Today we are joined by our first elected official - Ryan McNaughton from the Class of 1996 has been both President of the Syracuse University Alumni Association, as well as a councilman at large in his current home of Niles, Ohio. You'll hear his passion to serve many constiuencies throughout this podcast.
Ryan knew he wanted to go to Syracuse since first hearing about the school as a 15 year old in blue-collar Amherst, Ohio, outside Cleveland. He worked toward that goal throughout high school, and thanks to some financial aid, was able to head to Syracuse. On campus, he saw a flyer for Z89, and like many of us, immediately fell in love when he walked in.
While his true passion was sports, Ryan also found a home on the Cray-Z Morning Crew. He will tell you his transcripts will show which semeseters he was getting up at 5am, but he learned a valuable lesson about going outside your comfort zone.
We uncover the fact that Ryan's voice was the first one live on The Pulse. There was an Orangewoman basketball game to call during the winter break of the flip. In fact, many of Ryan's fondest memories are traveling to call games all over the country, but one is also his most bittersweet. He was on the call when Syracuse upset mighty UConn, but wait until you hear what happened 20 minutes later!
Ryan's first gig out of school landed him in Michigan, but only for a few months, before the business side of the radio business interfered. So he headed home for a number of on-air sports gigs in Cleveland, including a betting show that was way ahead of its time.
Fate would bring our guest back to Syracuse though, when his wife found herself at SU working on her doctorate. At that time, Ryan really reconnected with his passion for the Orange. A return to Ohio would be next, and a re-invention. Two masters degrees later, he's gone from politics to PR and communications. You'll hear about that.
Ryan shares a valuable lesson he learned at WJPZ. When he lost the election for sports director, he had a choice to make: take his ball and go home, or stay and make the radio station the best it could be. We're all thankful he chose the latter.
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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