Wide-eyed first-year Adam Rosen '10 stepped into the WBRS office with no radio experience and only a love of sports as his guide. Four years later, Rosen is leaving behind a legacy of enthusiasm, accomplishment and professionalism that drove the substantial growth of WBRS sports during his tenure as sports director. The Division III status of Brandeis athletics, the prime focus of WBRS sports, may not carry the prestige or recognition associated with mighty Division I programs. However, this did not hold Rosen back from trying to elevate his station to a major-league level.

"It's all about your perspective and how you view yourself," said Rosen. "People kind of make fun of me about it, but I try to treat WBRS like we're ESPN Radio. I think you've got to view yourself like you're the best if you want others to perceive you that way. It all starts with that mentality."

Little thing like buying matching ClimaCool polo shirts and printing up business cards have underscored major accomplishments: WBRS' multiple encounters with current Philadelphia Phillies pitcher/former New York Mets pitcher and Brandeis alumnus Nelson Figueroa '98, for example, and scoring an on-air shout-out from Mets television announcer Gary Cohen. In February, the station brought in David Halberstam, a former Miami Heat radio broadcaster and the father of Manny Halberstam '10, a member of the WBRS sports staff, to speak to the staff and announce a Brandeis basketball game with his son.

Rosen considers the station's connection with Figueroa, the only Brandeis alumnus ever to play in Major League Baseball, his proudest accomplishment. It started Rosen's sophomore year when he found out that Figueroa was making his first major league start with the Mets.

"I mentioned it to the sports director at the time, [Steve Gross] '08, who was also a huge Mets fan," reflected Rosen. "I was like, 'Steve, maybe we should think about applying for some kind of media credentials, see if we can cover the game.' He kind of laughed at me at first, . and he was like, 'You know, I think I'm probably going to take a pass, but if you want to give it a shot, go ahead.'"

Rosen took the initiative and was granted credentials for the game. The WBRS team drove to Shea Stadium in Flushing, N.Y., where it went to the pregame press conference with Mets manager Willie Randolph, interviewed Cohen and managed an exclusive post-game interview with Figueroa.

Rosen reminiced about his first interview with Figueroa.

"Nelson is the nicest guy you could imagine," said Rosen. "It was his first start in the bigs in like four years, and he had a ton of family at the game, but he still took 15 minutes out of his time to talk to us."

Rosen and the crew made two more trips to Queens during Figueroa's tenure with the Mets and showed the major leaguer their own home turf when Figueroa returned to Brandeis to have his number retired last October.

Rosen and Ian Cutler '11 brought Figueroa up to the WBRS studio, which moved in 2003 from its original home in the Usdan Student Center, where Figueroa was once a student disc jockey to the third floor of the Shapiro Campus Center. Their 26-minute interview can be heard at http://wbrs.org.

"Whether it's bringing in the professional broadcaster or a major league player, part of what I wanted to do was bring more credibility to WBRS-just to add this to our résumé, as a sports department, of things we've done," said Rosen. "Hopefully, guys in the future will continue to have new ideas and to build off of what we've done the last few years."

Cohen, who got his grounding in broadcasting with WKCR radio at Columbia University, also stressed the importance of making connections in the professional world.

"Part of what you learn as a young adult in college is how to have the confidence and the personal wherewithal to assert yourself and sell yourself," said Cohen in a telephone interview with the Justice. "Any time that a college student has a chance to go into the real world and make contacts and get a better taste of what it's like to perform that task in real life-I think that's all for the good."

Cutler, who takes the reins as next year's sports director, attributes Rosen's success to his blend of networking and passion.

"That's something I think is important to have," said Cutler. "I'm going to try to bring that as much as I can."

While Cutler is skeptical about his ability to match Adam's much- renowned level of devotion, he aspires to display a similar amount of dedication.

Just like Rosen, most people who first step into the WBRS office do so with no prior experience. The task may seem daunting at first, but according to Rosen, the station's hierarchy of exposure helps to ease the transition.

"Truthfully, we really don't get a lot of listeners to our radio shows. It really is mostly friends and family," said Rosen. "Keeping that in the back of your head helps."

For the particularly nervous beginners, overnight shows are a less stressful way to gain experience. However, with experience and hard work, students can, like Rosen, move up and become sports director.

In his sophomore year, Rosen developed comfort speaking on the air as a panelist on one of the several sports talk shows WBRS streams between games. Then he worked his way into the station's featured basketball broadcasts, keeping statistics and doing halftime shows. By his junior year, he was doing seamless play-by-plays and color commentary.

"That's the beauty of college radio," Cohen said of the experience that he, Rosen and countless others have had. "The best way to learn how to be a broadcaster, no matter what role you ultimately fulfill, is to learn by doing. . It really serves as a training ground for people who have really had no contact with broadcasting before."

Besides doing every home basketball game, WBRS does a number of baseball games and, for the first time this year, softball games. Rosen and Matt Kessler '10 ended up broadcasting the Brandeis softball team throughout its run in the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament, the team's first ever appearance in the tournament.

"I have a couple of friends on the softball team, and they've all been nagging me that we should do games over the past few years," said Rosen of the station's decision to begin broadcasting softball games. "When I was finally elected sports director, ... I realized it was possible."

Rosen also vied for and was granted a budget increase to travel more with both basketball teams, and WBRS consequently broadcasted more road games this year than ever before, travelling to University Athletic Association rivals Case Western Reserve University, Carnegie Mellon University, Emory University and Rochester University. They then followed the men's basketball team through the entirety of its Elite 8 NCAA run to St. John Fisher College and Williams College, where the team played its games.

Although Rosen is graduating, his radio savvy likely will not be left behind in the WBRS office. Rosen hopes to carry the experience he's gained at WBRS into the professional world and is applying for jobs in sports broadcasting.

"People say that you should do something that you love, and I know that I've definitely loved doing radio here. It's definitely been the highlight of my college experience," said Rosen. "If the right opportunity came up, it's definitely something that I'd have to consider."

As he leaves behind the radio station to which he has lent so many hours of work, thought and preparation, Rosen is confident about the future of WBRS sports and the Brandeis students whose task it will be to realize it.

"Even if I haven't taught anybody anything about sports or broadcasting-although I like to think that I have-at the least I hope that my enthusiasm has rubbed off on people and that people will take that same initiative. Because it is possible; as a college radio station, there's a lot of opportunities of things you can do. It's just a matter of how aggressive you are and how badly you want to do it."

Editor's note: Gary Cohen is the writer's father.