WXVU’s David Szczepanski Transports Listeners to the Action

WXVU’s listeners instantly recognize the voice. David Szczepanski’s signature energy and expertise transport his audience from their cars or residence halls to the excitement on the field or court. You feel like you are there, part of the action, even if you couldn’t make it to the game.

Villanova junior and WXVU Sports Director David
Szczepanski visited Journals 2023 on Thursday, October 10
andshared his experiences as a student journalist

On Thursday, October 10, 2024, Szczepanski shared that infectious energy, reliable expertise, and journalism experiences at Villanova with students in Journalism 2023, a Fall 2024 course that meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 2:15 PM in Tolentine 405. 

A junior Communication major from the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia, Szczepanski serves as the Sports Director, Villanova Basketball/Football broadcaster, and Founder/Host of “Villanova Sports Talk” on WXVU 89.1 FM, Villanova’s student-run radio station, located on the second floor of Dougherty Hall.

Szczepanski’s deep commitment to his craft extends beyond WXVU’s airwaves. A self-proclaimed lover of talking, he serves as a Villanova Sports Network Broadcast Spotter and a Premium Services Host with the Philadelphia Phillies. He also founded the television station – HGPTV – at his high school, Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem, Pa. 

 “Going to games and covering sports,” Szczepanski asked, “could there be a better job?” Szczepanski loves traveling and exploring different cities, and his WXVU position allows him to scratch that itch. He travels extensively with teams to cover games, bringing that action to our earbuds. Most recently, Szczepanski has reported from Madison Square Garden in NYC and Stony Brook on Long Island.  

Whether he’s reporting from the sidelines, pre- or post-game, or providing play-by-play coverage – standing throughout the game – Szczepanski strives to truthfully represent what he’s seeing and hearing so that his listeners remain informed. Context is key, Szczepanski said. Reporting information accurately and positioning it in its proper context helps journalists build trust with their audience and sources. 

In addition, preparing for interviews in advance and asking smart questions helps student journalists develop their interviewing skills as they build rapport with sources.

 “Instead of saying, ‘The offense was terrible. What happened,?’ say, ‘Coach, the defense played extraordinarily well tonight, but what happened with the offense? What didn’t work tonight?’” Questions framed more positively generally solicit greater and more nuanced responses and exchanges, allowing a journalist to go deeper, Szczepanski said.

Coming in with a playful, unique question – not a gotcha question but an unexpected and fun question – often relaxes the person you’re interviewing. For example, Szczepanski’s go-to question – What’s your favorite cheesesteak in Philly? – disarms his subjects. They might even smile as they share their answer. 

For the record, Kyle Neptune, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Villanova, doesn’t have a favorite cheesesteak spot, favoring an arguably healthier clean and grass-fed diet, because that is what the players eat, especially during the season, as revealed during a sit-down interview with Szczepanski. Completely fine – more Cheez Whiz for the rest of us.  

It’s important to remember that relationships between journalists and their sources are professional relationships, not personal ones. One of the many journalist responsibilities to their audiences is to ask tough, challenging questions to get to journalistic truth, and to be critical when appropriate. This gets complicated when the reporter and their sources are personally close. 

Public Relations and Journalism are distinct, Szczepanski said. “It seems like the two are confused or conflated at times. Public Relations is concerned with promoting an individual or an organization, and with communicating certain messages that make an individual or organization look good,” Szczepanski reminded us. “Journalism looks for the real story and the facts.” 

Active on social media, Szczepanski strives to share his reporting with a wider and wider audience in ways that they access information. Follow him here. And here. He’s also creating more and more videos, setting up his iPhone on an inexpensive tripod and reporting in video formats. Szczepanski, a one-person reporting/recording machine, seeks to develop his video production skills as he reaches broader audiences through this media. He’s doing it all, from producing the content to adjusting the lighting. 

According to its Web site, WXVU went on the air in 1991 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted an educational license to Villanova University. On August 24, 2022, WXVU began full-time FM operations for the first time in its history. WXVU now broadcasts on the 89.1 FM frequency 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Tune in and you’ll hear student DJs hosting music programs featuring multiple genres, from rock and pop to jazz, alternative, and country. On Fridays at 9 AM during the semester, you’ll hear “The Morning Roar,” the first morning show in the history of WXVU. Student hosts bring listeners the latest news, weather and sports, along with conversations with Villanova community members and newsmakers. 

You can listen on 89.1 FM, on the WXVU Web site, on the RadioFX app, or on-demand via the station’s podcast feed and YouTube channel.

Opportunities for Villanova students to get involved with media organizations on campus abound. VTV, the Villanovan, WXVU, Tech Crew, and the Belle Air Yearbook always need dedicated, reliable, and interested students who seek to inform our community as they strengthen their reporting, interviewing, writing, editing, and other journalistic skills. Contact these groups to learn more. 

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Kate Szumanski, ’95, ’97, teaches Journalism 2023 through the English Department at Villanova University. She also serves as the Director of Professional Development and Internships in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova. Kate wrote this blog post with support from the great David Szczepanski, ’26.

English 2023 -- Journalism -- Puts Theory Into Practice

 By Kate Szumanski 

The long corridor on Dougherty Hall’s second floor seemingly extends without end. Tucked into a small space along the hallway are the studios of WXVU 89.1 FM The Roar. If you’re lucky, the florescent sign above the doorway will glow, signaling that the station is ON AIR.

 

On Wednesday, August 24, 2022, Villanova took a big step to ensure that the ON AIR signal remains strong. The University purchased Cabrini College’s shared license, beginning exclusive full-time FM operations for the first time in its history. Read more about WXVU’s history and mission here. 

 

This semester, I am teaching English 2023, Journalism. A high school and collegiate journalist who also worked as an intern and production assistant for WHYY-91 FM’s “Radio Times With Marty Moss-Coane” in Philadelphia, I began my career after college as a newspaper and magazine reporter and editor. I graduated with a master’s degree in Journalism from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in 2005, and today, humbly and proudly share my expertise and experiences with students through English 2023. My students, in turn, share with me daily their knowledge and insights related to journalism in the 21^st century when smartphones and social media make accessing information nearly instantaneous.

 

My goal in this course is not only to explore theory with my students, but also to put those concepts into practice through the creation of audio journalism. As a class, we have discussed what it means for something to be newsworthy and are exploring the topic, “Dining On and Around the Main Line,” through diverse perspectives and multiple angles. We’re conducting research, identifying sources, and crafting interview questions: How are restaurants able to thrive in a post-COVID-19 world? How will restaurants continue to innovate to survive? From labor shortages to the high cost of rent and ingredients, what are among the greatest challenges facing small-business restauranteurs? How does the restaurant service economy, based so strongly on tips, affect a restaurant’s survival and staff longevity at the restaurant? Now, we switch gears. As a Villanova student, what do you look for in casual, healthy dining off campus? How does price point influence your dining decisions? When you want to splurge with friends on an evening out, what types of restaurants do you enjoy?

 

These are just a few of the multiple directions my students are exploring individually and in small groups. As we’ve discussed, reporting is a messy business. But through our reporting processes, the stories we seek to tell will reveal themselves more clearly.   

 

I extend my heartfelt thanks to my Villanova colleagues, Deena Leh and Nick Langan, who welcomed my Journalism students into WXVU The Roar studios on Friday, October21, and shared with us the station's long-standing commitment to radio in the public interest. We look forward to more and more collaboration.

Stations like WXVU produce diverse content designed to educate, enlighten, inform, and entertain. At Villanova, all students from all academic majors are encouraged to get involved.

The opportunity to put theory, knowledge, and classroom lessons into practice will allow my curious and hardworking students to strengthen a variety of skills, such as reporting, interviewing, writing, research, and editing. In addition, experiential learning like this supports students' academic, professional, and social development.

 

Internship Opportunity: Students Journalists Wanted for Sports Media Company

Best Version Media, an international media company with headquarters in Brookfield, Wisconsin, is launching a new internship program for its national website, BVMsports.com. BVM Sports provides professional reporting on sports at every level from the international to the local. It publishes over 850 monthly magazines with locally oriented news stories and distributes over 30 million copies across North America, serving residents, homeowners' associations, villages, and local businesses.

BVM Sports is seeking students for the 2020-2021 academic school year to become Sports Writing Interns. The ideal candidates will be talented student journalists interested in expanding their portfolio with real-world media experience while being provided professional-level training, one-on-one mentorship with professional writers, and story critique from professional editors. Each week interns will be given the opportunity to pursue different types of sports stories and offered advising and oversight to help them become the best version of themselves as sports writers. Interns may also have the chance to cover large sporting events as credentialed media members as well as enter to win Best Version Media’s student sports writing awards. 

Visit here for more information and to apply for an internship.

Dr. Adrienne Perry in The Villanovan

Check out the profile of Dr. Adrienne Perry by her student Caroline Harding in this week's Villanovan.

Villanova English Alum: Emma Pettit ('16), staff reporter at the Chronicle of Higher Education

This is the second of a pair of articles about Villanova English alumni written by students in Prof. Jody's Ross's Journalism class.

By Audrey Gibson

What do a journalist and a volleyball player have in common? A glimpse into the life of Emma Pettit can answer this question.

“I think sports and journalism are so similar,” Pettit says. “It makes sense to me why I was drawn to both.”

 

Pettit graduated from Villanova in 2016 as an accomplished athlete, student, and aspiring journalist. As a member of the women’s volleyball team, Pettit played in 121 matches and 419 sets during her career at Villanova, setting the record for the third most assists in the program’s history. However, her talents were not limited to the court.

“She was a terrific writer,” says Megan Quigley, one of Pettit’s former English professors at Villanova. “I still use one of her essays as an example for my students today.”

Off the court, Pettit worked as a tutor at the writing center and wrote for The Villanovan, Villanova’s student newspaper. Finding her place in the newsroom, Pettit interned at Philadelphia Magazine and The Greeley Tribune, a newspaper in her home state of Colorado.

The summer after graduating from Villanova, Pettit began an internship at The Chronicle of Higher Education, a publication she says she had been drawn to in the lobby of Villanova’s writing center. Pettit remembers reading The Chronicle as she waited for her tutoring sessions to begin, captivated by the eloquent and fluid writing.

After finishing her internship at The Chronicle, Pettit secured a position at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as a reporter on county government affairs. In July of 2018, Pettit returned to The Chronicle, where she currently works as a beat reporter on the civic and professional lives of professors.

“I love character-driven narratives,” Pettit says, explaining how her beat developed. “I love quirky stories.”

According to Pettit, she does not have an average day at The Chronicle. However, her daily tasks usually involve some combination of writing stories, scheduling interviews, connecting with people on her beat, and checking assignments off of the miniature chalkboard to-do list she keeps on her desk – her office trademark.

While Pettit has traded the volleyball court for the newsroom, she says she still uses many of the skills she gained as an athlete in her position as a reporter.

“What I learned with volleyball is that you can prepare as much as you can, but when it comes to playing in a game, it’s equal parts preparation and instinct,” Pettit says. “As a journalist, that’s what makes the best interviews.”

Pettit says her experiences playing volleyball also impacted her attitudes towards success and failure, which she has carried with her into the field of journalism.

“With volleyball or any sport, you can revel in your victory for a night or feel bad about a loss, but then you have to move on,” Pettit says. “When you’re writing so many stories as a journalist, you might hit a homerun, or you might not. But the next day, you have to move on to the next task. You can’t wallow, and you can’t get a big head.”

In addition to her experiences as an athlete, Pettit says her liberal arts education at Villanova provided a strong foundation for her career as a reporter by fostering her critical thinking skills. While Pettit says she was initially overwhelmed by the philosophy, ethics, and ACS course requirements, she found these courses to be some of the most rewarding at Villanova.

Pettit, who majored in English, attributes her growth as a writer to the English Department’s courses and professors.

“They helped me get straight to the point and make my point much more forcefully than I was used to,” Pettit says. “That’s how I write now at The Chronicle.”

Pettit says she first learned how to listen to criticism of her writing during workshops in Professor Alan Drew’s creative writing course. According to Pettit, learning how to distance herself from her work has been invaluable to her career as a journalist.

Quigley, who taught two of Pettit’s English courses at Villanova, says the English Department aims to diversify students’ skills as writers. 

“I think we try to teach a bunch of different kinds of writing,” Quigley says. “We’ll do informal writing, like journals or diaries or blogs, and we’ll do five-paragraph thesis-driven essays. You need to be able to do all of the above.”

Working at The Chronicle, Pettit continues to receive advice about how to become a better writer and reporter.

“My very first editor told me, ‘Always get the name of the dog,’” Pettit says. “He meant that when you’re at a scene and you’re writing about the place and the people there, it’s not enough to write that there was a dog. Extend yourself to ask the name of the dog. Specificity is the soul of narrative.”

With several accomplishments under her belt, Pettit has her own advice to give, too.

“As much as people want to think about writing and talk about writing, at the end of the day, you have to meet a deadline,” Pettit says. “You just have to make it as good as possible and do that again and again and again. Eventually those muscles will grow, and those tools will sharpen. Really good writing comes from a lot of not good writing.”

While Pettit may not be strengthening the same muscles she once did on the volleyball court, she has not forgotten the valuable skills she developed as an athlete. During her time on Villanova’s campus, Pettit allowed her talents to flourish inside and outside of the classroom. Now, as a reporter for The Chronicle, Pettit is using her talents to share the stories of students and professors on college campuses across the country.

Q&A with Emma Pettit

Q: What is your favorite part about your job?

A: “I am really privileged to talk to the people I get to talk to. A lot of the time, I get to talk to really smart, thoughtful people about their niche interests and about things they have been studying and learning about for years. My conversations are really delightful. That feels like a really great gift.”

Q: How would you describe your job in three words?

A: “Invigorating. Collaborative. Tough.”

Villanova English Alum: Alex Abad-Santos ('04), senior cultural reporter at Vox

This is the first of a pair of articles about Villanova English alumni written by students in Prof. Jody Ross's Journalism course.

By Kyung Seo (Ashley) Park

Alex Abad-Santos, English alum from 2004, started off as a freelancer, interned at Esquire magazine, went to graduate school, took an an internship at Style.com while he completed his master’s degree in journalism, wrote for Atlantic magazine, and finally worked his way up to become the senior cultural reporter for Vox. In other words, he has enjoyed professional success in journalism ever since he graduated from Villanova. But if you told him all that would happen when he was sitting at Villanova’s commencement ceremonies, when he had no job lined up, he probably would have laughed.

“I thought if I wanted a life full of money, I should just become a lawyer,” Abad-Santos said.

Scoring high on the LSATs, Abad-Santos was under the impression, like many English majors, that law school was his best option post-graduation. His resume was rather weak, another sign that more schooling was necessary, he said, laughing. He soon changed his mind, however.

“I interned at a law firm, and it was pretty horrible,” Abad-Santos said. "Lawyers were working all day and sleeping in their offices."

Referring to this law internship as a life-changing experience, he said he knew whatever he ended up doing, it had to be better than writing contracts while listening to the snores of his cubicle neighbors.

Abad-Santos joked that he originally majored in English due to his poor math skills, but he also expressed appreciation to his undergraduate professors at Villanova University for their enthusiasm and love for their subjects, inspiring him to do the same thing— figure out and do what he loved.

“I took Jody Ross’ journalism class and was like, ‘Hey, I can do this! This is really weird and crazy, but I like it!’” he said. “Dr. Berthold was one of my favorite professors. I took his class on American Gothic. He has the most wicked sense of humor and is so smart. I thought I wanted to become an English professor myself and talk about scary stories all day long.”

Despite his love for writing, Abad-Santos said it took him a while to put two and two together and pursue a writing career.

During an awkward period of uncertainty, he moved to New York City and floated around, looking for internships to make up for his slacking during undergrad. Straining to identify his skills, he decided to go back to school for his master’s in journalism at the City University of New York. He wanted to get into writing and learn how to write for the Internet and cut videos for online platforms.

Abad-Santos was open to any creative opportunity, which led him to take an unconventional route, finding himself at the start of a new platform. He interviewed at the Washington Post with Melissa Bell during its transition to ownership by Jeff Bezos. Towards the end of 2013, Abad-Santos received a call from Bell, asking if he wanted to apply for a job at a new news outlet.

Uncertain exactly what he was applying for, but nonetheless excited, Abad-Santos sent in an application and found himself working for Vox a week after it launched. With the company for almost five years now, he was recently promoted to senior correspondent.

“I cover entertainment, art, and culture,” he said. “I get to see all the “Avengers” movies a week or two early and write what I think about them. I have a kid’s ultimate dream job.”

Though he has flexibility with his work schedule, his workload changes depending upon current events. From having to be on call when someone famous dies to working on weekends when something happens on his beat, he is always expected to be on alert.

He spoke candidly about the drawbacks of his job.

“You cannot escape the news that is constantly coming at you,” Abad-Santos said. “If I was an accountant, I could hide behind numbers. If you work in journalism, you’re in the newsroom and exposed to all that.”

He added that journalism is an industry in which you can never feel completely safe, as job security does not exist.

“Buzzfeed had layoffs maybe two months ago,” he said. “Not exactly fun to think about, but something you have to be aware of.”

For now, he is enjoying his full-time job at Vox, half-teasing that the best part is having benefits, stock options, and paid vacation time.

He also likes the work itself. Abad-Santos covers everything comic-book or superhero-inspired. He refers to his beat as the “mainstream superhero movies,” covering Marvel and DC Comics, the top two rival superhero producers.  

“I was already reading comic books when I started at Vox,” Abad-Santos said. “They asked, ‘What’s going to be the big news that’s going to happen in the next eight to ten years?’ I said, ‘I think Marvel and Warner Bros. I think this is going to be the big stuff.’ I kinda made my own beat in a sense.”

Though he gets to write on things he loves, his passion lies in the writing itself, Abad-Santos said.

“I just love to write,” he said. “Writing is expressing yourself. Even when you get a piece that you’re proud of, you’re always trying to be better.”

Even after all his years in the journalism industry, it still surprises him that people other than his parents are reading his work.

“I wrote a piece for the Atlantic in 2014,” Abad-Santos said. “It was something on daylight savings time; it was a rant. Apparently, it was on Chris Hayes’ show. When they show snippets of your article, it’s really cool. Another accomplishment was when I had a couple scoops that went big.”

Abad-Santos is pursuing his dreams and doing what he loves.

“People often say, ‘Doing something you love doesn’t feel like work.’ When you’re doing something you love, you want to keep doing it,” he said.

5 Bits of Advice from Alex Abad-Santos

1. Get your internships!!! Don’t think you can waltz into a job because that doesn’t happen.

2. Enjoy undergrad. You have this amazing bubble to learn and experience life. Get good grades but remember that this is a once-in-a lifetime chance.

3. Be realistic about journalism. It doesn’t have the paycheck of doctors or lawyers. It’s something you want to do regardless of the money.

4. Think about where you want to write and what you like about those places and what excites you.

5. Keep reading. The only way to become a better writer is to keep reading.