UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Philadelphia Eagles had two Penn State alumni play during Super Bowl LIX, but they weren't the only Nittany Lions working the game.
College of Arts and Architecture alumni Austen Yim and Sydney Smith, who both studied sound design as undergraduates in the School of Theatre, worked with the Philadelphia Eagles this past football season, covering the games for Philadelphia local radio station, 94WIP-FM.
Yim is the stadium chief engineer for the Eagles Radio Network with 94WIP-FM and Smith, a freelance multimedia designer, was his assistant this year.
Smith’s duties included post-game conferences, capturing audio for 94WIP-FM, mixing the games for the station and helping to record locker-room interviews. Yim was on the logistics side of things, coordinating travel, schedules and everything else that goes into making the broadcast happen.
Working with the Eagles afforded Yim and Smith opportunities that would make any Eagles fan jealous, they said.
“Last year, I was holding my [sound] dish, and someone snatched it out of my hands,” Yim said. “I looked to my left, and Fletcher Cox had my dish in his hands, grinning and messing with me.”
Yim graduated from Penn State in 2023 with dual degrees in telecommunications and theatre, with a sound design emphasis, and Smith graduated in 2022 with a degree in theatre, emphasis in sound design and technical direction, along with a minor in music technology.
While at Penn State, Yim and Smith got their start in live broadcasting by working with the club hockey team.
“That was a turning point, I think for both of us, in broadcasting,” Yim said. “We just had a lot of heart and a lot of drive.”
Both reflected on how the smaller environment in the College of Arts and Architecture helped them forge connections with professors and gave them unique opportunities.
“It’s important to find mentors. We were honestly blessed to be in a smaller school within Penn State. We got to have a very close connection with our teachers,” Smith said.
As a freelance multimedia designer, Smith has made connections across the broadcast industry. For example, he met WHYY reporter Tom MacDonald while working with 94WIP-FM on a Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl football game. MacDonald then helped him get a job working at an Army-Navy football game on media row.
“One random event leads to another,” Smith said. “It’s a pretty cool thing to take random gigs and you never know what will come of it.”
Working together for the Eagles inspired Yim and Smith to co-found Silent Roar Studios with fellow School of Theatre alumni Jonathan Langberg and Michael Smedley. The company provides audio design and audio content creation services.
“It’s really about finding out where you think your skills are needed, especially in this age where content and media are everything,” Smith said.