Local man hits the waves
Bosch in the Saskatoon studio at CKOM.
By Jim Craik
“I’m Jeremy Bosch, CKOM News.”
If you’ve heard those words this summer on News Talk 650 CKOM, you’ve listened to Martensville’s Jeremy Bosch on his first gig as a broadcast journalist.
Bosch, who spent most of his life in Rosthern before moving to Martensville with his family in 2005, has nearly completed his studies in journalism at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). He’s been on the air since June 1 at CKOMs Saskatoon studio, reading the news five days a week, usually in the late afternoon and evenings Wednesday to Friday and in the afternoon and early evening Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s not my dream job I would say,” Bosch says, “but it’s along the lines of where I want to get into. For me to be there (at CKOM) at this point and still not done school is great.
“I like being in the centre of things and being the person who is breaking the news. I like to know what’s going on and I like telling people. I like illustrating it in a way that’s very entertaining and that catches people’s attention.”
Bosch has seen broadcast journalism as his career choice for some time.
“When I was just five or six years old, my favourite show to watch was SPORTSDESK on TSN. I always thought to myself that would be the coolest, most fun job in the world just to be able to do that and talk about stuff I really enjoy all the time.
“Probably in Grade 10 or 11 at high school I made that decision that this is what I wanted to do and to work towards it.”
After earning a BA degree in English at the University of Saskatchewan, Bosch enrolled at BCIT in Burnaby last fall. He will go back this fall and complete his studies at Christmas.
Then he can either do an unpaid internship or work at a radio station in a paid position to complete the course. He’s hoping to do the latter at CKOM but that’s still in the works. In either case, he fully expects to graduate next May.
This past January a unique opportunity came along and Jeremy jumped right in. He was able to work with the Australia rights holder for the Olympics, Nine Network, helping them put their telecasts together while learning a lot about the business.
The experience was priceless.
“They were probably three of the most amazing weeks in my life,” he says of the time with the Australian network at their site at Whistler.
He had applied to Nine Network after BCIT got the ball rolling and he was lucky to get hired and work with their commentators at the events. Bosch would go to the media centre each day and meet with commentators and take them to the events and help with other technical things.
“Just to be there with the buzz in Whistler and its international cultural atmosphere was unbelievable. To be able to do all that and learn and work as a member of the media to an extent at the Olympics was special.
“Sitting on the top of the media booth at the sliding venues was a highlight. I had a bird’s eye view watching Canada win some gold in bobsled and then Jon Montgomery’s gold in skeleton. That was unbelievable. For me being at those events and seeing history unfold was special.”
Bosch also got to work with Phil Liggett, a broadcasting legend in Europe known as the voice of the Tour de France.
“I’m sitting not only 50 feet away from what’s happening,” says Bosch of his special time with Liggett, “and hearing one of the best in the business work at it and seeing how he does it.” It was a great learning opportunity indeed.
Bosch eventually wants to report on sports.
“It’s been my goal,” he says of his dream to be a sportscaster. “Some day I want to get onto a national level doing sports whether it be at the games doing play-by-play or anything like that or doing anchoring at a place like TSN, Sportsnet or CTV or whatever. The hard part is that there is no set path to get there. You just have to get in and start working your way up.”
There’s still time to catch Jeremy Bosch on the air but tune in soon. He’ll be wrapping things up at CKOM and heading back to classes in Burnaby where he hopes to complete his studies around Christmas time and possibly return to CKOM with a permanent posting, if everything works out.
Then he’ll start working on the rest of his career.
