Inside the mind of WNEM’s Mark Pearson
By Jacob Teets
Mark Pearson has been the sports director for WNEM since May of 2023 after spending four years at WAND in Illinois and two and a half years at WDAZ in Grand Forks, N.D. He took over as the sports director in Decatur, Ill. amid the COVID-19 virus in October 2020. Pearson had a lot to say in this interview, going over his role as sports director at WNEM, his experience covering Super Bowl 52 in Minneapolis and how important it is to cover local sports.
Q: You spent four years at WAND in Illinois, and two and a half years in North Dakota at WDAZ. What led you to come back to Michigan and work for WNEM?
A: I’m originally from Rockford, MI, over on the west side of the state. My family’s here; my wife’s family also grew up in Grand Rapids. My favorite sports teams are all Detroit teams. So, it’s always been a goal to come back to Michigan to cover those (Detroit) teams to be familiar with the teams I’ve been covering. We wanted to be closer to home and that is why we wanted to come back this way. Then WNEM had a great opportunity for their sports director position, and I was fortunate enough to get that.
Q: You took over as sports director at WAND in 2020 during COVID. What kind of challenges did you face becoming sports director during COVID?
A: There were a ton of challenges for 2020 with covid, extending to 2021. The biggest challenges were finding stories and keeping sports relevant when sports were not happening for a while. We had to localize everything we could to make our audience care about what we were talking about, because nothing was going on. You had to figure out Zoom quickly because that was the only way to interview people. We had to get creative. We came up with a series where we looked back in time.
Q: Is there anything you learned early in your career that sticks with you to this day?
A: 1,000 percent. I was very fortunate to have superior mentors that left a mark on me. Dave Calabro at WTHR in Indianapolis and Jack Doles at WOOD TV 8 in Grand Rapids. The biggest things that stuck with me were to have a good attitude, enjoy your work and make sports fun for people to watch. There’s a lot of dark things happening and so our job is to come on and brighten everybody’s day.
Q: You bring a lot of energy into your reporting. Is that something you came into the field with or learned as you gained experience?
A: I’ve always had this type of enthusiasm. It’s something for me that, no matter who is watching, they should know that I care as much on Tuesday as I did on Thursday and Saturday. I’m so passionate about it. I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life, I love what I do, I love the people I work with, and I love the things that I cover.
Q: As a sports fan, what was the experience of covering Super Bowl 52 in Minneapolis?
A: Outside of marrying my wife, that was probably one of the better days of my life for sure. We got there crazy early because I wanted to soak it in. I wanted to take it in because one of my biggest goals was to cover a Super Bowl one day. Thank goodness for Carson Wentz and the North Dakota State tie there. That was the reason why we were there.
Q: What is the most important aspect of covering local sports?
A: It’s highlighting the athletes. We want to know what athletes and which town is doing great things, and I want to cover all local sports. It’s about trying to get the entire community involved and interested in local sports. And local sports, in my opinion, are the most important kind because they affect you.
Q: What does the role of sports director look like on a daily basis at WNEM?
A: To keep everything short and sweet, it’s all about organization, planning and looking ahead. All the way up to Standish, Oscoda, Mount Pleasant, out to the thumb, it’s a lot of area to cover. To be able to plan things like who’s going where, at what time, who’s going to anchor the five tonight, the ten and the 11. How do we set up stories that will hit home at the right time.
Q: Were there any events you were assigned to cover that you thought you wouldn’t enjoy but ended up having a great time?
A: My first job was in North Dakota. There’s not a whole lot of big cities of course. High school hockey in North Dakota was awesome. My first couple of games I was like, man, it’s high school hockey. There was an awesome rivalry in Grand Forks between Red River and Central, and it was always my favorite event of the year.
I remember going in like it’s high school hockey, and I don’t know how good these kids are. Some of them are in the NHL now.