By Caitlyn Perry | BG Falcon Media intern
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has many different opportunities for all majors and careers. For example, take two of our fantastic members of our student executive staff at BG Falcon Media, Lucas Kleimeyer and Steve Iwanek. These two men have done a lot and have gained so much experience with their short time of working with Falcon Media. Throughout their years of involvement, they have earned their way into becoming leaders of the Falcon Media Sports Network.
Steve is a current senior and joined the organization during the fall of 2020. He said he knew he always wanted to become a journalist and joined BG Falcon Media to help gain experience in the field. In his first two years as a general reporter, he was able to work on over more than 90 athletic events.
“I tried my hardest and got involved with as much as I could with my schedule, and I’m reaping the benefits,” he said. Last year as a junior, Steve took more of a leadership role as a sports content director.
Lucas decided to get involved in Falcon media due to his passion for soccer. He joined his freshman year knowing he could get a lot of experience and good memories. He decided to commit to BGSU when touring the School of Media and Communication in his senior year of high school. Lucus knew that there were great soccer teams on campus and had the opportunity to cover the games as a reporter.
They both said they knew journalism was their passion from an early time and Falcon Media gave them an advantage. They learned their passions, new goals, and how to be a better writer. Steve worked as a general reporter with an interest in sports for the first two years of his career at Falcon Media. Once he was more into the sports aspect, Steve covered volleyball. He wasn’t terribly familiar with the sport but he learned so much with the team.
As part of the BG Falcon Media partnership with the BG athletic department, Steve was able to not just cover the team at home but joined them on team trips to all away matches save a trip out to Colorado. He said he’s learned the game was more fun than he could imagine and he was able to get to know the players quite well and found them warm and welcoming.
“If you invest in the people, you’ll learn the sport along the way,” he said. Steve said wanted to give the players and staff a platform to express themselves, instead of only featuring their game highlights.
Lucas, on the other hand, is infatuated with soccer and loves to write about the amazing teams at BGSU. Lucas said the deciding factor to come to BGSU was the soccer teams here and the media department here compared to other schools.
Lucas said he was never a big fan of writing and always knew more about production and broadcasting and creating weekly social media content for men’s soccer and improved his professional screen presence.
“What I’ve learned from Bowling Green alums in the media world is that you must be versatile, you can’t be good at only one thing,” he said.
That approach led Lucas to work on his writing skills by writing recaps, previews, and converting interviews into features. He’s also learned to appreciate other sports.
Coming into the position of sports content director of Falcon Media, Steve had so many grand ideas, mostly prominently a rebranding of Falcon Media sports coverage as it had grown beyond the confines of the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO). They knew the team needed something fresh. Working with Executive Content Director Brandon Loe and the creative team, he was part of major effort that led to the Falcon Media Sports Network. This mean clarifying the mission and developing a new look – including a powerful logo, and the commissioning of a unique musical theme and sonic. It also included tactics like new polo shirts, business cards, and a change to the website. BGRSO focused solely on radio but with the rebranding they expanded to a more all-encompassing multimedia approach. The operation now includes live broadcasts (more than 150 events every year, more than any student-run organization in the country), in-studio broadcasts, print content, digital content, exclusive social media content, and video content (including the BG24 newscast).
The Falcon Media Sports Network team includes one of the largest group of regularly contributing volunteers in BG Falcon Media. But it hasn’t all been easy.
Before he graduates in April, Steve has a little last piece of wisdom.
“Your failures will hit harder but your strengths and success will be shining brighter,” he said.
He acknowledged there is a fear of failure but it’s okay to not do well the first time trying something new. It is about learning how to improve as a human.
Just like Lucas, he went out of his boundaries, tried something new and learned a lot. He knew he wanted broadcasting but never thought much about writing. And he emphasized that the Falcon Media Sports Network is open to everyone.
“Anyone can join, you don’t have to be a journalist or sports major,” he said. “Some of our best members aren’t [School of Media and Communication] majors.”
He echoed Steve’s sentiments about failures being just another step closer to success.
“Find what you’re passionate about but don’t be afraid to fail,” he said.