Jamie Tawil - Sports News Anchor

My name is Jamie Tawil, I'm a News Anchor here at AM 640 on the Bill Watters Show: I also host the Leafs Lunch Weekend. Watching the Leafs as a kid, you grow up loving hockey. I mean obviously, you live in Canada so you love hockey. And that sort of morphed into getting into all sorts of sports. I always had some sort of a passion for broadcasting and media. I found that out in high school and pursued it in post-secondary education. I went to Loyalist College, took broadcasting and journalism. I did a lot of OHL coverage out there and it just sort of morphed into a full-time job here at 640.

Today, we're doing an hour show called Leafs Lunch Weekend. It's a one hour show, everything Leafs and everything hockey, really. And it's the weekend edition of our Leafs Lunch Show, which is arguably one of the most listened to shows in the country. We're going to be talking to Sammy Salo from the Vancouver Canucks, to Joe Bowen, who's our play by play guy, and Jonas Siegel, our reporter, out in Vancouver, as we tee up the game tonight between the Canucks and the Leafs.

So everytime I'm in here, essentially I got to do a few hours of prep before I go on. It's pretty easy because this is what I love doing, I love watching sports. I always knew I wanted to cover the Leafs and to be able to do it and get paid for it is good but watching the Leafs is one thing and knowing all the stats is something else. Actually coming in and doing the prep work, it's very important. Otherwise, you are going to go on air and not really know what you are talking about. I come in here, I usually do a couple of hours of prep before I go on and then watch the game as closely as I can. If it is a game night. Again, if I'm back in for the Sunday show, it's important to sift through the stats again and make sure you know what you're talking about.

I play a lot of sports as well. I have an interest in it, you know when I'm not playing, I am usually watching it. Being able to come in here and sort of regurgitate the information that I enjoy taking in when I'm not at work, it's pretty easy to do. And to get paid for it is a bonus as well.

There's behind the scenes stuff. It doesn't just stop with the talent. It's easy for a person listening in a car to think that the person on the radio is the "be all of the station". It's not the case. There's the board ops who are pressing all of the buttons, the call screeners who are answering all the phones and the producers who are lining up the guests and making sure the segments are filled. So, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that people don't necessarily hear and a lot of people here, don't necessarily get the credit for it.

Anyone who wants to get into this industry, I guess the best advice I can give them would be, don't expect to walk into a job that is going to pay you a lot of money. Be willing to sacrifice some of your time and be very, very patient. If you like sports, you have a decent delivery and you can read ok, you'll like this industry!