In addition to drawing from his broad and expansive professional journalism experiences, and integrating current theory and practice into his courses, Kyle Belanger has demonstrated an unquestionable reputation for responding to student and institutional feedback.

This action-based curricular focus has affected both his individual classes, as well as the Communications/Sports Journalism major in which he teaches.

From a program level, Kyle Belanger collaborated with his faculty colleagues to write, propose, and reshape the entire curriculum of a decades-long major, reimagining the future of communications professionals, and giving students the most modern industry education. This relaunch comes in the wake of his students being hired at such places as the New York Times, ESPN, and the Los Angeles Daily News, among countless others.

On an individual level, Kyle’s CV includes more than a dozen classes, many of which he wrote and launched as a direct response to student feedback and needs.

In addition, Belanger also draws on his countless media partnerships to expand the possibilities for his classes. Those possibilities have included partnering with local radio stations to host student-led broadcasts, and linking with regional nonprofits to create unique learning opportunities for his classes.

In two decades of work as a media professional, Kyle Belanger has worked across all platforms–a true testament to the storytelling versatility he demands of his students.

From the print world, he has experience as a newspaper editor, a weekly columnist, and a high school sports reporter. In addition, Belanger was called on to run a small, locally-based sports magazine, managing its staff as editor in chief.

On the internet, his time with MassLive.com coincided with its meteoric growth, as the world of interactive journalism took shape in the late 2000s.

Behind the mic, Kyle Belanger was hired to usher in a new era of sports talk radio in his region, as the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame welcomed an ESPN Radio affiliate and needed a sports director/drive-time host. He has worked play-by-play for high school football, summer wood-bat league baseball, and at the legendary Spalding HoopHall Classic, as well as serving as a fill-in color analyst for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.

At present, in addition to serving as the voice of the HoopHall, Belanger is a sought-after radio producer, working with legendary sports radio figure Chris Visser to cover the Super Bowl each year. He was also hired by a national professional organizations to cover the 2020 Final Four, before it was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.

He is currently the faculty advisor to the Springfield College campus radio station, its television station, as well as acting as a frequent freelancer across platforms and media.

Use this link for a deeper dive into the 60 Days of Summer interview series. Click here for a sampling of some of his podcast projects.

“Lead with your humanity, and any answer you need will make itself known.”

Kyle Belanger uses this philosophy in nearly every phase of his life–as a teacher in the classroom, out on assignment as a reporter/producer, as a community member, a father, and the founder of a regional nonprofit. Everywhere.

In addition, he approaches his practice and teaching of journalism as a vital service opportunity. As such, Belanger frames those actions through the lens of lending his voice to amplify those whose voices are often unheard. Finally, he consistently emphasizes the ethical principles of seeking the truth and reporting it, and minimizing harm.

His community service endeavors are plentiful and diverse, and include (but are not limited to):

• Co-founding a regional nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the foster/adoptive community of Western Massachusetts
• Serving on board of directors for an educational nonprofit
• Chairing his local school committee for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Coaching youth sports (baseball, soccer, basketball)
• Coordinating publicity for the Wounded Warrior Amputee Football Team, as it travels the country to take on teams of NFL alumni
• Serving as elected Town Meeting member
• Assisting Massachusetts Department of Children and Families in the training of foster/adoptive parents
• Founding Racial Justice Task Force in South Hadley, Mass.

Truth is, if you really want to know about Kyle Belanger’s life of service, ask him. The bullets above are only the beginning.

For nearly 15 years, as a member of the Springfield College Communications/Sports Journalism faculty, Kyle Belanger has made his classroom an extension of the newsrooms, radio stations, TV studios, and professional communications environments that his students aspire to join.

Rooted in the fundamentals of ethical journalism and storytelling, his classes balance arduous classroom study and academic rigor with the hands-on practice of those theories and principles. In other words, students should not plan on staying in their seats too long; they are going to be up and working before their armrests get warm.

His course offerings are diverse, including classes in online/new media, newspaper layout and design, radio/audio broadcasting, and public relations/strategic communications. And even though student feedback is not always a direct marker of pedagogical effectiveness, feedback like this blog post on the Springfield College official website certainly seems significant.

Since 2015, Kyle Belanger has worked alongside legendary sports radio producer Chris Visser, providing blanket coverage of the Super Bowl for countless national radio outlets from the world-famous Radio Row. Not only is this assignment central to Belanger’s own media career, but is also the cornerstone of so many vibrant and meaningful classroom experiences for his students.

Routinely covered by the regional media, Belanger’s Super Bowl trips are used in his classroom in real time, as he takes time from his breakneck Radio Row schedule to teach his classes from the epicenter of the media world that his students hope to reach.

It is not just Super Bowls that he brings to his students; he has also accompanied students to March Madness, and Wounded Warrior Amputee Football games against retired NFL stars. These factors make Kyle Belanger’s classes much more than just a three-hour weekly experience; they are often transformative events for his students.