Jake McGrail
I’m a Vancouver-based broadcaster and journalist passionate about sports. I bring on-air experience and a strong writing ability to my coverage of stories of all kinds.
Check out my work
My name is Jake McGrail, and I’ve pursued a career in broadcasting since I was a kid.
My beginnings as a journalist came when I was 15 years old, writing articles about arts, culture and community events as a volunteer for The Source Newspaper.
I honed my writing skills at UBC, where I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. While there, I co-hosted a National Campus and Community Radio Association award-winning show about the Thunderbirds varsity sports teams, and began to do play-by-play commentary for Canada West TV as the voice of UBC Volleyball and Basketball, which I continue to do today.
I then earned a diploma from the BCIT Broadcast and Online Journalism Program, where I refined my technical skills and produced multimedia content on a number of different topics. In addition to my work done for the BCIT News platforms I also produced video content for SFU Athletics, radio content for CKNW 980AM, and contributed to live broadcasts of League1 BC soccer matches through work with Roll.Focus.
I currently work in the UBC Athletics communications department, where I provide coverage of all 26 Thunderbirds varsity teams. That includes writing preview, recap and feature articles, providing live commentary, doing social media coverage, and updating and improving the gothunderbirds.ca website. I love telling stories of all kinds – whether that’s calling a game live on the air, sitting down for an interview for broadcast or print, or using statistics and data to paint a picture.
I’m very comfortable working either independently or collaboratively and bring a positive attitude and a willingness to tackle whatever tasks await me. I can contribute in any and all areas, and I have the experience and skills ready to provide a lift to whatever team I’m on.
