Gregory Leader, '95, Broadcasts His Love of Football

Gregory Leader broadcasts from Philadelphia
 during a Giants-Eagles football game.

Most people would resent having to work every weekend from September through January, but not Gregory Leader, '95. Leader spends every Saturday during football season producing a radio broadcast of the most prominent national college football game and every Sunday producing a radio broadcast of an NFL game. And he loves it. 

Leader left his job as Director of East Coast and West Coast affiliate sales for Westwood One, the nation's largest radio syndicator, in March 2003 to become Vice President of Affiliate Relations and Director of New Business for Sports USA Radio Network, an independent national syndicator of sporting events with a primary focus on football.  

A relatively small organization at the time, Sports USA Radio Network has grown exponentially in the three years since Leader's arrival. The company now claims 200 affiliate stations nationwide, including WRNL 910 in Richmond, Va. Leader has led the effort to get the Sports USA Radio programs on radio stations around the country.  

The national commercials Sports USA Radio airs on its broadcasts pay for the programming, enabling Leader to offer the programs to affiliate radio stations free of charge. Football fans spend a lot of money, Leader explained, so companies that advertise on Sports USA Radio are making a wise investment.  

Although Leader has proved highly successful in recruiting many new affiliate stations to Sports USA Radio, he relishes the time he spends producing the weekend broadcasts during football season most of all.  

"Going to the games is the really fun part of my job," Leader said. "I'm like a kid in a candy shop. Even though I am exhausted on Monday mornings, I will never take that part of my job for granted." 

Leader recounted the time he stood about 50 yards from Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and watched him throwing a football in his sweats during a warm-up session. "There's nothing like standing so close and watching a bunch of guys who love to play football," Leader said.  

Much like a football coach directing a game, when Leader produces a radio broadcast he manages a group of individuals in such a way that they work together as a team to achieve a desired result. He relies on his Jepson education to motivate members of his team and resolve conflicts, he said.  

"My broadcast crew is composed of eight very different personalities and egos," Leader said, "and I have to manage this crew to create a harmonious working environment. I take a lot of my Jepson texts and classroom knowledge into the booth with me each weekend." 

During the off-season from late January through August, Leader works on producing syndicated talk shows and starts contracting and scheduling for the upcoming football season. Because this is a less demanding time of year as far as his work goes, Leader tries to schedule some personal time during this period.  

"I take my vacations, move from house to house and schedule the birth of my babies for the off-season," Leader joked. His son, Matthew, born January 21, 2005, humored him by arriving just as the football season came to an end, he said.  

Leader, who majored in leadership studies and minored in theater arts, also uses the off-season to indulge his creative interests. In March 2005 he began writing the script for "True Colors," a musical about racial relations in New York City in the 1980s featuring popular songs from the same period. "True Colors" will debut this November at Glenelg High School near Leader's home in Columbia, Md.  

Whether crafting a musical or producing radio broadcasts, a lot of leadership is presentation, Leader said. And maybe there's something in a name as well, he mused, quoting former Jepson dean Howard Prince.  

"Howard Prince used to joke that we at Jepson like to say that leaders are made, not born," Leader said, "but then he'd add that there was one exception-Jepson student Greg Leader. I majored in my last name."