By Tim Ferguson
SYRACUSE,
N.Y. – Upon entering the Syracuse University Sigma Chi fraternity house, you discover it
only has one resident this summer, Mike Carter.
His membership with the organization assisted his living situation.
Your
first inclination is you’ve been transported to National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (a
film about a guy who never left college), but interviewing Carter is more
fascinating than a Hollywood script.
He actually spent his undergraduate
career in the shadows of Hollywood at Loyola-Marymount University.
“I wanted to leave home in New
Hampshire, and Los Angeles seemed like a shining city on a hill and it was the
promise of Hollywood and getting involved in media,” Carter said.
Experiences in L.A. led to
internships at NBC, but his recent goals include earning a master’s in
broadcast journalism at Syracuse. His appetite
for sports is illustrated in the stories he might one day cover.
“I think if I could choose any
sporting event in the world to cover it would probably be the World Cup, just
because on a global scale there’s so much passion involved,” Carter said.
Transcript
Age:
27
Program:
Broadcast & Digital Journalism
Hometown:
Bedford, NH
High
Schools Manchester West HS
Colleges:
University of New Hampshire (Sports Kinesiology)
Loyola Marymount (CA) (Theatre)
Syracuse University (NY) (Communications: BDJ)
Opening: Tim: Thanks Mike for joining me for your
interview.
Mike: Sure.
Tim
Ferguson: When we talked you said you started college at the University of New
Hampshire, but what drew you to transferring to Loyola Marymount out in
California?
Mike
Carter: Well, growing up in New Hampshire, kind of small town, not in the
middle of nowhere, kind of grew kind of 45 minutes north of Boston, southern
New Hampshire is a much different setting than northern New Hampshire for sure,
we kind of everyone I grew up with if you grew up north of Concord forget about
it that’s the boonies, you mine as well live in Canada … But, at the same time growing up in New
Hampshire I had a great upbringing, it was a classic New England setting, but
when it came time for college I came here actually to Syracuse, drove here with
my father, it took two days getting here, and definitely in hindsight affected
me and my perception of distance, like I wanted to leave home but it takes six
hours from where I live and we drove four hours and then work up and drove two
hours in here into town, it found like we had traveled day and night and it
felt like a whirlwind and I had traded one place in the middle of nowhere for
another place in the middle of nowhere and it was like boy if I am going to go
anywhere if I mine as well stay close to home and I chose the University of New
Hampshire and quickly realized in my first semester there that yeah I want to
leave home and Los Angeles seemed like a shining city on a hill and it was the
promise of Hollywood and getting involved in media and anything I wanted to do
it seemed like I could do it there, and I decided to pack up and go to Los
Angeles … It was kind of a trade-off,
Loyola is a small school and part of me always regretted not seeking a bigger
school like Syracuse has a real there’s a sense of school spirit like the
sports teams mean a lot not only to the student body, but greater Central NY … I didn’t have that in college, and it wasn’t
the main reason, but definitely one of the reasons why I chose Syracuse, not
only want to do sports journalism but I want to attend a school that has a big
time college basketball team and get that level and energy from the student
body and the population of the surrounding towns that I didn’t get as an
undergraduate.
TF:
Knowing that you’re a Red Sox fan, let’s hear your favorite moment that you
attended as a Red Sox fan, whether it was at Fenway or on the road, your most
memorable moment.
MC:
Most memorable moment … as a Red Sox fan … I have two actually, ironically
enough neither happened in Boston, well I’ll say this in 2003 and 2004 I
remember watching both of those Yankees’ series in the ALCS and both of those
came to game 7s and in 2003 I remember being at friend’s house and watching
Aaron Boone hit a home run and being absolutely crushed … And thinking life as
I knew it was over … His cousins were there and they were Yankees and Mets fans
… At one point the at the start of the game the Mets fan was on my side and at
the end of the game when Boone had hit the homerun, he had somehow morphed into
becoming this ‘oh I am from New York and I am going to cheer for the Yankees’
and it was one of the most miserable times of my sporting life and then you
fast forward a year later and I remember being down 0-3 and I remember the Red
Sox just climb back …just climb back into it and then I remember vividly when
the first pitch of Game 7 at Yankee Stadium on the first pitch Johnny Damon hit
a home run and I was like I think we are going to beat the Yankees and this is
going to be the most incredible come back ever … Then when they ultimately won
that game it was just like an incredible book ending to that year in my life
where baseball has never as meaningful and hasn’t been as meaningful since …
Those two seasons were so much fun to watch with so many characters like Pedro
Martinez, Manny Ramirez … It was just a very special outcome in both years at
the same place … In one year you have a heartbreak and then the second time you
have the most incredible come back ever … I don’t think baseball will ever be
that fun again.
TF:
If you were to put together your golf foursome, you and three others, and maybe
someone to caddie for fun, who would they be?
MC:
Are these people that I know or from life?
TF: It could be anyone from anywhere, no limits
on this.
MC:
So, four people.
TF:
One is a caddie.
MC:
My golfing buddies, my best friend Chris Robinson from California … My brother
… My father and Rob Gronkowski.
TF:
(Laugh) “Gronk” would certainly add something to that, he may want to hit a few
just for fun. Where would you want to
play, what course would it be?
MC:
St. Andrews, I would like to play St. Andrews one time, Scotland, right? I think that would be fun … Having Rob
Gronkowski there would make it that much more fun.
TF:
When you said you had worked at NBC, what TV personality did you have the most
interaction with that you thought was a really cool, genuine person?
MC:
Sure. The person that I had the most interaction with … interesting … well we
work as pages when Jimmy Fallon was on the late night show and I had a chance
to interact with him several times … From the time, we were essentially like
ushers, we dealt with tickets for people, we were essentially the face of NBC
for people coming to Rockefeller Center … Working that show and getting a
chance to meet Jimmy Fallon a few times and seeing him he is probably the most
genuine person … I also think he is one of the most talented people in
entertainment … There’s very few people made for their job as well as he is
hosting the Tonight’s Show … It’s watching him, there’s clips of him
auditioning for Saturday Night Live and to see how he came from this goofy kid
from Upstate NY to kind of like find his niche on SNL and figure out that the
movies thing wasn’t working … But having made it on SNL and having been a
popular personality and being able to morph that skill set into a late night
host … I think that’s interesting … The people in life that I find most
interesting are that find their niche … It’s always like wow how did this
person who seemed so perfect for this job … What was their path? … I like investigating people’s path, I think
that’s why I find broadcast journalism so interesting.
TF: Thank you, I appreciate it!
