ESPN Producer Howard Chen ’02 Credits Newhouse for Launching Career

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – ESPN producer Howard Chen ’02 returned to the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications on Friday, Feb. 28, to address students about his career and production job at ESPN, where he covers the NBA for the company’s international partners. 

Chen graduated from Newhouse in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast and digital journalism (BDJ). He says his experiences at Newhouse helped him secure his first job as a sports reporter. 

While at Syracuse, Chen aspired to be a sports broadcaster. He worked at WAER, Z89 radio, and UUTV (now Citrus TV). After his freshman year, Chen interned at Sports Radio 610 in Houston, Texas, where he learned how to write sportscasts. Over time, he shifted his focus to sports reporting and anchoring. After graduation, Chen landed a job at WHIZ-TV, the NBC station in Zanesville, Ohio, alongside two Syracuse students who graduated with him. 

Newhouse students and professors are listening to Howard Chen talk about his career. Photo credit: Samantha Barlow

“[Newhouse is] giving you that foundation and that knowledge so that when you’re at a different level, you have all the tools in the world at the higher levels,” Chen said. 

Chen said that numerous BDJ courses helped him become a better reporter. 

“I think fundamentally, if you’re going into sports, you need to know how to be a journalist. It’s not just about the games. You just got to know how to tell a story,” Chen said. 

Many years later, Chen worked for Comcast SportsNet Houston as a sideline reporter for the Houston Rockets and Astros. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he was one of the select few media members in the world inside the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida. 

Chen is now a producer for ESPN. He oversees coverage for ESPN’s China clientele, Tencent, where he produces for their NBA national broadcasts in China. Chen also helps with ESPN Australia and ESPN Netherlands. 

Chen’s non-NBA work includes the idea of Tom Brady wishing Chinese fans a Happy Lunar New Year in Mandarin in 2017 and creating an instructional video for Brady to practice. 

Syracuse Professor Olivia Stomski hosted the event in Room 102 in Newhouse 1.