
MB: Well, I stayed in Watertown because I got married at 21, had a child at 22 and I’m from Watertown. It was kinda neat, I mean you're in your hometown, your family can watch, mom and dad can brag about their son, and I love the area. I mean I really don’t know any other area that would be better than here so I just stayed. I had a chance to go to a couple of other places. Peoria was one, sounds like the beginning of a punch line, but I never really tried to get a job at another place. This is what I wanted to do, as a kid my goal was to work at channel 7.
ED: Is there a certain story or game that you really enjoyed covering or that you’re proud of?
MB: I had the opportunity, and this is strange, I wasn’t even at the T.V. station, I was at the radio station at WATN Radio in Watertown and I had the chance to go to the 1980 Winter Olympics for 5 days, covered the Olympics for 5 days and saw the U.S. hockey team play twice, not against the Russians unfortunately, I think it was West Germany and Romania they played. I saw Eric Heiden who was a big speed skater skate twice. I remember being on White Face Mountain watching Ingemar Stenmark and the Mahre brothers from the U.S. ski. The strange part was, I was 21 and I knew it was big, but I wish I was older so maybe I would have appreciated it a little bit more. You know that the world’s watching, but I was so young, that I don’t know if I appreciated what I was witnessing.
ED: Which broadcasters did you grow up idolizing or that you model yourself after?
MB: Well they say I have good looks like Chris Berman, so I don’t know if that’s a compliment. I wish I had his wallet! There was really nobody, I just wanted to have my own personality. I wanted to make my own niche. I add humor to a lot of what I do. Whether it’s on the air doing a sportscast or if I’m doing crazy commercials or something like that. I kind of rely on my personality… my talent? Ehhh. But I think I have a halfway decent personality on the air so maybe that makes up for a lot of the faults.
ED: That actually brings me to my next question, especially for sportscasters, is there a line between entertainer and journalist?
MB: Yeah! I take seriously getting the message out. We cover high school games, we cover college games, we cover the local Rams or the semi-pro Watertown Red and Black football team and I like to feel we give them professional style coverage, even though they’re not professionals. Our bread and butter is sports and I take that seriously because we cover a three county area with high school teams. I do the best I can, but I like to present it in sort of an entertaining way, because it’s a visual medium. People either love you or they hate you, and you like to bring the sports in such a style that they’re getting information but they also appreciate that you’re the guy next door. I like them to think of me as somebody you can have a beer with or could talk sports with. When I walk around locally, they call me by my first name. “Hey Mel, Hey Mel, How ya’ doing?!’ And to tell you the truth that’s the best compliment you can have, is that they feel they know you. Even if I’ve never met them before, they feel as though I’m a familiar face and I’m approachable.
ED: Any advice for a future journalist, either in sports or just in general?
MB: Yeah, don’t do it like I did it. I kind of lucked out. I worked at a radio station and wound up being a disc jockey. We used to play records, those were those tiny little vinyl things, I don’t know if you remember or not… and then was able to basically fall into the position that I’m in! I started working part time at the T.V. station and then after two years had a full time position. I mean, I’m not a graduate of Newhouse, I wish I was! Maybe I can get an honorary degree! Are you listening John? I went to junior college, I took a liberal arts thing and I just lucked out. It was all on-the-job training for me. Really, hands-on was something that was very important. The guy that was full-time taught me and was very helpful and then I started learning. We had just gone from film to tape, so I was working tape and now it’s non-linear and it’s this and it’s that, it’s stuff I didn’t have any educational background in, but maybe the best education I had was hands-on, being on the job and doing it. it worked out for me, but I don’t recommend that. I recommend people getting an education and a background in it, because when there are two people, one with an educational background and another one that doesn’t, they’re always going to lean toward the person who has that on their resume. So I’m the luckiest man in the world! That’s why I play the lottery all the time, if I could get a job doing this for a living then maybe someday I’ll hit the Mega Millions!
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