Growing up in Kirkland, Wash., I dreamed of being a sports announcer. Baseball, football, soccer, radio host — it didn’t really matter, I just knew that I wanted to talk about sports in some way. Over the years, especially in high school, I realized just how difficult actually having a career and making impactful money in the industry would be. I never lost sight of that dream, but my desire for immediate financial benefit shadowed it.
In my freshman year at Seattle Pacific, my life turned drastically over the course of a few short months. My personal life was thrown into a blender, my belief structure became a pile of silly putty, and my priorities in life shifted. Through all of this, my parents were cornerstones. Support from my mother and advice from my father guided me to answers I already knew but had failed to accept earlier in life. Their love and limitless wisdom anchored my decisions.
Suddenly a light bulb turned on in my brain and I decided to change my major from Marketing to Communication: Journalism. My parents helped reignite that dream, believing that, for me, a career in sports broadcasting was not out of reach, but, instead, well within my skills and resources. There were certainly many friends and professors at Seattle Pacific who helped that decision process, but I look to my parents as the foundation of support anchoring my decision to major in Communication: Journalism.
The decision to pursue sports broadcasting
The natural question I always got as a young professional in the sports broadcasting industry was, “When did you decide you wanted to do this for a living?” For me, it was early in life. Like, really early — long before I even realized one specific person was shaping my dream.
Long car rides with my parents were commonplace as a kid. Most evenings saw my family sitting around the television. Relaxing outside on Saturday afternoons with the radio on has a special place in my heart. And during each of those times, whether on the radio or on the tube, the Seattle Mariners were usually playing. Ninety percent of the time, my ears fixated on one voice — that of Dave Niehaus, the Hall of Fame Mariners broadcaster who had announced the organization’s first game in 1977 and kept calling balls and strikes in Seattle until his death in 2010.
Key points in my life that shaped me
Every spring, summer, and early fall of my childhood consisted of his voice. And when it came time for me to decide what I wanted to, or could, do with my life, I said, “I want to be like Dave Niehaus!” My career dream began with Dave, and in turn, my life track toward journalism at Seattle Pacific was shaped by him as well.
As discussed earlier, my journey to follow the dream of being a sports broadcaster started early and developed all the way through my years at Seattle Pacific. Even past my freshman year, multiple key points turned the gears toward and within the path of a Communication: Journalism major. First, I applied and was accepted as a radio host on Seattle Pacific’s internet radio station, KSPU. I remember needlessly wearing a suit to my meeting with KSPU’s director at the time. It was apparently a formality at that point, but that gig ended up becoming a weekly two-hour commercial-less Saturday show on KSPU that allowed me to hone my skills.
I also utilized Seattle Pacific’s Internship Program, which connects undergraduate students to professionals in their desired field. The first time I used the program, I job-shadowed Seattle Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs, a former partner of Dave Niehaus’, during a game at then Safeco Field. Spending nine innings in the broadcast booth at the stadium showed me the realities and unforeseen challenges in calling a baseball game. It wasn’t as simple as learning, “Oh, this is too hard for me,” but the experience shined a light on what I was already beginning to realize: My skills were best suited elsewhere in the industry.
The second time I used the program, I had an informational interview with Sports Radio 950 KJR host Mike “The Gasman” Gastineau. “The Gasman” and I sat down at a Fremont coffee shop for over two hours on a December afternoon in 2011, and I quickly realized sports radio was where I wanted to be. He helped set up a job shadow in February 2012, which turned into a six-month internship later that year, eventually landing me a job at the station before I graduated in 2014.
Much of my career positioning and focusing on a Communication: Journalism major can be traced back to Seattle Pacific’s programs and options for students to follow their dreams, in addition to my other experiences in life during my freshman year. With high school friends moving away for their own college experiences, a relationship that ended out of the blue, plus facing the challenge of living off-campus at Seattle Pacific and having a hard time making new friends, I was forced to look inward at what truly mattered to me in life. That’s where I rediscovered the sports broadcasting dream that launched me down the Communication: Journalism path.
After my KJR internship and graduation
After completing my internship with Sports Radio 950 KJR in December 2012, I couldn’t stay away from KJR’s studios. In February 2013, the company hired me as the Tacoma Rainiers Broadcast Producer on KHHO 850 AM. Every evening during the baseball season, after classes at Seattle Pacific, I headed down to the Seattle studios, where I produced games while finishing homework. Almost exactly a year later, KJR hired me as a producer for its morning show, with broadcasts beginning at 5:30 a.m. During my final quarter at Seattle Pacific, I woke up at 4:30 a.m., worked until 10:30 a.m., attended classes until the early evening, and then made dinner before completing homework. Needless to say, these were the most grueling few months of my life.
After graduation, KJR promoted me to on-air producer for two midday shows, airing, in total, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. I worked with dozens of talented voices over the next five years on these shows. From Seattle media greats Jerry Brewer and Spike O’Neill, to dynamic personalities that included Chuck Powell, Jason Puckett, and Ian Furness — plus Seattle Seahawks legend Cliff Avril for over a year — each host I worked with taught me new traits about both myself and the job.
Then, in September 2019, KJR promoted me again to On-Air Producer of the Afternoon drive-time show hosted by Dave “Softy” Mahler and Dick Fain, a position I still hold today. With new responsibilities and immense pressure on a daily basis, this current role has been the most difficult and also most fun I have had since beginning at KJR back in 2012 as a lowly intern.
Meanwhile, I continued to pursue another avenue at KJR: hosting and reporting. In 2015, through my own pursuit, I started covering Seattle Sounders FC as a reporter. As a long-time fan of the soccer club, I pushed to start writing about the team that season. This job later evolved into a podcast as well and live Saturday show on KJR, Radio Cascadia Live, in 2017.
In 2018, my dedicated coverage of Sounders FC helped earn KJR the club’s radio rights, and with the move, I officially became the team’s pre-game, halftime, and post-game show host on radio while also hosting the station’s weekly Sounders show, “Sounders Weekly With Jackson Felts,” Tuesdays at 7 p.m. during the entire soccer season. From weekly conversations with General Manager Garth Lagerwey on the show, to shedding tears of joy on-air after Seattle’s victory in 2019 MLS Cup, to kicking off KJR’s coverage of 2020 MLS Cup, my work with the Sounders over the last three years has been a dream, the same dream I held as a kid growing up listening to Dave Niehaus. I can’t accurately put into words the emotions looking back at the journey of the last six years since graduation, but I can say I am immeasurably happy and proud of the results.
Favorite professors
I can’t begin to describe my amazing experiences during my years of classes at Seattle Pacific. Whether with fellow students working on assignments out of class, not working on assignments at all, or engaging in class sessions, I can’t remember many negative times. Professors Bill Purcell, Rick Jackson, and Patrick McDonald quickly became three of my favorite teachers, not only in college but through my entire life.
Professor Jackson’s teaching methods and assignments actually prepared students for the real-world tasks they will face in the journalism industry. One of my largest highlights during my time in the Communication Department was working on Jackson’s assignments, which were stimulating, fun, and informative.
Another major highlight was, honestly, every moment I spent with and learning from Professor Purcell. Overall, Dr. Purcell is one of the most enlightening, engaging, and encouraging human beings I’ve ever met. More than on a student-teacher level, he and I spent more than a few afternoons talking local sports. Two years after graduating, I visited the Seattle Pacific Communication, Journalism, and Film Department to say hello and catch up. I ended up spending a half hour in Purcell’s office talking Mariners baseball and other sports news with him. And it wasn’t only outside of class. His assignments and teaching method brought joy and excitement to subjects many would find dull or boring. I still remember writing an entire paper and doing a full presentation on Marshawn Lynch’s “Beastquake” run for the Seahawks in 2010. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever learned more from a single teacher, in all areas of life.
And while it’s like choosing between your favorite children, I must specifically talk about Professor Patrick McDonald, who yes, is not technically part of the Communication Department, but I must mention him when discussing my time at Seattle Pacific. If there is such a thing as a teacher-friend, like a student-athlete, he was the best friend a student could ask for.
McDonald and I connected on a level no other teacher and I ever had. We talked about sports of all varieties (especially his Notre Dame Fighting Irish), great philosophers and their interesting, and oftentimes odd, philosophies (I still have my “Philosophy of Science” notes on a shelf), the logic methodologies I continue to live by to this day, family and personal issues that impact our day-to-day lives, and much more. When I visited Seattle Pacific in 2016, we spent an hour together in his office, shifting from topic to topic, as if the two years never passed. Despite the fact that it came long after graduation, I don’t think I’ve ever spent a better hour with a teacher. Professor McDonald was truly a great friend.
The Communication, Journalism, and Film Department experience
Overall, you’re never going to get only amazing experiences. Sure, I had my clunker classes like we all do. It’s school. It’s work. It can’t all be sunshine and rainbows. Working at The Falcon as a track-and-field writer and general sports columnist was extremely difficult and time consuming, but also taught me the value of being part of a newspaper and deeper writing skills. To this day, I still use many parts of what I learned at The Falcon in my Seattle Sounders FC post-game recaps for Sports Radio 950 KJR’s website. Additionally, many communication classes seemed tedious and unnecessary, but at the end of the day, even the difficult times can emerge as meaningful years later.
What stands out about the Communication: Journalism major is that all the classes actually teach students something that they can take forward into a variety of careers. This is of course because communication in of itself can exist anywhere, at any time, with anyone. Being ready and capable in these scenarios, which for me right now means working with radio hosts, professional athletes, and sports executives, can be honed through the program, no matter which track you choose.
Advice for students considering a Communication major
For all students considering joining a Communication major, I would encourage you to move forward, but also suggest connecting with professors on a deeper level. Stop by their offices, discuss more than simple assignments, find common interests in life and embrace those. Overall, to benefit from the program in the long and short term, plus to have generally fun experiences, have the perspective that school is short and professors aren’t enemies destined to make life difficult. Respect them, connect with them, learn from them, and you’ll be just fine.
Final word
You can see I hold fond memories of my time at Seattle Pacific and in the Communication Department. There are countless more specific memories I could list, but I’ll close by saying that I would not be where I am today without many people in the Communication Department.
I can expand that to include other Seattle Pacific programs and professors outside the department and now look at the total four years as a time that shaped my life in countless ways — ways I probably cannot even fully understand yet. I can trace my career at KJR back to Seattle Pacific, much of my philosophy in life to the teachings at Seattle Pacific, and a few of my best friends to my connections at Seattle Pacific. I don’t know who or where I would be without SPU and the Communication, Journalism, and Film Department.