File Photo/Arizona Daily Wildcat Communications junior Gilon Eilat auditions for a broadcasting position with Fox Sports Net Arizona last October. Fox Sports will be holding auditions again Friday at McKale Center.

Cable network searches for UA student to report on air as campus correspondent

One UA student will land his or her own segment as a campus correspondent for Fox Sports Net Arizona, after a day of auditioning on campus.

FSN is looking for its second "Wildcat Insider," a UA student who can tell a story well on camera and give viewers a sense of what's going on in UA sports, said Brett Hansen, a public relations manager at FSN.

The "Wildcat Insider" will cover mostly "light-hearted" UA sports stories and have his or her own short segment every Thursday airing at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., Hansen said.

It is often easier for students to come up with story ideas because they are immersed in campus life, Hansen said.

"Students often know more about what is going on inside the campus," Hansen said. "Students may think of stories we would never have known about."

Hansen also said athletes tend to open up more to students.

Hansen said one main focus of the audition will be analyzing the student's ability to conduct a mock interview with one of four judges.

Each student will have to perform a 20-second fake sportscast with a random scenario. For example, a student might be asked to fake a postgame wrap-up after a UA football win, Hansen said.

The audition will be a short quiz about Arizona and UA sports, asking basic questions like, "Who is the head coach of the UA women's basketball team?"

Last year about 60 students auditioned, and this year Hanson expects more.

"This year the audition will be limited to the first 100 students because of time constraints," Hansen said.

Dan Mitchell, last year's winner, said what got him the job was his descriptiveness of the setting in the mock sportscast and his sincerity on camera.

"It's hard to fake excitement. I had a very serious, somber subject because the UA had just lost," said Mitchell, who graduated from UA in May with a degree in journalism and English.

The judges liked the fact that his seriousness didn't appear "fake" on camera, Mitchell said.

When the students show up to the auditions, they will receive wristbands so they can go to class and come back later in the day as time allows, Hansen said.

Before the audition, the student must fill out an application at the FSN Arizona Web site (FOXSportsnet.com), and bring in the application to the audition, along with proof that they are a full-time student.

The auditions will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday on the third floor of the McKale Center in the Lohse Room at the south end of the arena.

The paid campus correspondent position will last until May 2005, Hansen said.

FSN will also hire a "Sun Devil Insider" from ASU.

Mitchell said FSN is not looking for "just another reporter," and part of the job is being able to bring up unique story ideas.

"You definitely have to be able to bring something creative to the table," Mitchell said.

One example of a story the Wildcat Insider would cover is the pre- or post-game parties, Mitchell said.

The job, which requires about 10 hours a week, can be frustrating at times, Mitchell said.

"As with any reporting job, you have to be on the fly," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he would put in a couple hours of reporting work on camera, and it was chopped down to a five-minute segment.

"Ninety percent of the time I would not even see my segment until it aired," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the job definitely helped him make connections for future career opportunities, because as a Wildcat or Sun Devil Insider, the correspondents will meet various people in the media industry.

Mitchell is now an editorial assistant for Razor magazine, a men's magazine in Phoenix.

"We want to give students a chance to break into the business," Hansen said.