Tech Focus: Pro-Audio Training, Part 3 - Full Sail University's Gus Ramsey on the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting The program director examines how to prepare the next generation of sportscasters By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, March 5, 2020 - 2:37 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Along with extensive facilities for broadcast- and live-production education, Full Sail University is home to the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting, which offers a degree program in sportscasting. Although Patrick - a legendary sportscaster, radio personality, and host of The Dan Patrick Show on Premiere Radio Networks and Bleacher Report - is often on campus interacting with the course's 100 or so students (and another 200 or so online), Program Director Gus Ramsey describes himself as the team manager, guiding the program day to day. Ramsey - who was a producer and coordinating producer at ESPN for 20 years and has worked with and coached some of the best-known talent on such shows as SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, and NBA Tonight - sat down with SVG last month to discuss what goes into making the next generation of sportscasters.
Full Sail University's Gus Ramsey: What's changing is the opportunity in all the different places where you can do it, but live sports is never going away.
What does a sportscasting degree entail in terms of curriculum?
Our entire focus is how to be a sportscaster, covering it both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. We're in our own separate program within Full Sail University. We've got 32 classes: 15 of them are sportscasting-specific, and 17 of them are shared [with other Full Sail programs, such as Sports Marketing]. There are four classes that everybody has to take, no matter what other Full Sail program they're in, and the rest of the classes cover sportscasting territory.
One of the classes is broadcast writing, where the focus is solely on learning how to write for sports broadcasting. We also have a class that focuses entirely on how to execute live shots, in which we put [the students] under the deadline of doing a live shot: they have to leave the classroom, go to an area where they are conducting a group interview - kind of like what we're seeing with the Astros this morning - and then scurry back to class and line up in front of their cameras, where they're counted down to a live shot.
We have two classes where they go into the studio and produce, write, edit, and host shows anywhere from seven to 15 minutes in length. In one of those days, they spend the morning doing a 3 -minute sportscast and then have to reconfigure that sportscast, add an additional minute of content, and then perform that, which gives them a sense of what it's like to do a 6:00 sportscast and an 11:00 sportscast.
Yesterday was Day One of Daytona Speed Week Media Day, and 20 of our students went out there and got to take part in all the media activities, including going on an interview with the drivers. They get a real taste of what it's like to have to go out and cover a big event like that.
What need does the program fulfill in a rapidly expanding media industry?
Based on my experience at ESPN, we're seeing a lot of young production assistants come into the company not fully aware of everything that they need to know to enter the sportscasting workforce. Dan Patrick and I recognized the need to better prepare people to hit the ground running. For example, at ESPN, a production assistant comes in and is given six or seven months to learn.
[At Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting,] we spend a lot of time teaching our students those same things, so that, when they walk in the door [at a network], they're already aware of all that stuff they need to know. We had two grads who started there in January of this year as production assistants, and they're already doing great. We constantly put our kids under deadlines so they know what that pressure feels like. To me, the biggest thing is just preparation. We're getting people ready to go do this from the start.
What's the hardest part?
Our students are constantly being evaluated on their performance, and it can be hard, for someone in their early 20s, to put yourself out there in front of other people and expect to be criticized on it. It's like doing American Idol every single day. We want them to understand that this isn't criticism; this is constructive feedback. We are going to point out the things that you're not doing well, but we're also going to explain to you how to do them better.
Dan was just here in January, playing a scenario in which he was the new Astros manager and students took turns asking him three questions. Then he gave them feedback on the questions they asked. He's very involved.
The Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting at Full Sail University prepares its students for both on- and behind-camera work.
As for me, this is my passion. I like being the general manager of the team, kind of overseeing everything. When I got laid off at ESPN, I started my own talent-coaching business. Dan heard about it, and that in part was one of the reasons he asked me to come down and run the program. To me, this program is just kind of taking what I was already doing and putting it on a much larger scale. I'm in the classroom all the time. Between our 15 instructors, we've got 300 years of industry experience. We just believe that what we're teaching is the best way.
Patrick got his start on radio. How important is audio in the curriculum?
It starts for me with [students'] vocal capabilities. We have three classes that are specific on vocal training, and those are overseen by a voice coach. From that standpoint, we spend a lot of time on just how to maximize [students'] speaking abili
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
Tech Focus: Pro-Audio Training, Part 3 - Full Sail University's Gus Ramsey on the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting The program director examines how to prepare the next generation of sportscasters By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
