Jen Nycz-Conner, '95, on Applying WJPZ Lessons Through Multiple Careers

Jen Nycz-Conner, '95, on Applying WJPZ Lessons Through Multiple Careers

Author: WJPZ January 15, 2024 Duration: 59:37

Jen Nycz-Conner felt like she applied to every college in the Big East (RIP) before falling in love with the communications program at Syracuse.  Once on campus, she found a fellow freshman with a map.  She and Steve Donovan went to the radio station, met B.B. Good, and the rest is history.

Living above the station in Watson as a sophomore, Jen got more involved with the station, and soon became VP of Operations as she and her 1995 classmates ran WJPZ.  Actually, she wasn't technically Class of 1995 - as she explains.

She also talks about many of the friendships she's formed through the alumni association, with WJPZ family members she didn't go to school with.

During school, she secured internships with Jim Henson productions and HBO Sports, the latter of which led to work after graduation.   And this included some entry level "pay your dues" jobs.

Soon, her husband Chris was in DC, and Jen was in New York.  Something had to give, and she found a job working with the ProServ agency in Arlington, Virigina.

Through mergers, acquisitions, and a changing economy, Jen's next stop was Women in Film and Video in DC.  This nonprofit work connected her with the Washington Business Journal, where she'd work for nearly a decade and a half, including time on air on legendary DC Radio station WTOP.

After the job at Washington Business Journal, Jen had a few different career paths in mind.   When her current job at Hilton came up, it checked all of her boxes.

Through her one-of-a-kind career, Jen talks throughout today's epsiode about the lessons learned at WJPZ, and how they've served her well.

The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.

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Want to be a guest on the pod or know someone else who would? Email Jag:  jag@jagindetroit.com.

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Connect with the WJPZ Alumni Association: https://wjpzalumniassociation.org/


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For fifty years, the student-run airwaves of Syracuse University's WJPZ at 50 have been more than a radio station; they've been a launchpad. This oral history project captures that legacy not through dry facts, but through the voices that built it. Each episode is a conversation with a different alumnus, from the pioneers of the 1970s to recent graduates, tracing how their hands-on experience in what's called the "world's greatest media classroom" shaped careers in broadcasting and far beyond. You'll hear personal stories of late-night broadcasts, technical mishaps turned into triumphs, and the forging of lifelong bonds that created a unique professional family spanning generations. This podcast digs into the real, often messy, work of learning by doing, revealing how a campus station became an enduring institution. Tune in for a collection of fifty interviews that together form a living archive, celebrating the people, not just the programming, behind five decades of student-led radio.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

WJPZ at 50
Podcast Episodes
Matthew Reschke, aka R Source [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:45
We're talking today with Matthew Reschke, also known as R Source, from the class of 2012. Matt's connection to WJPZ started in his childhood, growing up near Syracuse and engaging with the station's DJs through AOL - bef…
What Happens (at the NAB Show) in Vegas [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:29
Every year, the WJPZ Alumni Association, via the Berrell Award, sends two students to an industry event. In 2023, GM Grace Denton and former sports director Joe Puccio went to Vegas for the National Association of Broadc…
Kelly (Foster) and Adam Shapiro, Class of 1992 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:39
If you don't know Adam and Kelly (Foster) Shapiro's backstory, you might assume it's yet another romance started in the halls of WJPZ. Their story, as you'll hear here, is a much different road than than other Z89 couple…
Meteorologist Dave Roberts, Class of 1992 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:48
While many of us flipped burgers or bagged groceries in high school, Dave Roberts was reading the news on an AM station and (literally) herding cats as a 15 year old. When he toured Syracuse and saw the WJPZ prize van, a…
Seattle Mariners VP of Marketing Kevin Martinez, Class of 1988 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:32
Kevin Tippy Martinez, '88, is the Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications for the Seattle Mariners. It's no surprise that this New Jersey native, with passions for baseball and broadcasting, found himself trans…
Mike Roberts, longtime V103 Morning Man and PD, Class of 1979 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:55
Mike Roberts, Class of 1979, is one of the people who helped kept WJPZ alive in the early days. With the station's founders having graduated, Mike empowerd a team to run radio station, passing its educational lessons for…
GM Marc Bokoff, '87, on the Sit-In at WJPZ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:45
Today we interview Marc Bokoff, from the class of 1987. A management major, Marc came to the station as business manager under then-GM Larry Barron, before becoming general manager himself. He took over the station in th…
Scott Greene, Class of '93: Newspaper to Radio and Back! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:32
Scott Greene, '93, grew up just outside Boston wanting to be a newspaper reporter. He did it in high school and came to Syracuse wanting to pursue that career. But WJPZ quickly drew him in, and he says the only columns h…
Marty D, Class of 2001, Draws Out The Laughs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:07
Links!All of Marty's current work, including podcasts: https://weeklyhumorist.com/Marty's archive of Z Morning Zoo bits, including the full Rick Wright tour of the Ostrom House: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/ascjv18c5…