Mike Hill : Find Your Lane

Story by Dontae Harris. 
Photo via Mike Hill's Facebook page. 

Syracuse, N.Y.-- If you ask Mike Hill, your race does not determine the success you will have. Hill says he does his job every day knowing that he stays true to himself. 

In a recent telephone interview Hill said he tells people, "no matter who you are be you, be yourself". 

Hill is a sportscaster at Fox Sports. Hill was a sportscaster at ESPN from 2003- 2014. Hill and ESPN had what he described as a mutual agreement to part ways. Hill said that he wanted to get out of his contract and felt that he had a better opportunity going to Fox.

As Hill was making his way through the industry, he said some people felt that he only accomplished his achievements because he is black, but he didn't let the bad feedback get to him. Hill said you can't work at a network for twelve years just for being black.

Hill says the biggest challenge in the industry is finding your lane. He doesn't care if the show went well or badly, being authentic is all you can ask for. 

Hill says the reason is happy and successful is because "no matter what, I am always going to be myself". 

Audio Interview

Q: What are the challenges of being a journalist in this time period supposed to when you were coming up in the business?

A: The biggest challenge is making a name for yourself and doing something in a sense when you have more of an opinion especially when it comes to being a sportscaster. It seems like the ones with the opinions are the ones that are making more of a name for themselves. When I was coming up it was more so tell the score, give the highlights, get out the way, be neutral and just allow the public to make their decision. Now it seems like more and more especially at the shows that get the bigger ratings like First Take, His and Hers and Around The Horn seem to be more opinion orientated. What we are doing at fox sports is it seems were moving away from the highlight shows and going more towards to the people who have the opinions, the controversial people. Some guys who might be polarized. That’s the biggest challenge right now is trying to make sure that you find your voice. I think I have been able to make that adjustment. I think that’s the reason that I have been around for a while. I think I had an opinion for so many years that at the time I probably wasn’t looked at as somebody that could keep it neutral. Now I’m just trying to fit in and trying to find my lane.

Q: Why did you leave ESPN to go to Fox?

A: The true story in this business is almost like being a free agent. Sometimes you time is just up. Sometimes the player will leave on his own. Sometimes the player wants to be traded. Sometimes the player gets cut and they don’t feel like he’s good anymore. My situation is that a lot of people don’t know ESPN and I had a mutual decision. My contract wasn’t supposed to be up until 2014 but they came to me in 2013 thinking my contract was up and they weren’t going to renew it. It’s still a mystery to me as to why they were thinking that way because you look at my history, you look at the reports, the reviews that I got from my supervisor, period, whatever all my responses from him were great. I had no indication anything like that was coming but they came to me in 2013 saying my contract was up and they weren’t going to renew it. Little did they know that my contract wasn’t up for another three months. They thought it was going to be up in three months. They made a clerical error but at that time I had already been talking to Fox and I wanted to leave anyway. So it was good timing. I wanted to get out my contract, I was actually going to come to them and ask them if I could get out my contract so I could leave and go to LA because I felt like it was a better opportunity for me to be at Fox. Obviously they didn’t want me anymore so it was a mutual decision. It was time for me to leave and sometimes that’s just the way it is. It’s nothing to hold your head down for. People get fired all the time. People leave all the time. Its just one of those decisions that you have to make and it’s for the betterment of your career for your lifestyle and for me it was better for the both of them.

Q: What challenges do you face as an African American male in the industry?

A: The biggest challenge for me it has been this way for me in my career. I’m that type of person that I do have an opinion, I am a little edgy, I am who I am and I have chosen to keep my voice. Sometimes they always say when I was coming up, I’ve heard other sportscasters, and I’ve heard other people in this industry tell me when I was coming up, oh you’ll make it because your black and that used to always irritate me. That was an insult to what I’ve done, what I’ve accomplished and the things that I was working hard to get. It was feeling like just because you are black, you are going to get these opportunities. At the time when I was coming up they were looking for more black sportscasters because they didn’t have any black sports casters at the time. It was rare and it was few and far between. You have to understand this was 21 years ago. So think about 17, 18 years ago. They were still saying that to me because they were still looking. They felt like my accomplishments were because I was black and they were thinking I was going to be a token. Well that’s not how it works. I know deep down inside why I got to where I was going. I got to a top ten market. I got to New York within four years. I got to a network within 7-8 and I have been at the network for the last 12 years. You can’t just stay at a network level for 12 years for just being black. You got to have something. The biggest challenge also is maintaining. Finding your lane and truly being who you are. To a lot of black people especially hardcore urban people not saying the intelligent black people but to some hardcore urban black people, I might not be black enough. To some white people, I might not be white enough. Some black people say your corny. On the flip side white people might label you ghetto. Bottom line is no matter what I always tell people, no matter who you are be you, be yourself. At the end of the day you go home at night, look yourself in the mirror and you have done your shows or whatever. I don’t care how bad it went or how great they went. At the end of the night, were you yourself? Were you authentic? If you can say yes, that’s all you can ask for. I figured out a long time ago that no matter what I’m always going to be myself and that’s the reason I’ve been so happy and successful.