Athletics Introduces Cougar Culture Podcast

By Ruben Nieves | Published February 27, 2022

Kean Athletics officially has its own podcast. The Cougar Culture is the all-new podcast that covers everything in Kean sports. The first episode was released December 6.

Cougar Culture releases an episode once a week and every episode they have student-athletes and coaches discuss their season and many other things that might have been going on. Cougar Culture is hosted by Dorian Alerte and Jish Sokolsky.

Alerte, a Kean graduate, and former sports editor of The Tower, is familiar with podcasting, the idea was brought to him by Rob Bregman, the Athletics Communication Assistant.

“I had done a little bit of podcasting with a couple of my friends,” Alerte said. “I have experience interviewing and I like telling other people’s stories.”

Bregman brought up the idea to Alerte about a podcast and Alerte wrote up a proposal for an idea.

“I had him come up with a proposal and some research and we sat, and he pitched me with an idea,” Bregman said. “After that I brought it to my supervisor Kim DeRitter, and she signed off on it and to the athletic director Kelly Williams and he signed off on it.”

Bregman hopes the podcast will bring more exposure to Kean athletics.

“It’s always about exposure,” Bregman said. “Just highlighting our student-athletes and highlighting our coaches and our alumni, not many people in the NJAC are doing.”

Alerte hosts the show alongside Jish Sokolsky, a high school student and commentator for games at Kean. When Sokolsky was asked to be a part of the podcast, he immediately jumped at the opportunity.

“When Dorian came to me with the idea I was excited from the jump,” Sokolsky said. “We would always talk about news from all the other sports in our pregame setups and I was really honored that Dorian asked me to do it with him.”

Sokolsky who has been hosting Cougar Culture and commentating games believes it’s an opportunity that could lead to a future in sports media.

“It really is a dream come true to me, I want to be a broadcaster or involved in sports media in some way when I’m older,” Sokolsky said. “Getting that opportunity at a collegiate level while I am still in high school is something I could not have imagined; I am blessed to have this opportunity.”

Alerte, who has been working with Sokolsky since September, has said working with him has been nothing but exciting.

“Jish is awesome, we were employed by the university to be sports commentators and he’s just an awesome guy,” Alerte said. “He comes in and has a ton of energy and working with him as a commentator was awesome and he is going to have a super bright future.”

Bregman also has high praise for the work Alerte and Sokolsky has done since they first began working together.

“I think they’ve done a great job,” Bregman said. “They play off each other very well and you’re not bored of what they’re talking about.”

Sokolsky praises Alerte’s work ethic and their time together as commentators.

“Dorian is one of the most driven guys I know,” Sokolsky said. “We gelled instantly, and he has been a pleasure to work with, I never doubted his grind.”

In the Cougar Culture episodes, they have after the whistle, cougar quick hits, beyond the competition, and the week ahead. Alerte and Sokolsky go through these different segments and talk about everything going on in Kean sports.

“We talk about general sports news pertaining to Kean,” Alerte said. “Then we go into the segment cougar quick hits where we interview a coach and a group of their athletes and what’s happening specifically in that sport.”

Alerte is hoping to have a hall of fame coaches and student-athletes who might have graduated to catch up with them and have a studio to record episodes.

“We do want to bring in some hall of fame coaches and some parts we want to highlight as well as bring in some student-athletes to talk about what they are doing six months later,” Alerte said. “I do want us to have a studio or have a physical space to record.”

You can find the Cougar Culture podcast on Kean Athletics YouTube page, Spotify, and Apple Podcast, and episodes are released weekly.

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