Maui isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think of prestigious sports broadcasting careers. And it’s no secret that Pepperdine athletics haven’t been seen on the ESPN highlight reel since Keion Bell’s dunk in 2009 but it is safe to say that sports broadcasting opportunities are not lacking and Pepperdine and students both past and present have learned to capitalize on those opportunities.
Bill Schindler who graduated from Pepperdine in 2006 started his sports broadcasting career calling men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball games at Firestone Fieldhouse. Now Schindler is a well known voice among independent minor league baseball fans and he is known as the voice of the Na Koa Ikaika Maui the Valley Isle’s expansion team in the Independent Golden Baseball League in Maui Hawaii.
He entered and left Pepperdine as a telecommunications and broadcast news major but says his focus has always been on sports broadcasting.
“It was one of the reasons I chose to attend Pepperdine Schindler said.
You could call him the Tony Simeone of previous Pepperdine generations, with his voice over the speakers at baseball games and on the airwaves of TV-26 (now TV-32) for basketball and volleyball events. He also spent two summers calling the play-by-play for all 50 games of the Alaskan Baseball League, an all-star league of college players.
Despite his expertise in the field, Schindler claims his current job came to him by way of luck. While he was at Pepperdine, his parents retired to Maui, and upon his graduation he went to Maui for what he thought would be a couple months while he sent his reel to countless broadcasting companies on the mainland.
But work didn’t come easy for Schindler, a common theme among recent college grads today. He began looking for internships in Maui, and ended up coming across a rock-style type radio station looking for interns. He applied only to be told that he was over-qualified and his resume would be passed on to the sports guys.” After two months of no response Schindler had resorted to the fact that he would be waiting tables temporarily until he was able to find work.
Then one day he got a phone call asking when he would be available for an interview. He went on the show and did three hours of the show on air as a part of his interview process and was hired two days later despite the fact that he had no previous talk show experience. Nonetheless he was excited to begin work with this ESPN affiliate and still does the talk show today.
It wasn’t until this year that he began his broadcasting career with Maui’s independent baseball program and regardless of his sometimes crazy experiences with the team it is something he says he truly enjoyed doing and will continue to do next year.
“I will have stories from this past season for the rest of my life Schindler said.
And most of the stories he has are not expected from a baseball program. In his interview, Schindler referred to numerous hassles he experienced.
There was one time the wind knocked over the fence and it had to be repaired by the mascot in Victoria Canada Schindler said.
He also reminisced about sandstorms, power outages and sprinkler delays. Most memorable of all his experiences was specific time the independent team in Tijuana, Mexico had their jersey’s repossessed hours before the game was supposed to be played, and the scoreboard had mysteriously disappeared.
Tijuana was just surreal Schindler said. There was an 18000 seat stadium but no scoreboard…. you kind of just learn to laugh it off.”
Experiences like these taught Schindler that you “learn to expect the unexpected” from teams fans and even other professional athletes specifically Gary Peyton who had been recruited to coach first base after the team had multiple disputes leading to rejections during one of their games.
“Nine players were thrown out the umpire had banned rabbit music and Gary Peyton was coaching first base Schindler said. There were a couple times I asked myself if what was happening was real or if it was some sort of Inception-type thing.”
Even though the world of independent baseball had its drawbacks Schindler says he gained a lot from the experience.
“It’s beneficial to know how the players came up he explained.
And because he traveled with the team to every one of their 90 games he got to know what the 11-hour bus rides and red-eye flights are like.”
But most importantly Schindler enjoyed himself.
“You’re in a community where you get to be known Schindler said. Maui adopted the team well and there was a lot of fan support so it was fun to be the voice for that.”
The inaugural season for the team ended Monday and Schindler admitted that although he is looking forward to the down time it is an adjustment from the fast-pace of the season.
“You see these guys more than your family Schindler said. I looked around [today] and asked myself where everybody went.”
During the off-season he will continue to do his talk show and is excited to see where the business takes him.
“Worst case scenario I stay here Schindler said. I would love to be in the big leagues someday but that doesn’t just happen overnight. I’m open to anything and I’ll go anywhere anytime.”
Schindler is and should be a source of inspiration for other Pepperdine students interested in sports broadcasting of which there are increasing amounts since Pepperdine introduced a sports broadcasting major in 2009. He said even though he is still climbing his way up the ladder himself he would love to do what he can to help other Pepperdine students achieve their goals.
“The best thing you can do is find a way to get some sort of on-air time Schindler advised.
[When I was at Pepperdine] I would stay through Thanksgiving Christmas and Spring Break just for the experience.”
But when it comes down to it Schindler admits that success in sports broadcasting follows the same formula as any other profession.
“You have to have work ethic talent and luck.”