About Ben

Hometown:
Newburyport, MA

University Partner:
Syracuse University

Degree:
B.S. in Television, Radio & Film and Geography

Grant Partner:
WABC/WPLJ Radio

Senior Mentor:
Steve Borneman, President & General Manager and Linda Wnek, Diversity Recruitment Coordinator

"The internship at WPLJ allowed me to connect with professionals and play an active role in producing daily content to participating in record meetings. To call this an "internship" is almost not fair. This was an experience where I got to work side-by-side radio legends to learn about where radio is now, and help develop its path for the future."

Scholar Background

Ben fell in love with radio in elementary school as a frequent caller and winner on Radio Disney. Since then, Ben has been passionate about communications through various mediums. At Syracuse University, Ben balances academics with community engagement both on and off campus. He is a Resident Advisor and an Official University Ambassador; these are positions that allow him to form close relationships with peers as well as university officials. Ben focuses his studies on analyzing the geographical relationship between physical “place” and the role communications have in reshaping how we define “local” in the twenty-first century. He has worked as an assistant news editor at The Daily Orange newspaper and written several feature exposés for Jerk Magazine. Ben is passionate about music and has spent time at a local after-school program in the city of Syracuse teaching children to play guitar. His love for music and storytelling led him to a post-production internship at Billboard Magazine where he edited live music performances.  

Internship Description

During his time at WPLJ and WABC, Ben worked on numerous projects with professionals who are actively shaping the radio industry. While working with radio legend and WPLJ VP of Programming Scott Shannon, as well as mid-day disc jockey Jeff Miles, Ben got a thorough understanding of what goes into producing a daily radio show. Ben spent a week working on The Joe Crummey show on WABC where he recorded interviews with New Yorkers to be included in the daily broadcast. Back at WPLJ, he worked with Louie Diaz, Citadel Broadcasting's National Programming Coordinator, and analyzed a dozen radio stations' use of social media to figure out what was and was not working for WPLJ. The strategic plan Ben helped design has already been implemented and is showing positive results at WPLJ and other Citadel stations. For his last two weeks, Ben worked side-by-side WPLJ's Operations Manager Tony Mascaro doing everything programming several hours of music to playing an active role in meeting record labels. Ben is extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to build strong, professional relationships this summer.

Where are they now?

Ben is currently finishing his senior year at Syracuse.