(Photo/Comcast SportsNet add)
Attention aspiring sports reporters: “You really will be
broke and have no life,” warns Aiyana Cristal, a reporter/anchor from Comcast SportsNet in Chicago.
While this may be true, Cristal is quick to admit all the
hard work is certainly worth it. But above all else, passion is key.
A native from Tacoma, WA, Cristal found a passion for sports,
and broadcasting, at a young age. According to CSNChicago, she was a standout
four-year varsity hurdler in high school. With her future goals in tact,
Cristal scored her first internship as a high school junior with Nascar. She
later attended Georgia State University on a Fullbright Scholarship where she
graduated in 2005 with a degree in broadcast journalism.
Cristal stayed in Atlanta, GA for her first job as a
production assistant at Fox Sports, but later moved to Champaign, IL after
snagging an unanticipated job in news. Cristal’s dream was sports and was
reluctant to take the job, but eventually agreed after advice she received
telling her to get on air any way possible.
The struggle continued after she lost her free-lancing job
for the Big Ten Network and was forced to move back in with her parents. But
Cristal stayed true to her passion and kept applying. She eventually landed a
job at a CBS affiliate in Little Rock, AK from 2010-2012. According to
CSNChicago, at this job she anchored/produced a weekly, hour-long sports talk
show, along with reporting/anchoring duties covering the area’s collegiate and
preps sports scene.
Cristal left this job in 2012 to work for an ABC affiliate
in Miami, FL where she covered collegiate and local professional sports. Yes,
this included the Heat’s championship run and Lebron James’s second MVP title.
After a year and a half in Florida, Cristal accepted the job
with Comcast SportsNet. According to CSNChicago, she primarily handles on-site
reporting duties covering a variety of Chicago’s professional, collegiate, and
high school sports stories, along with co-anchoring the [SportsNet Central]
program on occasion. Cristal also hosts viewer interactive studio segments on
the network’s post-game shows, along with a variety of digital initiatives
showcased on CSNChicago.com.
As displayed by her career locations, Cristal is no stranger
to moving across the country. In fact, she admits that moving around to
different markets is one of the most challenging aspects of the job. Although
her path was anything but easy, Cristal loves to admit that, in her opinion,
she has the best job ever.
“I get paid to watch sports and talk about sports. It
doesn’t get better than that,” said Cristal.
How did you begin
your career?
Cristal: I always knew I wanted to do broadcast journalism
going into college so my junior year I started interning. My first internship
was with Nascar, and then from Nascar I did Comcast Sports SouthNet, which is
in Atlanta. From there I did Turner Sports inside the NBA on TNT and that was probably
the best internship. I did those three and once I graduated I was a production
assistant at Fox Sports in Atlanta, because it was really hard to get on air
right out of college. I was applying, applying, applying and nothing happened
so I decided to be a production assistant so I could at least get exposure;
learn all aspects of television.
I worked there for about a year and a half and still wasn’t
getting a job on air. Somebody gave me advice to apply for a news job. I was
like “No I don’t want to do news, I hate news, I only want to do sports.” But
the reality is there are only so many sports jobs, because people that have
sports jobs stay there. They don’t leave. And as I’m sure you’re familiar, it’s
very male dominated still. There just weren’t any sports openings, but then
when there were sports openings they wanted you to have experience. I couldn’t
get experience unless someone gave me an opportunity. So I applied for a news job.
Within a month, I had a job. The best advice someone told me was, whether it’s
sports or news, journalism is journalism. The main thing is to get the
consistency, get on air, work out those kinks, because you’re going to mess up.
So I took the news job and tried to create sports stories as much as I could
just because I knew I wanted to transition back into sports.
My first job was in Champaign, IL. I worked there for about
a year and a half to two years. Then started free-lancing for the Big Ten
Network and I got laid off, because that’s when the economy was awful and
everybody was laying people off. So, I moved back home with my folks. That was
embarrassing. I still applied for jobs, but finally got a break 2 years later
and I got an anchor/reporter job in Little Rock Arkansas, so I did that for two
years. Then I moved to Miami as a sports anchor/reporter. I was there for a
little over a year, then I got the job here [in Chicago] so I’ve been here for
about five months now.
Do you enjoy your job
in Chicago, so far?
Cristal: I do. Local TV is hard for sports. It’s very
challenging because they don’t value sports. It’s the last thing on the
newscast and they typically kill it. There’s no way you can compete with
homicides, you just can’t. In Miami, we only had a minute and 30 sportscasts
every day with four on-air people. You’re not going to get as much exposure,
you’re not going to get on air as much, so coming to a sports network was the
best thing that could ever happen.
Chicago sports are a
pretty important, have you noticed that since being here?
Cristal: Chicago, they LOVE their sports. This is a great
sports market. To be able to work in this market is an absolute dream come
true, because they love sports, they value it, and they know their sports. They
want you here [as a sports reporter]. They want to hear about what’s going on
with the Bears, Bulls, White Sox, and Cubs. They live for that. It’s part of
their lifestyle so it’s fun, because they definitely have that energy and
enthusiasm about their team. It makes it fun.
What are some
highlights of your current job?
Cristal: I am the sideline reporter for the Bulls. Even
though Derrick Rose is out and they aren’t having as great of a season as they
expected, it’s still such a fun job. To be on the sideline reporting for the
games, it’s so much fun. It’s always sold out and they are still in play-off
contention right now, so it’s just fun. Being in that environment is the best
part.
What has been your
favorite assignment that you have been placed on throughout your career?
Cristal: The Heat. I covered them during their championship
run. That was amazing. That was so much fun. To cover them throughout the
season and then through the playoffs and then winning the championship game and
the championship parade, that was probably the highlight of my career so far.
How was it working
with LeBron James?
Cristal: He was nice every game. The Heat are different than
the Bulls. We had access to the Big 3 every single game. They were great and
good with the media. I’ve done one-on-ones with them. They were awesome. It was
a good experience.
Do you have a
favorite interview that you’ve done with anyone?
Cristal: I would say either LeBron, obviously, because I
interviewed him after he won MVP again or Wade. Actually, all of the Heat
players. They were really good.
I was looking at some
of your past work. Two that stood out to me was, first, the story of Jessie. The
wrestler born without 3 limbs and Ryan, the baseball player that suffered from
paralysis. How do you come up with your material?
Cristal: In local T.V., you have to be creative. The biggest
difference between local T.V. and networks is, the networks focus on X’s and
O’s, stats, and they want to know the information. Where as news, they like
storytelling and more feature. Telling stories that relate to the
non-traditional sports fans, because people that watch the news aren’t always
sports fans. You have to appeal to those moms that are looking for the forecasts.
You have to try to make it interesting for those people.
My news director would always challenge us in sports and
tell us to come up with stories. We had to give them story ideas every single
day. It came down to getting out in the community, talking, and finding
stories. There are so many good sports stories that are not told. We don’t really
focus on that here, but in local T.V. they do a lot of really good stories like
that. It’s challenging, but just getting out in the community and networking and
finding where those stories that are needing to be told. Finding someone that’s
overcoming an obstacle or some unique story.
Did you have a camera
crew that went with you?
Cristal: I was a one-man band throughout my whole career, up
until here. So even in Miami when I was taping the Heat, I was shooting by
myself. This day in age, you’re going to have to be able to do it all. It
sucks. I’m not going to glorify it or make it seem like it’s better than what
it is. It’s easier for guys who don’t have to focus on hair and makeup. For us,
it takes us so much longer to be camera ready. Then to lug around a camera, tripod,
mics, and all that and still look presentable; it sucks, but you have to do it.
The positive aspect is that it gives you more control. Sometimes I go out and
see something I want to include in my story and a photographer might not shoot it
or wouldn’t shoot it how I would shoot it. You learn all avenues of it, so you
can also relate to the photographers. It makes you a better journalist in the
end, because you can tell the story better when you have control over it all.
You just learn other jobs and that makes you more versatile.
What is the best part
about this job?
Cristal: Working in sports for a living, and getting paid
for it. You’re getting paid to watch sports and talk about sports. It doesn’t
get much better than that.
What is the worst
part?
Cristal: Schedule. It is very demanding. You make a lot of
sacrifices. You are going to work crazy hours. In sports, you’re going to work
evenings and weekends. Having a social life is very hard, so what you do
becomes who you are because it’s all you do. My days off now are Tuesdays and
Wednesdays. I don’t get off until 1 o’clock in the morning most days. It’s also
different on game days. You’re schedule is ever fluid; it’s never going to be
the same. To be able to have a social life or significant other, your partner
would have to be very flexible and understanding because your schedule will be
all over the place, all the time.
What are some
challenges of the job?
Cristal: I’d say the biggest challenge in sports is moving
around to different markets and not being as familiar with those sports teams.
It’s challenging when you’re in one sports town, like in Arkansas I was only
focused on SEC, I wasn’t focused on pro. Then to go to Miami, it was mainly
focused on pro and some ACC, but no SEC and that’s all I was familiar with. So
learning the teams again, learning the players, that’s the biggest challenge.
Coming here and covering all the sports and knowing all the names, it’s hard.
What are some
frustrations being a female in sports?
Cristal: Even though there are more women industry [than
before], we are still outnumbered. I still go to Bulls’ practices and I’m the
only female, all the time. That’s not going to change anytime soon, but it kind
of gives you an advantage because you have a different perspective. Players
sometimes would rather talk to the female. We have a different approach, I
think, which kind of gives us that advantage. We have to be able to use that
advantage to benefit us. It is challenging. You have to have tough skin,
because you are going to get scrutinized for everything. If you mess up, and
your counterpart who’s a male messes up, they’re going to remember you. It’s
normal if they mess up, but if you do it [as a female] it’s magnified. You
really have to have thick skin. In this job, I’m still learning that.
It’s hard because you’re under such a light and you’re
judged. There are websites that will talk about you, but you can’t get caught
up in other people’s opinions because some people are going to love you, and
some people are going to hate you. Just get that out of you’re head and just do
your best. Realize you’re not going to be perfect. You can’t compete with a guy
or a guy who has been here for years. They are just going to be viewed
different, every time. You can only do your best. And find that boss that
believes in you who will give you an opportunity.
What is the biggest
challenge trying to break into this market, especially for females?
Cristal: Being taken seriously and always having to prove
yourself. You’re always going to be at a disadvantage. I didn’t grow up loving
the Cubs. Although I did grow up a sports fan, I can’t tell you every stat like
some guys can because that’s how they were brought up. They just know
everything. But with technology you can learn that.
Where would you like
to end up? Is this your dream job?
Cristal: I really love it here. I’ve moved around so much.
I’m tired of moving and uprooting my whole life. So, for now, this is good.
Chicago is an amazing city. It’s the third top market in the country and it’s a
great sports market, so it’s a really good job. Some of the guys here have
worked at ESPN and have done national, but they come back because national
isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’m just living in the moment because, you’ll
see, once you start the goal is always to get to the next or continue to move
up within the markets. Every year to two years you’re moving; that gets old at
a certain point in your life. I’m good, for now.
As a hopeful future
sports broadcaster, what can I expect?
Cristal: Be flexible. Be ready to live somewhere small. Not
make any money, like, at all. For the first couple years of my career, I was
making maybe $21,000 - $25,000, living in poverty. It makes no sense. They will
pay you nothing, but that’s how they weed out the people who really want it. Because
not everybody can do this. Not everybody is cut out for it. It’s hard. It’s a
grind day in and day out. You really have to be passionate and love it, because
what’s the point? You really will be poor and have no life. People will see you
on T.V. and will think it’s so glamorous and you make so much money, but that’s
not the reality of it. It will pay off if you get to that point in your career,
but at first they make you pay your dues. It’s tough.
Interview analysis
from the author:
“Not everybody can do
this. Not everybody is cut out for it,” stated Aiyana Cristal in a recent
interview.
This phrase did not
truly hit me until I actually transcribed the interview onto a blank word
document. I began to panic as my mind was screaming, “What if she’s talking about
you?! What if you’re not cut out for it?”
I shut my laptop,
stared at a blank wall, and began to think. I gave up a career as a high school
teacher, to take a chance on a so-called “dying profession.” After the initial
‘what on earth were you thinking” thoughts, I couldn’t help but remember how
right I felt while being on set and behind the control panel at Comcast SportsNet.
After hearing
Cristal’s extremely challenging road to success, I was not only impressed, but
profoundly inspired. It took her 5 years, just to get her first job in sports
broadcasting. Keep in mind, this was not an individual that was confused about
her passion in life. Cristal began internships to develop her skills at a time
when most teenagers are more worried about who they are going to take to prom.
She applied, was shut down, fired, begrudgingly moved back home with her
parents, but now is on air in the nation’s third largest market for news.
Cristal worked; and she worked hard.
It became very
apparent that this industry is not easy. Sports broadcasting will present its
fair share of challenges as I continue pursuing it, especially as female, but
nothing is impossible. I may stumble and even crash and burn, but this is
something that I know I want for my life and I just have to work for it. Even
if it means moving back home with ‘the rents.’ While I’m sure they would be
rather fond of the idea (Hi, Mom), I’m tightly crossing my fingers that I won’t
have to cross that bridge.
