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Your Weekly Community Newspaper
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Week of April 18, 2014
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CHAUTAUQUA STAR
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2014
Section B
DUNKIRK NATIVE CONTINUES TO MAKE HER MARK AT ESPN
By Stefan Gestwicki
Star Sports Editor
If you fl ip on ESPN Radio’s
Mike & Mike in the Morning on the way to work,
you’ll be listening to entertaining sports radio, but
you’ll also be experiencing
the hard work of Dunkirk
native Rene Drozdziel.
Drozdziel is currently the
scheduling production coordinator II for ESPN Radio,
meaning she schedules the
personnel for radio shows
such as Mike & Mike in the
Morning; The Herd with
Colin Cowherd; and SVP
& Russillo, which is hosted
by Scott Van Pelt and Ryen
Russillo. Of course, those
are only the biggest names
and shows.
It’s impossible to tell the
story of Drozdziel without
mentioning her two Emmys.
Yes, that’s right, Emmys.
While working in Sydney,
Australia for the 2000 Summer Olympics, Drozdziel
was awarded a Technical Sports Emmy. That
wasn’t the first time she had
garnered the honors as she
already owned an Emmy of
the same category from her
work on the 1997 National
Football League Draft.
“I would say the Olympics
were the project I’m most
proud of,” Drozdziel said.
“To be in Australia and
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Dunkirk native Rene Drozdziel is currently the scheduling production coordinator II at
ESPN Radio. (Photo by John Grabowski)
having the Olympics going
on and to win an Emmy
was really cool.”
While her current job title
would be envied by most
in broadcast media, it was
a long time coming for
Drozdziel, who worked
her way up the chain since
graduating from Silver
Creek High School in 1989.
“I got an associate’s degree
from Erie Community
College and applied here at
ESPN shortly after I graduated,” Drozdziel explained.
“I got a job in technical
operations. I did that for the
first five years. All of those
highlights you see on SportsCenter, that’s what we did.
“Then I went freelance in
1997,” she continued. “I did
a lot of remote production.
I would travel to different
events — basketball games,
hockey games, bowling,
racing. I did the NASCAR
circuit for a few years. Back
then, TNN used to do all the
NASCAR along with CBS. I
did that with them for about
three or four years. Then I did
NASCAR with ESPN when
the contracts switched over.”
For most sports fans, working with the likes of Mike
Greenburg, Mike Golic
and Colin Cowherd on a
daily basis would be reason
enough to get out of bed.
But Drozdziel recently got
a chance to meet someone a
little out of the ordinary —
actor Kevin Costner. Costner is the star of such sports
movies as Field of Dreams,
Bull Durham, For Love of the
Game, Tin Cup and the justopened Draft Day.
Drozdziel’s future plans
might surprise. She’s not
aiming to continue climbing the ladder at ESPN
Radio. Nor is she looking to
get back into the television
production sector.
“I do have a plan for the
future but it doesn’t involve
television,” she shared. “I’ve
been studying to be a therapist for the past five years.
I got involved with a group
in my church. We did lay
counseling. I found out I was
pretty good at it and I enjoyed
it. With working full time and
having kids, it’s taken me a
few years. I’m almost done
and I’m very excited.
“I’ve had so many people
affect my career,” Drozdziel
concluded. “Coming out
here was huge. It really
changed my life.”
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CO M M EN TA RY
Get Outside And Do
Something
By Stefan Gestwicki
Star Sports Editor
As a celebration of Western
New York fi nally getting some
nice weather, I’m going to take
a break from talking about baseball or ranting about the Bills or
the Sabres.
CONTINUED ON PG 27