Alex Ferrario, Cardinals and Blues Radio Personality
Growing up in St.Louis you're taught from birth your hometown is baseball heaven, you always bleed blue and you can never count on the Rams (Good thing there LA’s problem now), but no matter how the season goes for your favorite St.Louis team theres a small town feel to our franchises. You grow fond of players that wear the STL logo with pride and you feel like these players share some kind of family bond with you.
Every sports fan wants to be as close tho the action as possible. Whats it really like in the locker room with the guys? What do they talk about ? Its a natural feeling to be attracted to the idol's you route for everyday. There’s one worm hole that allows you back stage passes to the players that you look up to, sports journalism. What could be better? You get to hang around the guys and watch sports, seems like every guys dream job. Well, its at least my dream job.
I was lucky enough to get to a phone interview with a local radio personality that covers the Cardinals and Blues. Alex Ferrario is a Lindenwood graduate that works for KMOX radio. During the beginning parts of our phone interview Ferrario explained that his job duties included attending pre-game workouts for each the Cardinals and Blues as well as the games and post-game interviews. After all the interviews are conducted he formulates his findings and presents them.
Being a young hockey player in St.Louis I’ve grown up on the Blues radio and television personalities. None better come to my mind other than Kris Kerber. One of my fondest memories growing up is making the trek back and forth from ice rink to ice rink this sometimes happened during the Blues broadcasts, so my dad would turn the game on KMOX radio in the car and Kerbers voice would guide my mind through entire periods 20 minutes at a time.
His words were so vivid and clear it was like he was painting a picture of the live action in my mind. I was ecstatic to here that Kris Kerber was one of Fararrios mentors and inspirations in his radio broadcast career. I hadn't given radio broadcasting much of a thought but talking to Farrario about what inspired him to take the career path he did has got me thinking…hmmm.
This being my first real “big boy” interview, not just interviewing classmates, I thought I would end the interview with two lighter questions. After hearing of Mr. Ferrario I instantly turned to social media track down my interviewee. Typing in his name into the twitter search bar, I found his profile with ease, I clicked and to my surprise my eyes settled on a blue check mark…I thought to myself “he’s Verified” and an unreal rush of anxiety rushed over my body.
I mean, come on this guys practically a celebrity, they don’t hand these checkmarks out like candy or anything. I jokingly asked him about how he came about the famed blue check mark and he giggled and explained that he thought it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it was. The station that he’s employed by made some power moves and hooked him up with the verification.
As the interview wound down there was only one last suitable question to ask a fellow St.Louis sports lover. “Who is your favorite Blues and Cardinals player to interview?” He exclaimed with a sigh and told me that it was tough to distinguish. After some friendly banter, two names floated to the top. Kevin Shattenkirk and Adam Wainwright, two classy professionals in their own right.
Ferrario explained that Wainwright was a funny guy that would always give him the quote he needed and Shattenkirk would always make time to answer questions no matter the situation. We finished the interview and I thanked him for his time. It wasn’t the most impressive interview from a true rookie like myself but it was a veteran performance from a true professional like Mr. Ferrario.
