For almost 40 years, Ken Schott ’85 has been working in the sports world as a reporter and writer. He currently serves as Sports Editor for The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, New York. His journey into sports editing started in 1981 when he enrolled in the Speech Communication (currently Mass Communication) major at York College of Pennsylvania.
Life at York College
When Schott first toured the campus with his dad, he loved its small size because it reminded him of his high school. He initially chose York College over Temple University because he was interested in York’s flexibility for first-year students to join the radio station.
At York College, he was a statistician for the Men’s Baseball team for his first two years, the Men’s Basketball team for all four years, and the Women’s Volleyball team for his last two years. He did the Men’s Basketball and Baseball team play-by-play on WVYC AM for all four years and completed a semester as a Sports Information Director at the College.
Prepped for the Sports World
Schott’s Speech Communication major included working for the WVYC radio station, which influenced his career as a Sports Editor. He was in charge of the AM station for a year and a half, and then promoted to FM Program Director late in the spring semester of his junior year. He served in that capacity for a year before becoming the Station Manager in the second half of his senior year. At the radio station, he learned how to conduct interviews, how to ask uncomfortable questions, and how to deal with people.
“The learning experience of hanging with people, getting to know them, developing great relationships, and hanging out after classes or being at the radio station was a wonderful experience overall and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world,” he adds.
During his junior year, Schott took a journalism class that required him to do a one-day internship at the York Daily Record. He was assigned to cover the Baltimore Orioles playing a charity basketball game at Kennard-Dale High School in southern York County. He attended the game and wrote the story. The sports editor liked his story so much that Schott was offered a part-time writing position in November 1983. He worked at the paper until August 1990 covering the Hershey Bears Hockey Team and the Harrisburg Senators Baseball Team.
Podcasting Journey
In 1990, Schott moved to Schenectady to cover college hockey for The Daily Gazette. When he was promoted to Associate Sports Editor, the company already had a podcast called The Daily Gazette Sports Podcast with another host. Schott took over the podcast and renamed it The Parting Schotts Podcast. This role gave Schott the opportunity to talk with famous people in the sports world, such as Freddy Coleman of the ESPN radio show Freddie and Fitzsimmons, Hall of Fame Pitcher John Smoltz, and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. The podcast has also allowed Schott to venture outside of his expertise in college hockey and discuss other sports such as baseball and football.
“It brings me back to my radio roots. It’s almost like having a sports talk show,” Schott explains.
Go Spartans
Schott captures his York College experience with these words: “The whole York College experience was wonderful. What the school has done and how it's grown from when I was there to what it is today is just amazing. I’m so proud to be a York College of Pennsylvania alumnus.”
