Living the Dream: The World of Sports Broadcasting

Chuck Miketinac loves his job. He’s got the kind of gig most sports nuts dream about. Growing up, his passions for Chicago Cubs baseball and Green Bay Packers football made him realize he wanted to be a part of the exciting world of sports.

Miketinac is living that dream, working for Fox’s San Antonio affiliate, KABB, where he has been the sports director and anchor for their “Maximum Sports” show since 1999.

Miketinac has been a popular mainstay on "Maximum Sports" for over 10 years.

After graduating from Madison High School in San Antonio in 1982, he moved up north to play baseball for a small Wisconsin college for a year before returning to Texas to focus on his education. In 1986, Miketinac graduated from Southwest Texas State with a degree in broadcast journalism.

Miketinac’s broadcasting career started in 1988 at KVTV in Laredo, where he essentially ran the sports department by himself. Eventually, he moved on to San Antonio’s CBS affiliate, where he was a weekend sports reporter for five years, before finally coming to FOX29 in 1995.

Miketinac has experienced a lifetime’s worth of highlights so far in his career.

He’s covered four NBA Championship runs with the San Antonio Spurs, a couple of Super Bowls, and a Major League Baseball World Series.

Most recently, he covered the local McAllister Park Little League baseball team as they played their way onto the national stage at the Little League World Series this past August. Miketinac also remembers many of the great interviews he’s had over the years with several players, including NBA Hall of Fame forward Charles Barkley, and former MLB All-Star first baseman John Kruk.

“You could just stick a mic in their face and they’d basically do your job for you,” Miketinac said.

Despite getting what he calls some “lucky breaks,” he does have some advice for aspiring journalists coming out of college.

“Make the most of your opportunities,” said Miketinac. “Of course, you’ve got to get an internship, but once you do, you have to kick as much (tail) as humanly possible, show them they have to take you seriously.”

Miketinac is beloved by his fellow co-workers, including Hector Ledesma, who has worked alongside him on Maximum Sports since 2005.

“Chuck’s the best boss I’ve ever had,” said Ledesma. “He gives his guys free rein to enterprise and work on their stories and I think that shows his level of trust to those around him. His loose, but focused demeanor at work makes it an enjoyable experience to work with him.”

Outside of the sports world, Miketinac is a devoted family man, living in San Antonio with his wife and three children. But occasionally, he finds time to slip away and play a few games of “Madden” football.

Story by: Scott Collins
Photo courtesy of KABB