"A Story is a Story": From Football to Flooding Jason King has it Covered

By Cody Love

  Storytelling has been central to Jason King’s career.  King is the weekend sports anchor and weekday sports reporter for WMUR-TV (Channel 9) in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he has worked since 1997.  

He grew up in the state, in the town of Merrimack, and had been interested in a career in sports media since he was a teenager.

Due to their location near Boston, King and the rest of the sports department have a unique responsibility to cover not only local high school, college, and minor league sports in New Hampshire, but also the four major Boston teams.  Speaking over the phone, King said his job requires a lot of work, but he enjoys what he does.  

He noted major playoff games as among the most difficult to cover.  Still, he said his favorite sports event he has ever covered was the Snow Bowl, the 2002 AFC Divisional Playoff Game between the New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders.

“I’m a football guy, and big Patriots fan, and it was the last game that was ever going to be played at the old Foxboro Stadium,” King said.  “And to top it off with the snowstorm, and it was a playoff game against the Raiders, and ultimately lead to the Patriots winning their first Super Bowl later that season.   So it was just a pretty cool night to be a part of.”

Working for a local news outlet, King is required to be versatile.  In situations where WMUR only sends sports reporters, like Super Bowls, or Red Sox Spring Training, they have to provide news content in addition to sports angles.  King recalled a time where this prepared him to cover a major local news event in 2007.

“I was in early one morning to cover the Boston Marathon,” King said, “and there was major flooding in New Hampshire.  And they called the satellite truck back, and cancelled our live shots at the marathon, so we got called back as well.”

With a full day still ahead of him, King did not want to go home and come back, so he volunteered to help with flood coverage.  The news director sent him to Western New Hampshire, where he covered a landslide caused by the flooding.

“I went out and covered news for the day, turned a couple of news packages, and I was actually I think the lead in our six o’clock newscast that night.”

King said that it was interesting, but not very different from his usual job.  The skills needed to be a news reporter are the same needed to be a sports reporter.  It is only the content that differs.

“A story’s a story, and as a reporter or an anchor, you can either tell the story, or you can’t.”

Full Interview with Jason King

Cody: How did you come to be interested in a career in sports media?

Jason: It was just something that I got interested in when, probably when I was a teenager.  I thought it would be a decent, a cool job to have, and here I am.

Cody: Ok. I see online that you consider, in your profile, you consider the Snow Bowl your most memorable sports event to cover, can you describe the night from your point of view?

Jason: It was just, kind of a cool night because I'm a football guy, and big Patriots fan, and it was the last game that was ever going to be played at the Patriots old Foxboro Stadium, and before they built Gillette Stadium.  And then to top it off with the snowstorm, and it was a playoff game against the Raiders, and ultimately lead to the Patriots winning their first Super Bowl later that season.  So, it was just a pretty cool night to be a part of.

Cody: Oh yeah, I was watching at home myself, I was eleven years old at the time, it was quite memorable, so it was pretty cool that you were able to be there.  So, what do you like about covering local sports in New Hampshire?

Jason: I grew up here in New Hampshire, so I'm familiar with the area, and the schools, and it's just kind of a unique situation for us because our focus is primarily local, so the relationships that form through the years with college coaches, and athletic directors, and high school coaches etc. is pretty cool.

Cody: Do you have anybody specifically that comes to mind you think of as developing relationships over the years?

Jason: Nobody specific other than what I said, college coaches, high school athletic directors, high school coaches, etc.

Cody: Do you enjoy speaking a lot with the students too?

Jason: I do from time to time.  We get asked for a lot of speaking engagements, and I pick and choose depending on what the event is.  I'm not a huge fan of public speaking, oddly enough.  But yeah, I mean if it's worthwhile, I'm happy to do it.

Cody: Now bringing it out to your other big responsibility, being so close to Boston, what do you like about covering the major teams in Boston?

Jason: It's definitely fun, it's still a job, it's not necessarily as glamorous as people think it is when you have to go and cover a playoff game, or Super Bowl, or World Series, or something like that it's a considerable amount of work.  But, we enjoy what we do, and covering those teams is a little more in depth.  It allows us to do a little more with our job in terms of travel and that type of thing.

Cody: Is there anything that stands out as a particularly difficult event you remember from covering?

Jason: I personally have never been to a Super Bowl, but I know that's a tremendous amount of work.  We typically go and spend a week there, and you're turning several packages each day, it's kind of the same as if when we used to go to Spring Training.  That was a week worth of just a lot of work, you're turning several packages each day.  Not only sports, but typically, for something like that, only a sports crew goes.  So you're not only covering the sports angles, but you're also providing news content each day, so it's just a lot of work.

Cody: Do you have any specific news event you remember covering as a sports person?  Were you ever really forced into a major news coverage from sports?

Jason: Yeah, I don't remember the year, 2007 maybe.  I was in early one Monday morning to go cover the Boston Marathon, and our satellite truck was on its way down to do live shots down there for the evening shows, five and six, and there was major flooding in New Hampshire.  And they called the satellite truck back, and cancelled our live shots at the Marathon, so we got called back as well.  And it was early, probably 7:30 in the morning or something.  So I got back to the newsroom and told the news director that I was already there, so I didn't want to go home and have to come back, so if he could use me, I'd be happy to help.  So he ended up sending me out to cover flooding, and it was a landslide caused by the flooding in the Western part of the state.  So I went out and covered news for the day, turned a couple of news packages, and I was actually I think the lead in our six o'clock newscast that night.

Cody: What was that day like?

Jason: What was the day like?

Cody: Yeah, what was it like for that whole experience?

Jason: It was interesting, there's not a whole lot of difference between sports and news, aside from the content.  A story's a story, and as a reporter or an anchor you can either tell the story or you can't.  Aside from the content, the work is pretty much the same.