Many young children love Baltimore sports teams. In fact, rooting for the Orioles and the Ravens has led to numerous future career opportunities for young fans. AJ Gersh knew he wanted to be a sports broadcaster since watching these sports as a kid.
After growing up in Savannah Park, Gersh, 27, received a bachelor of science in broadcast and digital journalism from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School Of Public Communications. Gersh recently began working as a sports anchor at WBFF Fox 45.
AJ Gersh currently lives in Canton and belongs to Temple Beth Shalom.
What does your job entail?
In that role, I will be covering the Ravens, the Orioles, Maryland Terps, Towson Tigers, Morgan State, Johns Hopkins, Coppin and all greater Baltimore and Maryland metro sports teams. I’ll be out to all the city schools and county schools covering their sports programs alongside all the professional ones, whether that’s reporting live from Camden Yards or M&T Bank Stadium or training camp, or doing our studio sports anchoring, which includes a 30-minute program on Sunday nights called “Sports Unlimited.” It’s a lot to jump right into, but I’m excited to do it. I grew up celebrating the incredible sports teams in Maryland. It’s going to be interesting to now transition from rooting for the teams to covering them, but it’s a challenge that I’m up for, no question.
Did you always know that you wanted to go into sports broadcasting?
I’ve known since I was a young child that sports broadcasting was the career for me, starting at age 12. I went every summer to a play-by-play sports broadcasting camp, which was held at the College of Notre Dame. A couple of broadcasters started the camp decades ago, and they go around every summer to different cities across America and host kids’ camps, teaching them how to become sports broadcasters. After going to the camp my first summer, I never stopped going until I graduated from high school.
During my time in high school, I covered the Severn Admirals’ athletic program as a student reporter for our school newspaper, the Severn Anchor, [of] which I was editor-in-chief my senior year. Then for our senior project, the Severn Fellows program, I did some television play-by-play broadcasting as well for our high school sports team. It was a vested interest since I was a young kid, and going off to college, that was my number one goal.
I went right into news after school, but in my foray in the news industry, I always kept a foot into sports broadcasting, whether that was executive producing or anchoring our Friday night football sports show in Texas, or whether that was being the sideline reporter.
When [I saw the] opening in Baltimore, it was something that I was well equipped for, and I was, of course, beyond excited to get my foot in the door.
How would you describe your relationship with Judaism?
I have always held my Jewish values close to my heart. It’s been instilled since I was born that family, religion and God are the most important things. Those are values that I still hold to this day and will forever. I have a huge family of whom I love very much, and we are so close. We celebrate all of the Jewish holidays together. The memories that I’ve made, whether that’s with my family or with my family at Temple Beth Shalom, are some of my favorites. I can’t wait to continue celebrating those moments, whether that’s at Shabbat or at a Jewish holiday. I can’t wait to continue making those memories with my several families, whether that’s blood-related or at TBS.
Outside of work, what are some things you do for fun?
I’m a big golfer. I love to watch and review movies. I am a notorious finder of incredible food spots, and I love to enjoy the local restaurants in Baltimore or Annapolis. Of course, above all, the thing that I enjoy the most is spending time with my family here in Maryland. Whether that’s hanging out with my sister, Mallory, my parents, Steve and Diane, my bubbe, or my dozens of [extended family members] in the surrounding area. Having the ability to be back in Maryland and spend time with them on a regular basis was something that I have been looking forward to for the past five years, and I’m so excited that I’ll get to do that on a frequent basis now.
