Ryan Recker: Bringing Sports to Morning People

By: Tim Durr

Photo Courtesy of WTAE.com

Sometimes it seems like sports journalists are only focused on stats and scores.

Ryan Recker is the morning sports anchor at WTAE in Pittsburgh where he does things differently.

“The audience I’m talking to in the morning is a lot of women, school teachers, and moms, they don’t want to know [advanced stats and numbers]” Recker said. “They want the basics and they want a light hearted spin on sports.”

Recker, 35, started his career in Pittsburgh sixteen years ago for the now defunct WPGH Fox 53, where he was a producer for sports reporter Alby Oxenreiter.

After graduating from Robert Morris University, located just outside of Pittsburgh, Recker took a job in Steubenville, Ohio with WTOV.

He spent more than six years as sports director in Tucson, Ariz. with KVOA, then decided that he wanted a new challenge in his life.

“I wanted a challenge and got it,” Recker said. “I’m challenged to go and cover things like the opening of Mellon Square Park downtown and I have to do live reports all morning and I better research the park, which has nothing to do with sports.”

Recker said the reason he decided to leave his job as a sports director to return to anchoring is because he had no further room for improvement at KVOA.

"I was in the same position when I left there as I was when I got there," Recker said. "I got there as sports director and I couldn’t go any higher. I couldn’t advance in the company or locally."

Now as a morning sports anchor, Recker said he's faced with different challenges of covering unrelated topics. He said that sometimes he gets jealous of radio guys that get to spend a whole episode focused on a topic when he only has 45 seconds to cover a mix of topics.

“Sometimes I struggle with watching the competition and seeing guys on 93.7 The Fan getting deep into a subject and I wish I had 5 minutes in the morning to sit and talk about all of this,” Recker said.

Through all of the struggles and challenges that Recker has taken on as a sports journalist, he said he keeps a few things in mind that are care values, he’ll never stray from.

“For the most part I try to play it down the middle,” Recker said. “I refuse to say ‘we’ or ‘us’ or ‘let’s go Bucs’ or ‘Here we go Steelers’. I refuse to do it. I just don’t have it in me.”

Recker was born in South Park, which is about 20 minutes south of Pittsburgh, and attended Seton La-Salle High School. Recker was on the football team at Seton La-Salle and got his start with sports anchoring through a created TV show for the school.

"We created this fake TV show," Recker said. "Me and some other football players would interview a cheerleader, another player, or a coach or basketball player. Then [the football players] said why don't we make this and put it on the morning announcements."

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Ryan Recker Interview Transcription

Q: What were some things you did early in your broadcast career before graduating college that helped you gain experience?

A: Almost by happenstance, in my senior year of high school. There were a group of football players, and I was on the team. We created this fake TV show, for lack of a better term, where we would do it at a gathering or party and just get a video tape and gather around a small audience. Me and some other football players would interview a cheerleader, another player, a coach or basketball player or whoever. And from there, at the same time, they wanted to create an in-house TV program. Then they said why don’t we make this and put it on the morning announcements. That wasn’t really professional experience, but it got me comfortable with being on camera, with working without a script, with coming up with ideas, and it got me the chance to have feedback from people, to be criticized, hear that people like that or didn’t like that and have that instant feedback. That was certainly a learning tool.

Then when I got to Robert Morris University, with Eric Hall (Sports Editor at Beaver County Times), we hosted a weekly sports show, with highlights, interviews and feature stories. That got me more and more comfortable. Don’t get me wrong, now when I look back on those early days, and those early tapes…wherever they are, if I were to do that it wasn’t anything great, I was heavy, overweight, stiff, but that experience as a freshman on camera was incredibly valuable. As a sophomore I did an internship at Fox 53 WPGH (Pittsburgh), they no longer do their own news casts, they’re produced by WPXI. Back then they had their own news department. In the summer of 98, Alby Oxenreiter hired me as an intern to be one of his producers up until 2001, then I got a job in Steubenville when I graduated from Robert Morris.

Q: What were some challenges you faced in your first professional job in Steubenville? Or, even before that while you were an intern?

A:  I’ll start with the internship. I would say with being 19 years old and having to work under real pressure and real deadlines for a professional organization taught me a lot right off the bat. This wasn’t college TV where you got a week to put something together. You’re in the field to put a story together you have a couple of hours. Learning how to get comfortable asking athletes questions. I was intimidated as hell back then. That was a challenge in the internship. Learning how TV is produced and the timing of it and how everything fits. Knowing what stories are good and what to put in and what to eliminate and what good TV is and what isn’t. Then once I got to Steubenville, it was a whole new set of challenges, because now I’m on the air, and these are my words and my content, and I’m in a new area where I don’t know all these high schools. There are new names, ethnic names, and new schools with different mascots, learning how to get to the schools and what county they’re in, and in that market, it’s a high school based effort for sports. That became a challenge for me, as well. The biggest challenge of all when you’re a new face or a new name is gaining the respect of the viewers. That’s something that has to take time and you have to be patient with it. People just have to get used to you. It’s not going to happen in two weeks or two months. I’ve been in Pittsburgh a year now and I don’t think people are used to me or incredibly comfortable with me, or would say they know me very well. I know some people do, I hope they like me, I don’t know for sure. It’s just something that takes time. And, how do you gain that, stay simple off the bat, stay credible, be reliable and be likeable. Don’t be a jerk on the air, don’t be a know it all, come in, do your thing, be likeable, if you have a chance to be funny or creative then do it, but don’t overdo it. Over time, once people get to know you and your personality more, then you can take more chances. That’s just my approach and my philosophy.

Q: What do you think led you to come back to Pittsburgh?

A: For me it was wanting a new challenge. I had been in Arizona for six and a half years. I was in the same position when I left there as I was when I got there. I got there as sports director and I couldn’t go any higher. I couldn’t advance in the company or locally. I branched out and tried my own website and did a podcast and had some fun with that. I did some radio there, but there was no advancement for me in that market. Then came a challenge to do sports in the mornings which was a different shift. It was working on a morning show where it wasn’t hardcore sports. It allows me the opportunity to do different things. Restaurant reviews, tours of restaurants, coffee shops, the opening of Cedar Point and Kennywood. It’s been more than just sports. It’s allowed me to exercise that challenge. I wanted a challenge and got it. I’m challenged to go and cover the opening of Mellon Square Park downtown and I have to do live reports all morning and I better research the park, which has nothing to do with sports. To answer your question simply, I wanted a new challenge and I got it. It was an adjustment of getting out of that mode of constant sports with ERA, batting average and there’s still plenty of that stuff there now and again. The audience I’m talking to in the morning is a lot of women, school teachers, moms, they don’t want to know that stuff. They want the basics and want a light hearted spin on sports. Today, we had at the end of broadcast, a shot of the woman from the White Sox game who turned 104, and the Padres game at a woman who was 105 throw out the first pitch. It’s stuff like that, that we are in a sports sense, trying to draw viewers in with relatable things and the personal end of things. It doesn’t happen every day, it’s all dictated on content and the news of the day. I still do a lot of news, with Maurkice Pouncey stuff, the Oscar Pistorius trial, stuff like that I still cover that as well on that shift. It’s a pretty good base of the day’s sports news. Tomorrow I’ll go in and show a few clips of the Pirates game and give the basics for people who went to bed, this might be their first opportunity to find out what happened in the Pirates game and get a feel of what took place. So that’s different from a traditional sports cast, and the thing is there aren’t many stations doing sports in the morning like we are. There are probably 5-10 stations nationally who have live morning sports. Most of them record it. It’s a different element and different animal. Morning TV is personality driven, and it goes back to that likeability factor. People are waking up and getting ready for work and they want to be informed. They want to be entertained a little bit, they want it to be funny, and something they can grab quickly. Morning TV is succeeding these days because of consumption habits of people. Throughout the day people are able to be on their iPad, computer or tablet. In the morning, they’re busy. They’re getting kids ready and don’t have to time to sit there on Twitter. We’re a good avenue to bring it to them, even if it’s just background noise while they’re getting ready in the morning. I don’t know many people who get up three hours before they have to be at work. Most people get up and are rushing so they’re occupied with a number of things.

Q: Do you think that plays better into your personality in the morning that you don’t have to be a stiff sports guy reading the stats?

A: I think about that often. It’s tough for me because when you’re in a competitive business like we are. Everybody wants to have some level of authority to where the average person here, on TV, writing or radio, people turn to you and expect you to have tons of information about whatever subject. Like Steelers draft, Pirates trade deadline, Penguins prospects, sometimes I have to switch hats and know the audience I’m talking to doesn’t need all of that. They don’t know Pirates minor leaguers. Sometimes I feel like I’m robbed of expanding my depth when talking about these particular subjects because that’s not what they want. So I have to adjust and give them what they want. Then whenever I cover a Steelers practice or do something different. So morning is more headline based, feature based, more fun, so that’s an adjustment period for sure. Sometimes I struggle with watching the competition and seeing guys on 93.7 getting deep into a subject and I wish I had 5 minutes in the morning to sit and talk about all of this. So sometimes I have 45 seconds to show the score for the Pirates, what they did, and who they play next and who pitches for them. At the same time, I don’t like all of that minutia, I don’t know how you are. I respect advanced statistics, some of these people, I feel like they need to go on a date with a girl, go ask a girl out, go for a job, go to a movie, I just…sometimes it’s just too much.

Q: Do you ever notice more of a local affiliation from stations where they want you to be more of a homer or to do your job journalistically?

A: I think each story is different. The story dictates that. If tonight McCutchen hits a two-run homer and the Pirates win 6-5 and I go on tomorrow and I’m monotone, (McCutchen hits a home-run, the Pirates win) [in monotone voice] then I’m not doing my job of capturing the emotion of that moment and the emotion of the fans and the city. In that moment it’s my job to get excited about when you’re a local sports journalist on TV, when you’re capturing images, sights, sounds and pictures. So, conversely when they lose you have to capture the disappointment. For the most part, I try to play it down the middle. I won’t say ‘we’ or ‘us’ or ‘let’s go Bucs’ or ‘Here we go Steelers’, I refuse to, I just don’t have it in me. If you want eternal credibility, and especially if you want to move on, you can be local Joe Schmo in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and wear a grew sport coat and crimson tie on your sportscast, for example I try to make sure I don’t wear Black and Gold when I’m doing something with a Pittsburgh team involved. I know some places encourage that. They want their on air talent wearing black and gold. We’re not employed by these teams. We get paid the same whether they win or they lose. I mean, it’s like I said. It always goes back to credibility. That doesn’t mean you can’t be excited when a team does well. And say what a night last night for this team or this city.