Ryan Huff gets situated in his producer’s chair. He adjusts his headphones and taps his foot.

“Ten seconds,” he says into the microphone.

The man on the other side of the glass nods, puts on his headphones and situates himself. It’s 7:09 p.m. Saturday night and NIU alumnus Jesse Rogers is on the air at The Score sports radio, WSCR 670-AM.

Hosting a radio show is quite a distracting job. The host needs to always know what to say next, how to segue into a new issue and, ideally, how to win a debate. During his breaks, although he was answering questions, he was also piecing out the show’s next segment in his head. It’s not a rude distraction; it’s the look of a working man. For those four hours of his day, he’s constantly on the clock.

“Time can really fly,” Rogers said. “But it really depends on the show. If you get slow or get bad calls, then it can turn into the longest four hours. Still, there’s really no time to get nervous.”

Through his work at The Score, Rogers knows a lot about time. He’s been with the station since its creation in 1992, just one year after he graduated. He’s seen it rise and become the most listened-to sports talk radio station in Chicago – but it doesn’t end there. In the evening, WSCR can be heard in 37 states and Canada. Not bad for an NIU communication department alumnus.

The beginning

Rogers grew up a hockey player, living for the sport. It wasn’t until college that Jesse really discovered what he loved to do – working on the radio as a student in the NIU department of communication.

“I really got the hands-on experience that I needed at NIU,” Rogers said. “I did a lot of work at WKDI and putting on the newscast at TV 8.”

Rogers had been a hockey fan his whole life. A year after graduation, a position opened for a host of pregame and postgame shows for Chicago Blackhawks games.

“It was perfect because I had played hockey as a kid and I’ve always been a huge Hawks fan,” Rogers said. “So of course I took the job.”

And it paid off. Rogers has been happy with The Score for 12 years – still serving as the main man for all Chicago Blackhawks games, which air on the radio station.

A work stoppage

This hockey season has been an unusual one for many, Rogers included. While some hosts would be worried about their position with a work stoppage in the sport they cover, Rogers is not one of them.

“Hockey’s not going to go away forever,” he responded. “Right now, I just do what I need to do to fill in. There’s not much that I can do about it but wait it out.”

Like the rest of hockey fans across America, Rogers will have to wait. But right now, he’s in the middle of his 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday night slot on The Score and he’s trying to watch the Bulls-Clipper game.

Preparing for a show

Like most sports radio hosts, Rogers spends his day watching sports. If someone calls in and asks Rogers what he thought about that three-point bomb from Andres Nocioni in the third quarter, he should be able to describe it.

“My work day is watching sports,” he added. “Today, for example, I spent four hours watching college football and now I’ll spend four hours on the air talking about it. So that’s my homework – watching sports.”

On the desk right next to Rogers is a wide-open newspaper – pen marks, lines and circles throughout the sports section. The airwaves give the public a chance to spout their grief with Chicago sports writers, especially about their favorite teams. It’s perfect fodder for the radio host, who needs to come up with ideas that keep people’s radios on and televisions off.

Behind the mic

The keys in keeping content flowing on the show sit across from the 35-year-old Rogers – his producers. Each of these twentysomething men are responsible for keeping the show running on time and making sure they can get a quick guest interview on the line, should the host request.

This past Saturday was a slower night for the show. First, it was Saturday night – people are out to dinner, at movies and some are actually at sporting events. Plus, Rogers’ show is up against the Bulls game. This means virtually no callers, so Rogers could spend the four hours talking to himself, or he can improvise.

“Could we get someone down in Tennessee on?” he asks his producers, referring to the broadcasters covering the Bears-Titans game Sunday.

Tonight’s producer/call screener Mike Murdock takes out his little book of numbers. He passes up announcer Jeff Joniak and decides to call former Bear Tom Thayer, who serves as color man aside Joniak on The Score’s sister station, WBBM Newsradio 780-AM.

Murdock gets Thayer on his cell phone, but he’s out to dinner. He tells Murdock to call him back in a half hour, which he does.

“Sometimes you have to improvise,” Rogers said. “We’re up right against the game, so we’re a little slow.”

But as soon as the game ends, the calls flood in. The Bulls blew a 24-point lead and lost by one – no news for the guys at The Score. But tonight, it’s Murdock’s job to make sure all the irate callers are on point.

“You know the good calls and you know the bad ones,” Murdock said. “The caller should know what we’re talking about. If they call and ask us, ‘Hey, what are you guys talking about?’, I usually let them go.”

“See, he’s nice,” producer Ryan Huff chimed in. “There’s a reason why I’m sitting over here and not answering calls. I’ll hang up on people; I don’t really much care.”

The wrap-up

Putting on a radio show is often a fast, stressful job. It doesn’t help when your favorite teams are constantly losing and you have to face a barrage of angry callers who love to scream into your ear.

After a half hour of Bulls ranting, it’s 11 p.m. and time for Jesse to sign off.

“My man from the Northern Star is here, my alma mater, Northern Illinois University,” Rogers jokingly said over the airwaves. “If I don’t get front page, I’m refusing to do an interview again. They don’t have anything else to write about in the sports section, that’s for sure, with Northern going down to Toledo for about the 10th year in a row.”

Well, Jesse, it may not be the sports section, but you got your front page.