Fishing Without Bait

In Part 1 of our conversation with Austin Cairns, Jim Ellermeyer explores how a shy kid who wasn't sure what he wanted to do began creating a path toward broadcasting. Austin grew up in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, attending a small high school where opportunities could be limited. Then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived during his high school years. Remote learning, isolation, uncertainty, fear for his frontline-worker parents, and spending most of his time at home left Austin feeling increasingly complacent and unsure about what came next. A seemingly ordinary moment with his father changed his perspective. While watching ESPN together, Austin's father told him he could imagine his son working in television. Austin didn't immediately believe him. At the time, he considered himself shy and struggled to imagine speaking comfortably into a microphone, much less appearing on camera. But Austin tried. He started looking for opportunities wherever he could find them. His first announcing experience came introducing hi