S.U. students get insight to future from famous alumni

A handful of broadcast journalism majors at Syracuse University got a taste of their future when they sat down with Herb Weisbaum, Dave Cohen, and Bob Costas in class today. S.U. Professor John Nicholson set up the meeting with the three Emmy award winning alumni whom he is friends with from their college hayday. Herb Weisbaum, better known as the Consumer Man, met the 15 students and talked about the future of news. He says the rise of the Internet is exponential and predicts it will replace TV within five years. He also gave the students lots of helpful hints on how to write for broadcast. He says it's frustrating that news stations cut each story so short because they are so focused on making a buck rather than communicating the news to the public.
Dave Cohen spoke to the students briefly focusing on his career reinventions. Not only has "Coney Island Dave" worked in broadcast, but he has been on screen in commercials, TV and the movie "Glory Road." He is known specifically for his voice and also talked to students about calling for the New York Yankees.
Bob Costas came later after talking on-air with Mike Turrico at WAER. Though he offered advice and perspective to the class, students were most interested in Costas's experiences as a broadcaster. He talked about reporting on the Olympics and his favorite moments in his career. (His highlight is reporting on the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.) An interesting discussion ensued between Costas and students when they asked him about his vocabulary choice and what he thinks when people say his word choice is "above" the average listener or viewer. Costas says to give the audience the benefit of the doubt instead of dumbing them down. He says, "Sports is not brain surgery, but neither should it be brain dead." He ended the class on a personal note, posing for pictures with each student.