Andres Trujillo: Dancer to Sports Broadcaster

Story by Bridget Chavez 

Photo via Twitter from @AndresT23 

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- From the dance floor to the radio booth, Albuquerque native, Andres Trujillo said hosting his own radio show is nothing short of "exhilarating." 

Not straying far from where he grew up, the host of ESPN Radio's "Chalk Talk" began his broadcasting career as a dancer at Radio Disney. 

"They had an audition and they needed a dancer for them and so I auditioned and got hired on," Trujillo said in a telephone interview. "From there I just worked my way up."

Staying true to his New Mexican roots, Trujillo worked his way up from dancing for Disney to hosting his own show. He first hosted a weekly show called "The Breakfast Club" on Radio Disney and later followed his station manager to ESPN and worked as the promotions director. Not long after, Trujillo began hosting his weekly sports show "Chalk Talk." Trujillo also broadcasts and calls play by play for local high school sports. 

Trujillo said being versatile in the broadcasting profession is a key to being successful.Trujillo said he enjoys having to be on his feet at all times as well as interacting with people both in and out of the studio.

"Doing the research and understanding what you're reporting on and what you're focusing on, whether it's basketball, football or soccer," he said. "Being seasoned, being well rounded is a big deal," 

Trujillo is now part-owner and media director of the Duke City Gladiators, Albuquerque's indoor professional football team. He said  he plans to stay in New Mexico and continue his work in the local media.

Listen to the full interview here

See the full transcription below:

B: To start can you give me your background, where you went to school, where you grew up?

A: I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I’ve lived here my whole entire life, graduated from Valley High School back in 2004and went to UNM and graduated with a degree in Psychology and a minor in business in 2010 from UNM and so yeah that’s kind of my background here. I’m an Albuquerque native and definitely... Hold on one second. Hold on one second I’m sorry.

B: No worries.

A: I’m sorry again. So yeah I’m an Albuquerque native and I’ve been involved in radio for quite some time and I got my start in radio working for Radio Disney here in town and I started that back in 2006 and transitioned from there. And I did that from 2006 through 2010 and I was a DJ there and I hosted my own show for the local Radio Disney station AM 1240 and then from there actually I moved into working for ESPN radio 101.7 KQTM in town where I hosted my own show and I also did play by play for our games and we broadcasted high school hoops, high school football, baseball and any other miscellaneous high school sport. And ESPN Radio here in town was the flagship station for Albuquerque Public Schools Athletics. I did that for quite a while and started that in 2008 so I’ve been doing it for quite some time. And so now currently I’m also a director of media relations with the Albuquerque professional indoor football team, the Duke City Gladiators which we just finished up our second season as well as being part owner with that organization so yeah that’s kind of my background. I’m very involved in sports and very involved in broadcasting.

B: That’s a crazy jump. How did you go from what you studied in your undergraduate degree to hopping into radio in 2006?

A: It’s kind of a funny story. I was in college in 2006, obviously and what happened was Radio Disney put together a promotion team so to speak that does dancing, engages the crowd, goes out to do remotes and does things that really gets the crowd going and pumps up the event that they partook in. And so they had an audition and they needed a dancer for them and so I auditioned and got hired on with Radio Disney and with Radio Disney from there I just worked my way up through the promotions team, through the sweeps team and eventually got into doing my own radio show. They gave me the opportunity to host my own radio show which at the time was called “The Breakfast Club” and that was the morning show that took place on Sunday mornings. It talked about a lot of different community aspects, things that are really positive in the community and making big changes in the community for all the better. I did that for a while and then my station manager became part owner of ESPN radio station here in town and from there he asked me to go work for him and so I did go to work for him part time. I worked for two radio stations at the time. I worked for ESPN radio and Radio Disney. And so I did that and Radio Disney closed in 2010 and corporate was cutting down on all the radio stations and from there after it closed down I moved over to a full time position with ESPN radio, which at the time was actually FOX Sports—They were the affiliate for Fox Sports and now currently it’s ESPN radio. And so from there I came on board as a promotions director and hosted my own show called “Chalk Talk” every Saturday morning and just talked to a lot of community members about different things, different sports. Just a whole different variety of different things and then I was promotions director as I said before and as promotions director I was in charge of the brand, the imaging, promoting it, getting it out there and making the public aware of the brand as well as on-site technical set ups for live remotes, live shows on location and as well as keeping SBC files in order. So I mean it really is a whole slew of different things that I did at ESPN radio. And then from there I got involved with indoor professional football and that’s where I’m currently director of media relations.

B:  What is it like hosting your own radio show? 

A: Its one of the most exhilarating things and the reason being is that you have to be on your feet at any given moment and  what's fun about it is that you're interacting with people and whether you're interacting solo you know you're talking by yourself and making a point you kind of get that feeling of okay is anybody really listening to me and then you realize that's going over the air and you realize holy cow a lot of people are really listening in and then also when you're engaged with guests you're really talking one on one with these individuals but everyone's hearing it over the air. On one end it's challenging because like I said you have to be on your toes and you have to know a lot of information. You have to do your research and whenever I hosted my show whenever I had my shows  or had a guest I would do so much research. I would try and know more about the person we're talking about than they knew about themselves if that makes sense. That way I can create a seamless conversation  with the individual but being able to connect with people one of the most rewarding things and like I said one of the most exhilerating. And it's fun it's fun.

B: What advice would you give to someone like me that's trying to break into sports broadcasting?

A: I would say really be in tune with what's going on in the sports world. It doesn't matter what sport it is just be in tune. I think a lot of people tend to overlook what is happening and yeah we can see a lot of things like on TV and this is happening and this and these top things that are happening in the sports world but to be seasoned you have to go above and beyond that. You have to know history you have to understand history and why for example breaking records is a huge deal or why somebody, why an athlete was able to accomplish something that nobody else ever did in history. So being able to be versatile and being able to understand and understanding as many sports as you can is a major--- I would say one of the biggest pieces of advice is doing the research and understanding what you're reporting on and what you're focusing on, whether it's basketball, football, soccer, . Being seasoned, being well rounded is a big deal.

B: When interviewing, have you ever had someone come in that just is not really giving you a whole lot? How do you deal with someone who is very well rehearsed and giving PR responses?

A: Yeah well pulling teeth I've had guests that have come through and you're pulling teeth. You ask them a question and they give you a one word answer and they're like yes and yeah I do that and that's about it so that's one of the challenges. You know when I interview what I tend to do is I like to switch it up and if they're being interviewed they want to get to the point and it's not going where you want it. What I like to do is do sort of ice-breaker exercises with guests so you know randomly ask what's your favorite sports team and what do you like to do and you know who do you like to watch and who's your favorite athlete? I make it off topic for what the guest is talking about so that they can feel like they're in their own element and once you get them in their own element and you get them talking you can always circle back and say okay well I'm circling back to what we were talking about earlier about how you made an impact in this sport. And then you know what I'm saying you bring them back. So once you get them to open up and get them in their element and get them talking and you can circle back and get them talking back to what you were talking about but of course you have to do that in timely manner. That's definitely a tactic that I use to get them to speak more and give me more of a response.

B: When you're doing play by play what is the biggest difference from that to when you are hosting a radio show?

A: Well when you do play by play you're on your feet and when you host a radio show you're you're talking and trying to engage the listeners with what you're doing. With play by play  for example when you're calling the play by play of a football game you're telling a story and your goal is to tell that story in the most exciting way possible without being over-zealous and without being too over the top. Obviously when you're doing play by play you can't be biased and you call it as you see it and you create this storyline. And here's what's really interesting radio and TV are two different mediums when it comes to play by play. Usually you have to commentators you've got your play by play and you've got your caller and in radio your play by play is the key guy. He is the person or she is the person who is making that story happen and then the caller is just supplementing and beautifying the story and putting the cherry on top. So when you're in TV the play by play isn't so primary because people are visually seeing the action and the color commentator is crucial when it comes to TV broadcast and so between the two mediums there are big differences. And circling back to what you were saying earlier about hosting your own radio show versus play by play again you're engaging your audience with what you're talking about you know the radio show but when it comes to the play by play you're basically creating the story that the audience is experiencing and that's attracting the audience to your story and keeping them tuned in to the game itself.