Students from left to right: Seipp, Stutz, Solomon, Walker, Smith, Raymond
Cassidey Kavathas/ The Bona Venture
BY: CASSIDEY KAVATHAS, ADVISORY EDITOR
“Small school doing big things,” said Steven Stutz, station manager of WSBU 88.3 “The Buzz”.
For the fifth time, second consecutively, members of “The Buzz”, Bonaventure’s student-run radio station, will travel to attend Super Bowl Radio Row. Tom Seipp, Tyler Smith, Carter Raymond, Nathan Solomon, Jonny Walker and Stutz will fly to Phoenix, Arizona to represent St. Bonaventure University on the national stage.
“We’re thrilled and very honored to be able to have the opportunity to go,” said Seipp, a senior sports media major and former station manager. “We had a tremendous experience last year, and we’re looking to have some of that same experience this year. We all realize how lucky we are to be able to go.”
Shows will run Feb. 6-10 featuring special guests. The schedule includes The Directors’ Cut at 6 p.m. with Solomon and Walker, Seipp & Smitty at 7 p.m. with Seipp and Smith and Wild Card at 8 p.m. with everyone. The schedule will shift on Feb. 8 due to the station’s broadcast of the women’s basketball game with The Directors’ Cut at 5 p.m., Seipp & Smitty at 6 p.m. and Wild Card at 9 p.m.
“We’re incredibly lucky and fortunate to be having these experiences at a university like this that believes in student media and our capabilities out there,” said Smith, a senior sports media major and former sports director. “Last year, we had a wonderful experience and we want to build upon the success that we had as one of the few college stations.”
Seipp, Smith, Raymond and Solomon each went last year and are excited to return.
“It feels really good to be credentialed and allowed to go back. It shows that our work was well respected,” said Raymond, a junior finance major and former production director. “Personally, you know what to expect a lot better so you can plan accordingly. Instead of having to focus on the big picture of how things work, we can hit the ground running.”
Last year’s guest line up featured Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver KJ Osborn, actor Joe Montegna, former Indianapolis Colts punter and host of “The Pat McAfee Show” Pat McAfee and Former Red Sox catcher Ryan Lavarnway. The group also met Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
“Bonaventure may be small in the number of students but its reputation isn’t small,” Seipp said. “Last year in Los Angeles, we had so many people who knew what St. Bonaventure was, whether it was Josh Allen, Pat McAfee, you name it. There’s a lot of people who know the university’s name, and we had so many alumni there that we were able to see.”
Walker, a junior sports media major, became one of the sports directors this semester. To him, this is a turning point in his career.
“It’s been my life-long dream to sit on Radio Row with media icons left and right,” he said.
Stutz, a junior marketing and psychology double major, hasn’t had journalism experience and is interested in learning more.
“I’m just most excited for the energy because it’s a super high paced environment,” said Stutz. “Not being in the journalism school to kind of getting that experience through this is what I’m extremely most excited for.
“Just seeing all the faces making all the new connections, just overall gain a whole new kind of worldly experience and perspective on journalism.”
Smith decided to come to Bonaventure his senior year of high school due to opportunities like The Buzz’s Super Bowl trip.
“When I was applying to colleges, Bonaventure caught my eye because of how many opportunities were available for what I had dreamed of doing growing up,” Smith said. “When you can go write the newspaper on day one and have a radio show on day one and then put in enough work, eventually you could be one of the few kids to go to the Super Bowl. It says something to the people who have gone here in the past and the people who can see that work and potentially coming in the future.”
The trip to Radio Row brings real world experience to all involved as well as publicity to the university and radio station.
“For all of us, we want to be out there to get the real world experience to go get a job once we graduate and just representing the university and the station,” said Solomon, a junior sports media major and sports director. “I don’t know how many times when we were out there where people were coming to us saying they wanted to interview us about being one of the few college radio stations out there, like, we did an interview with NBC.”
Overall, they are grateful for the influx of support from everyone. This year the group will be pushing more content on their Instagram (@wsbu.thebuzz), Twitter (@wsbu), Youtube, Tik Tok (@wsbusports) and Spotify.
“Just the support from everybody like people are talking about us being there on the news and everything up in Buffalo and people finding out about this trip and supporting us and supporting what we’re trying to do and the content that we’re trying to get is pretty awesome,” said Solomon.
The group would like to thank Rob Defazio, associate dean for student life, and Jenna Keppel, assistant director for student activities for helping organize the trip.
This trip wouldn’t have been possible without Isaiah Blakely ‘20 and Joe Ceraulo ‘20, former sports directors, and Steve Wilt ‘20, former station manager.
“They really laid a foundation that was really innovative at the university and that had never been done before. We didn’t want it to end with just that group of guys,” said Smith. “We wanted to keep this going and have this be something that Bonaventure does every year and continues to build upon the success that they’ve had one year after the next.”
Kavathcj20@bonaventure.edu
