This week, I sat down with Ted Robinson, a two-time Emmy Award winning broadcaster. Since 2000, Robinson has been lead announcer for NBC's coverage of Wimbledon and the French Open, working side-by-side with John McEnroe. Robinson has also worked as a radio and TV announcer for the San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins and New York Mets.
Additionally, Robinson has been involved in major network coverage of both the Winter and Summer Olympics, most recently serving as play-by-play announcer for diving during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Currently, he hosts College Football Central, a College Football pre-and post-game show on Versus.
Enjoy the interview!
— Max
MT: Growing up, did you know you wanted to be a broadcaster? What influences factored into pursuing a career in broadcasting?
TR: Well, I was born in New York City, grew up just outside the city, and wanted to be a player, a professional athlete. And my mediocre - at best - high school career ended my junior year when I broke my ankle in four places playing football. At the time, sports medicine not being as advanced as it is now, that was the end of any slim hope I had of being a player. The injury brought finality to the childhood dream of being a professional athlete, and I think I was maybe a little bit ahead of the curve in terms of understanding my place. I realized I would never be a pro.
I had always been fascinated with broadcasting. I was the kid that when I was about 12 or 13, my parents let me have a TV in my room for the first time. I would go up and close the door when the Mets were on, turn the sound down and broadcast the game in my bedroom.
The family would come over and they constantly asked my mom, “Is he okay? What’s wrong with him? Who’s he talking to up there?”
So subsequently with my injury, I returned my senior year and went straight to the person in charge of our high school football program. I said to him that I would like to announce the games and asked if I could be the stadium announcer. He said sure, so I did the stadium PA announcing my senior year of high school and decided this was the path I was going to try to follow.
I was sixteen years old and I guess I was very fortunate that I had clarity at that point. This is what I wanted to do. So I applied to colleges specifically based on studying sports broadcasting; I was very narrow. I chose Notre Dame because it had a studio radio station that students completely ran and worked at. It had very few students that were there to pursue that as a living as Notre Dame did not offer a broadcast major.
So unlike, let’s say Syracuse - which is probably the most well-known broadcast school in the country but you stand in line like you’re at the bakery waiting for your shot - at Notre Dame, you didn’t have to stand in line.
MT: So you started as a freshman?
TR: I started as a freshman. I went to Notre Dame, started at the student radio station my second or third day there and worked all four years in college. I approached college as a vocational school. I knew I wasn’t going there to become a lawyer or a doctor, so my grades were not of the utmost importance. It was more the work experience and I worked at everything.
I was a student manager for a year-and-a-half and was on the field for the Rudy game. I wrote for the student paper, I worked in the sports information office and did broadcasting. That was the best experience...I had an incredible four years there.
MT: And you worked with Charlie Weis at Notre Dame’s student radio?
TR: I hired Charlie at the radio station. We were the same class and our senior year he tried out for the station and I hired him. Very smart sports guy, knew all sports, very opinionated, still is apparently. And he was like me, grew up in the New York/New Jersey area listening to Marv Albert and went through a phase where he thought he wanted to be Marv Albert. Obviously, he made a pretty good career move. [laughs]
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