Who Is Mike Gonzalez And Why Is He Doing Sports?

A search of TV industry website MediaLine turned up a familiar face with a not-so-familiar name in its "talent showcase" section for on-air TV job-seekers.

Yes, that is WOWT (Cox Channel 8) reporter/anchor Mike Cronemeyer identified as "Mike Gonzalez" in the screenshot from his resume tape on the right. (More on that later.) First, some background on the unusual, public - and sometimes uncomfortable - process of finding that next job in the TV news business. It is much more than just typing up a resume and mailing it around.

A large talent pool, a limited number of TV markets (210, according to Nielsen Media Research) and the finicky nature of newsroom hiring managers makes it a competitive, and sometimes complex, process.

For Cronemeyer, it will be nearly a year of applying and interviewing for a job he hopes is in TV sports. Cronemeyer has worked at WOWT since March of 2006, but with his contract coming up for renewal in about 10 months, said he is already "testing the waters" to land his next job.

"A lot of the feedback I've gotten is that sports is a natural fit for me," Cronemeyer said. "I still love the news and would to stay in it if the right opportunity came along.

"I would love to stay at WOWT if the opportunity presented itself. My family and I really like it here. Omaha has great schools, nice people and I love the College World Series."

Hardly A Secret Search
Finding a job can be a much more public process in the TV business than for someone in the private sector. For one, Croneyemer is using a public, non-password or membership protected website to post his resume and highlight tape. Secondly, compiling and producing a resume tape often means using station equipment and resources - though anchors, reporters, producers and photojournalists rarely risk doing this during "business hours."

In Cronemeyer's case, he offers up two highlight tapes to potential employers: one entirely devoted to showcasing his sportscasting talents. The other focuses solely on his news reporting and anchoring. But in both tapes, he is identified as "Mike Gonzalez" and his resume points out that he is fluent in Spanish.

"My name is in fact Gonzalez-Cronemeyer," the former North Carolina State University baseball player said. "It's a combination of my mother's maiden name and my dad's name. My mother is Puerto Rican and my father is Anglo."

Changing your last name in the broadcast business is hardly a rarity. KETV (Cox Channel 9) reporter Lisa Stites is the latest Omaha reporter to have done it. Known by her maiden name of "Boschert" before coming to Omaha, Stites is using her husband-to-be's last name.

But some TV talent have raised eyebrows with their name changes.

In 2005, Miami WSCV-Telemundo Spanish-language weathercaster Fidel "Felipe" Ferro changed his name to "Phil Ferro" when he went to work for English language WSVN-7-Fox.

"(It is) easier to roll off the tongue," Ferro told Newsblues at the time. "One less syllable."

Other name-changers include Seattle KOMO meteorologist Jim Castillo - whose real name is Jim Phillips - and Dallas WFAA reporter Cynthia Vega, who worked in El Paso as "Cynthia Weyand."

Croneyemer, who did not go by "Gonzalez" when he worked at KOLN in Lincoln, said he is very proud of his heritage.

"As my grandmother Petra says 'you are what you are,'" Cronemeyer said.