Sports Reporter, The Monitor (McAllen, Texas)

The Monitor — a 50,000 daily, 55,000 Sunday in the Rio Grande Valley (Texas) — is looking for a hard-charging sportswriter. Our ideal candidate is a highly motivated, competent reporter who loves the job and hates even more getting beaten by the competition. This position will include beat and high school coverage, general assignments and desk work.

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission is one of the five fastest growing areas of the nation, a fact reflected by our rapidly growing sports market. The Upper Valley is home to the NBA D-League’s RGV Vipers, the Central Hockey League’s RGV Killer Bees, arenafootball2’s RGV Dorados, the Premier Development League’s RGV Bravos FC, the United Baseball League’s Edinburg Roadrunners, a soaring boxing market and NCAA Division I University of Texas-Pan American.

High school sports have a large following as well, which is evident by the recent launch of RGVSports.com The Magazine, a full-color, glossy 72-page quarterly high school sports publication written and designed by Valley Freedom Newspapers’ combined sports department. The sports staff based out of The Monitor is part of the Valley Freedom Newspapers’ sports department, which includes three dailies (Valley Morning Star and The Brownsville Herald) with a combined circulation of 90,000 daily and 110,000 Sunday.

If you have what it takes to do the job, The Monitor offers a competitive salary and benefits, including health, dental and vision insurance, a 401K and a profit sharing program. We also offer an outstanding working environment in our five-year-old, 104,000-square-foot building with its state-of-the-art presses and equipment.

Although we prefer candidates with one or more years of experience, we welcome resumes and clips from talented beginners with journalism degrees and/or strong newspaper internships. Because we are in the Rio Grande Valley, fluency in Spanish is a plus.

If you are interested in joining our team, please send a cover letter, resume and work samples to Wade Baker, Valley Freedom Newspapers’ Executive Sports Editor, or Todd Mavreles, West Valley Sports Editor, at: The Monitor, 1400 E. Nolana Loop McAllen, TX 78504. You may also e-mail your resume and clips to: wbaker@themonitor.com or toddm@themonitor.com. For further information you may contact Wade Baker by phone at (956) 683-4450 or Todd Mavreles at (956) 683-4451.

The Monitor is an Equal Opportunity employer. Non-U.S. citizens wishing to apply for this position must already be in possession of a valid work visa and other appropriate documentation.

 

This one seems to pop up pretty often, doesn't seem like a bad gig.

 

Is it the same position that continues to come open or is it just the lowest position on the sports staff? Anybody know. It seems like the same ad.

 

We've had three reporters leave from the same spot within the past year.

This position is one of five based out of The Monitor in McAllen, Texas. It's part of the Valley Freedom Newspapers' sports department. Coverage includes a little of everything, from high school sports to minor league sports. Also about 30 percent desk work will be involved. Everyone on staff is crosstrained for pages to make the staff more flexible.

 

Bakes is good people, as is sports editor Todd Mavreles. This is a good gig.

 

In addition, my friends in McAllen all seem to like it and refuse to leave.
Tried making it down that way myself but never panned out.
This really does seem like one of the good ones.

 

You need to hire someone to investigate the Medicare fraud in Mcellen. On a per capita basis Mcallen has the highest medcare payouts in the country - $15,000 per enrollee vs $7500 on average for the rest of country.

 

Someone's been reading his New Yorker.

 

McAllen's a nice little city and it is growing like crazy. It seems like a good gig, though that doesn't explain all the turnover for the position.

The paper also is heavy with preps and has its own high school sports mag, which is pretty damn cool.

 

Not trying to discourage anyone from applying, but please look at the map before you consider this.
A lot of people go down there, thinking it's a great gig (and mind, you it ain't too bad), then shortly realized how isolated the Rio Grande Valley is from the rest of the world, and the state. A lot of folk head down there by the allure of being near the beach and near Mexico, which is all fine and good, but then you realize how far you are from everything else. You drive forever if you ever wanna see a Major League Baseball/NBA/NFL/NHL game again.
That doesn't mean there isn't good sports. With the AF2 team, minor league hockey and baseball to compliment and area of the state that constantly draws some of the biggest followings for their HS football teams, you will have plenty to cover.

 

Prep football in the Valley is wildly popular, but their teams seldom do anything once they advance past beating each other in the playoffs. They run into teams like Judson and Callallen and Cuero in that same region and get sent home in short order. The last team I could find from that area that played in the state final was Pharr in 1962-63 (lost back-to-back championship games).

 

Yeah, teams in South Texas rarely go deep in the postseason, particularly in football and basketball. Baseball and track and field seem to be pretty competitive though.