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BG News Alumni Blog

“The Swoop”  Reimagined: Sam Barrett and Raymond Cotis on Bringing Sports Show Back to Life 

By Miranda Donnell | BG Falcon Media intern Raymond Cotis (left) and Sam Barrett. BG24 took a hiatus from its usual weekly news broadcast, replaced by while a new spin on the retired show “The Swoop” this semester.  “The Swoop,” a student-run sports broadcast, last aired in 2018.  Media production students Sam Barrett, senior, and Raymond Cotis, junior, worked hard to plan and execute its return.    Sam and Raymond were both previously involved with the BG24 newscast.  Sam began as a teleprompter and worked his way up to assistant director.  This year, he...

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Remembering The BG News

“I was in a journalism class touring the newspaper in Napoleon, Ohio, when the assassination of President John Kennedy occured in November 1963. We didn’t get to cry and be sad like everybody else. We jumped in our cars and drove right back to BG and went to work on the next edition of The BG News. We wrote sidebar stories about the campus reaction and told the local story about the assassination.”

Tom Walton
Summer Editor 1963

“We had a group of hard-nosed student journalists who weren’t afraid to question the administration and stir up controversy on campus. So many went on to distinguished newspaper careers. I made great memories and many lifelong friends. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.”

Bill Estep
Sports Editor 1976-77

“I was in a freshman journalism class as an English major when the editor and managing editor of The BG News came to the class to ask students to volunteer to write for the paper. A friend and I signed up and it changed my college trajectory. I had found my place. I wasn’t an English major anymore; I was a BG News major.”

Michael McIntyre
Editor Fall 1986

“My best friends to this day came from The BG News. The thing I remember most is that it was such a learning process. I learned how to really write and what news looks like. (Adviser) Bob Bortel was there for us and was a great mentor and leader in helping us navigate that world but also hold us responsible.”

Sarah Bednarski
Editor-in-chief Summer 1998

“Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the campus really relied on The BG News for information about policy changes and new developments. You would see copies of The BG News everywhere. You weren’t getting information from social media and websites, and everyone was reading it.”

Brandi Barhite
Editor-in-chief Spring 2000 

“We basically lived in the newsroom. I have vivid memories of hiding under my desk when I would hear a journalism professor was on their way to pop their head in, looking for students who were supposed to be in class at the time. I always thought The BG News was a better experience than I’d get in the classroom.”

Gina Potthoff
Editor-in-chief 2009-10

“The memories that I cherished the most about the newsroom were how family-oriented everything was. It was a home away from home. We would order food and do our stories but even when there was no work to be done, we would all still be there enjoying each other’s company.”

Cameron Teague Robinson
Editor-in-chief 2014-15

The BG News

Through the Years

The BG News

Through the Years

Years Of Publication

Issues Published

Staff Members

Working on The BG News in the Kuhlin Center Convergence Lab