In today’s world, journalism is a tough field to get into. Many writers relentlessly work for years to get to the positions they have today. Robert Klemko is no exception. A Denver resident, the Sports Illustrated and Monday Morning Quarterback writer joined Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro in-studio during The Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports Radio to discuss his journalistic journey.
Klemko stated many factors played into how he got to where he is today, including using your connections.
“They say it’s about who you meet and who you know, and I found that that was part of it,” said Klemko. “I had a professor at the University of Maryland who was a feature writer for USA Today. He recommended me to do an internship, and it just kind of went from there.”
Klemko started off doing smaller work for the company, but was granted a huge opportunity while with them. He quickly found himself being a full-time journalist.
“I was doing digital editing at USA Today at night and then they came through and revamped the whole sports department and fired like half the people. I got promoted from being on the night desk writing headlines and cutting photos, to being a reporter covering the Olympics.”
Klemko’s hard work was noticed, and he was hired to be a writer for SI and MMQB. He now covers a wide array of NFL topics.
“SI, I joined 3 or 4 years ago and it was honestly a lot of strokes of luck and just being in the position, working your butt off and having somebody notice it when the time came.”
Klemko knows that he could branch out to cover other sports and topics. On the other hand, he has found that covering the NFL provides him the most satisfaction.
“I never feel more comfortable than I feel when I’m watching an NFL game, looking for a specific trend, and then going to a locker room and trying to find answers to my questions, it’s the most satisfying thing.”
Listen to the full interview with Robert Klemko, including his thoughts on Thursday Night Football, in the podcast below.
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/1-25-17-robert-klemko-joins-eric-les-in-studio
Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro every weekday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.