UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Where does this guy live again?
Las Vegas.
And he does what for a living?
Covers the Steelers and Penn State as a member of the media.
But how?
Well, that part's up in the air -- literally.
Working remotely has become a big thing in our country in recent years. But this is not a story about a fellow working remotely.
This is the story about a media member who grew up 22 miles from Pittsburgh in Houston, Pa., and now lives 2,200 miles away in Vegas, and yet he still comes all this way back to cover Steelers and Nittany Lions home games in person.
It might sound crazy. But if you’re a huge sports fan, you might just think Shawn McCullough has one of the coolest jobs ever.
A dream job, you might even say.
McCullough works for Radio PA, and it's his responsibility to get audio of James Franklin and the Penn State players after games, and of Mike Tomlin and the Steelers players after games. McCullough watches the games from the press box at Beaver Stadium or Acrisure Stadium, then heads down afterward to the media room.
"I'll do interviews, and then I'll cut that sound up into, say, 8- to 15-second soundbites," McCullough said, "and I'll send that out to the Radio Pennsylvania Network. Basically that sound goes to radio stations across the state.
"So, pretty much any soundbite you hear of Penn State or Steelers in the state of Pennsylvania, for most of the stations that are associated with Radio Pennsylvania, will come from my microphone."
Pretty cool gig, huh?
There are a ton of sports fans who would love to be in the press box during games, then go and interview the coaches and players afterward. I've been in the sports media business for close to 30 years, and have encountered hundreds if not thousands of people who have said, "That's such a cool job! I wish I could be there and get paid to watch games."
"Exactly," McCullough agreed. "I mean, everybody I've talked to is like envious, without a doubt."
His favorite memory is covering the Steelers' Super Bowl XLIII victory over the Cardinals in Tampa in 2009.
"Covering all of that was just fabulous," he said.
What makes McCullough so fascinating is the lengths to which he goes to do his unique job. He flies all the way back here from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh for every Penn State and Steelers home game, and he also covers the Steelers on the road.
Oh, and when he's back back home in Vegas, he covers the NHL's Golden Knights and the city's WNBA team, the Aces.
OK, so who is this guy, and why would he do all of this travel, which is not only time consuming, but also expensive?
McCullough is 54, grew up right outside Pittsburgh and graduated from Penn State in 1991 with a degree in computer science. That last part is key, because this is a smart guy with a very good day job, which allows him to really kind of have fun with his side gig of sports media.
McCullough works in software consulting, and he's been able to work remotely for more than 20 years. He was still living in this region when, in 2008, he got his part-time job with Radio PA covering the Steelers and Penn State.
In 2015, he decided he wanted to move to Las Vegas. But there was a catch in that he didn't want to give up the sports gig.
"I'm thinking, OK, well, I have a pretty darn good job, I enjoy doing the work and all of that, obviously," he said. "So, at that point, I decided, well, I want to still try to do this. I didn't know if I could really swing it when I first moved out there, but there are direct flights from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh. If I need to go Las Vegas to Cleveland and then drive from there, whichever is easier. Direct flights and red-eyes going Friday night. ... Pretty much every weekend from September until January."
McCullough is not married, and has no kids.
"That is a huge factor," he said. "I'm single, haven't been married, don't have kids. Have two dogs. I have friends that watch my dogs when I'm gone, and it kind of really works out."
CORY GIGER / DKPS
Alright, so here's the thing anyone would want to know about this whole setup: It has to be crazy expensive, right, to be flying back and forth from Vegas to Pittsburgh and other places around the country? And does he even make enough money doing the Radio PA job to pay for all of those expenses?
Without getting into specifics, McCullough acknowledged, "Yeah, it comes close."
He is a pro when it comes to booking flights. He says 3-4 years ago he could get round-trip flights from Vegas to Pittsburgh for the insanely low price of $25 at times, and now it's more like $100-150 or so. He's a Hilton Honors member, so you can only imagine the frequent flyer points he's able to rack up. It also helps that he can stay with his parents, who still live in Houston, when he comes back to PA.
"I'm definitely not making a ton of money, without a doubt," McCullough said of the radio gig. "I mean, I have a full-time job ... and I work from home, so I basically can work from anywhere in the world. So, when I'm back in Pittsburgh working or when I'm back in that area, I can work on that one day from home, and then fly back to Vegas that Monday evening."
This is a unique situation where a guy makes good money at his day job, enjoys sports and has the time to still fit both into his schedule. Even from across the country.
"It just comes down to more of the enjoyment of the job," McCullough said. "I mean, how many times in your life do you find something that you just really love to do? You don't really care if you get paid or not, right? If the pay is great, it's on top of it. But it's just something that I really enjoy and something that I really love doing."
Again, I've heard from many people over the years who would love to be part of the sports media and wonder how to go about it. The one thing I'll tell them is that, first of all, you had better have a day job so that can pay your bills, because there are a TON of sports media people working out there who don't make very much money at all. So, if you want this kind of job, you had better have another source of steady income -- either a day job or a spouse, and preferably both.
McCullough is, by far, the best example of that I've ever encountered. And he gets asked the same kind of questions from friends wondering how they can get jobs like these.
"I have friends that have children that are going through high school and college now and looking to get into that area," McCullough said, "and I kind of say the same thing as you do, Cory. They're asking for help and to get a foot in the door, and I'll try to as much as I can. The best way for them is just internships and just getting their foot in the door."
Now surely, after years of doing all these cross-country flights, McCullough has to have some pretty crazy travel horror stories, right? Well, actually -- and surprisingly -- he really doesn't.
Or at least, he didn't. Not until after I did this interview with him on Sept. 30.
It turns out, I jinxed him.
We talked on a Friday, and McCullough was getting set later that evening to fly into Pennsylvania to cover Penn State against Northwestern on Saturday, then the Steelers against the Jets on Sunday.
Lo and behold, for the first time since moving out to Vegas in 2015, his flight wound up getting canceled. He ended up missing the Penn State game but did get another flight so he could cover the Steelers.
McCullough has been doing this for 14 years now, and doesn't seem to have an end date on when he might be willing to give up his sweet sports side gig.
"I found something that I totally 100 percent enjoy doing, and I can balance it with my full-time job, too," he said. "And you know, monetarily they're complementary. So, it works out great for me."
