Christopher J. Bumbaca

Email: chrisbumbaca1@gmail.com

Twitter: @BOOMbaca

Education

University of Wisconsin-Madison Class of 2017

• Double majored in Journalism (double tracked in Reporting and Strategic Communication) and Political Science
• Graduated with a 3.7 GPA as a member of the Chancellor’s Scholars Scholarship Program

Work Experience

March 2018-Present, Editorial Producer, MiLB.com

• Monitor two or three of the 17 leagues in the Minors on any given night, scouring for the best storylines
• Write a game story focusing on one prospect’s performance, almost always one who ranks in the top 30 on a team’s respective MLBPipeline.com list. Conduct interviews with player or coach to provide “feature” element to story
• Select and cut photos, write captions and headlines, include video, copy edit own work and send to production
• Build a rolodex of prospects, coaches and Minor League contacts, including some of baseball’s rising stars
• Request at least one highlight for each game assigned through MLB Advanced Media’s system. Assist in social media.

October 2017-June 2018 Nebraska Recruiting Writer, Landof10.com

• Filed a daily recruiting “notebook” filled with the latest news, analysis, original reporting and opinion on the Nebraska football team’s recruiting efforts for Cox Media’s Big Ten college football vertical, Landof10.com. 
• Aside from the notebooks, wrote additional stories throughout the week, ultimately having a minimum 10 bylines per week
• Focused on SEO strategies in headlines, URL keywords and alt-text. Interview recruits, coaches and parents daily
• Emphasized communicating with fans, hosting weekly Facebook Live question-and-answer forums, debuting a Q&A post on the site three times a week. By tailoring fan interest to posts, saw pageviews rapidly increase during first four months on job and set new highs on Land of 10-Nebraska for each month compared to the previous year’s.
• Worked remotely while being a responsive member of a team in a startup environment

May 2017-October 2017, Associate Reporter, MLB.com

• Worked as backup beat reporter for the New York Mets. Primary duties included writing pregame news items, sidebars and collaborated with opposing team’s beat reporter for game recaps. Also assumed opposing team’s beat writer responsibilities for entire series when regular beat writer did not travel to away games
• Gained experience on social desk, curating MLB At-Bat app GameFeed and scheduling stories for all 30 teams through Google Posts
• Learned how to think, act and operate like a beat writer by participating in the daily grind of a baseball season

June 2016-September 2016, Sports Intern, The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Wisconsin

• Served as No. 2 reporter for week of inaugural PGA Tour Champions event in Madison, providing exclusive coverage and appeared on camera providing daily recaps and previews. Also reported a front-page story regarding impact and future of the tournament
• Wrote a series of stories regarding ex-Badgers players navigating their way through pro basketball
• Led Olympic coverage for paper by profiling athletes with ties to Madison, Wisconsin area, which ran in print over a course of one week leading into the opening ceremonies
• Utilized open records laws to obtain contracts of new business ventures UW Athletics had recently entered

May 2015-August 2015, Sports Intern, The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Missouri

• Assisted in coverage of all Kansas City-area sports, including the Chiefs, Royals, Sporting KC, college sports at Missouri and Kansas and high school sports. Completed internship as member of the Sports Journalism Institute’s Class of 2015
• Wrote recaps, sidebars, features and general assignments for both print and web, adhering to strict deadlines and word counts
• Developed interviewing skills by interviewing Royals players in clubhouse and Chiefs players at training camp
• Increased understanding of enterprise writing, particularly through publishing a piece on protective screening at Major League Baseball games

August 2013-May 2017 The Badger Herald, Madison, Wisconsin

Positions: Beat Writer (October 2013-May 2014), Associate Sports Editor (May 2014-May 2015), Sports Editor (June 2015-December 2015, Senior Writer (August 2016-May 2017)

• Earned first beat gig after two months as a contributor, first covering women’s basketball. Would eventually go on to be the primary beat writer for softball, volleyball, men’s basketball and football
• Served as third-in-command as associate sports editor, carrying out duties as requested by the two sports editors while maintaining two beats. Edited in AP Style and took steps to enhance copy through use of multimedia
• As sports editor, planned special sections, collaborated with upper-management, managed team of seven writers while recruiting new reporters, led section as paper transitioned from print to digital-first philosophy, encouraged feature reporting
• Spent senior year as full-time football/men’s basketball beat writer, filing game stories, sidebars, columns and features

Skills

• Nearly fluent in Spanish after studying abroad in Madrid, Spain for five months
• Proficient in all Microsoft Office programs and a basic understanding of InDesign, Illustrator, Audition and Photoshop