LAUREN MICHELSON, KLKN-TV Sports Director

Watch the Media with John Shrader

LAUREN MICHELSON has been the sports director of KLKN-TV Channel 8 in Lincoln since May 2022. She is the weeknight sports anchor who shoots, produces, writes and delivers sports at least five days a week. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri journalism school. We talk about getting a career started, being a woman in a male-dominated business, the absolute joy she has in the work, and much more.

SHOW NOTES:

:00 Introduction –examples of her work - greetings and welcome

2:40 How did you end up in Lincoln, Nebraska?

4:05 What have you learned about Nebraska and Nebraska football?

5:50 Do you feel like you’ve needed to know the history of Nebraska football?

8:00 What kind of advice did you get when you took the job?

9:10 How do you keep enthusiasm every day

10:45 How have you been treated by the local media, including competitors?

12:00 When did you first think you might want to be a sportscaster?

15:00 When did the light go on for you at Mizzou?

16:40 What is a typical week for you?

19:00 How much better at this are you now after a little more than a year?

21:15 What do you enjoy most about this job, this work?

22:30 Managing the journalism and the performance aspects of the job

24:00 Being a woman in a male-dominated business

26:10 It’s empowering to be a woman in a male-dominated field

27:30 What would you tell the teenage Lauren?

29:20 Do you ever get disrespectful comments? (says yes in person and on social media) and how do you deal with it?

30:40 Shrader opines and offers advice regarding a woman’s place in the business [based on his experience]

31:45 Where do you want this career to go?

33:00 And the start of the goodbye