Jay R. Bradley

Journalist, Broadcaster &
Community Engagement Professional

About

About

Jay Bradley is an SPJ Mark of Excellence winning Journalist from Endwell, New York whose versatility has led him to different endeavors as a newsroom leader, event organizer, website designer, esports manager, audio producer, live radio host, television producer, and musician.

Currently, he is a reporter for Lehigh Valley Public Media (PBS39/WLVR-FM/LehighValleyNews.com) with a focus on the East Penn regional beat and transportation. 

In 2022, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communications with a degree in Journalism with minors in website programming and business administration. 

While at Ithaca College in 2021, he led one of the most award-winning and productive periods in the history of WICB-FM as news director and simultaneously served as a part-time multimedia journalist with NewsChannel 34 in Binghamton NY during his Junior year. During the following summer, he resumed his work with NewsChannel 34 and served as the sole multimedia journalist for special Olympic weekend broadcasts.  

During this time he also co-lead multiple successful charity broadcasts and managed events and competitive teams for the new new wide-reaching organization Ithaca College Esports. He continues to host and assist with grassroots esports events outside of his work in media.

He has completed internships and freelanced at many outlets in New York’s Southern Tier including WBNG 12 News, The Ithaca Times, The Ithaca Voice and WRFI-FM.

Jay also assisted the Esports Integrity Commission‘s anti-doping advisor Michele Verroken in research for a graduate course on esports law while studying abroad in London, UK and completed an internship with the Institute for Public Accuracy in Washington, DC through Ithaca College’s Park Center for Independent Media.

His work has been recognized at the national, state and local levels by the Society of Professional Journalists, New York State Broadcasters Association, Syracuse Press Club, the Broadcast Education Association, and CBI National Student Production Awards. He is also a proud Eagle Scout. 

Hi! I’m Jay Bradley, a journalist, event organizer, freelance web designer, accidental esports manager, and okay trumpet player from Endwell, NY just outside of Binghamton.

My mission is to bring people together, connecting them to new experiences and their own community as much as I can. 

I’ve worked in print, audio, and video to bring stories to life on the local, the important, and the unknown. At times I put on some other hats, often to bring events and broadcasts to life.

You can currently find me producing community focused news as a reporter for Lehigh Valley Public Media, primarily covering the East Penn area. I’ve done work there in radio, graphic design, and reporting of all stripes.

Prior to that, I’m a 2018 graduate of Maine-Endwell High School where I had a filled to the brim schedule of AP classes, music, theater, swimming, track, and whatever else I could fit in. Be it as band president, drama club vice president, or in sports and scouting, I learned a lot from the wide swath of people I was able to work with and at times lead. 

Not wanting to go too far from home and wary of large schools with frat-heavy vibes, I ended up scholarship-subsidized at Ithaca College. I fell in love with the journalism path there after flirting with environmental science, politics, business, and other paths.

Even then I had an awareness of a lot that needed to be done in the journalism field to align it with the modern day demands of financing and engaging our increasingly isolated communities beyond what my admiration of 60 Minutes’ style could offer. 

My home for those years was Ithaca College’s radio station 91.7 WICB, where I published dozens of stories for the flagship show Ithaca Now while branching out to other Ithaca area and college outlets.. 

During junior year I became WICB’s news director right as the global pandemic touched down. 

Given the forced shift to remote work, I worked with the staff to expand and reevaluate workflows, newscasts, and podcast offerings. This hard work led to many awards and recognition for the great reporting that to this day I’m incredibly proud of. 

Coming home to Binghamton for summers, I got to work at many local outlets, only further fueled my belief that local news outlets can be refined and returned to an important role in our new media era.

Not to be one to let go of my high school habits of filling up my schedule, I also co-founded the esports program on campus, which gradually expanded to a multi-team endeavor of broadcasts, casual events, and more due to my and my colleagues’ leadership. All this while continuing to play trumpet on campus and branching out into web programming and business minors before graduating Summa Cum Lade.

Now in the professional world, I want to figure out the ways local media can reinvent itself – all while making some creative content and bringing people together along the way.

What I Cover

Jay’s mission is to bring people together to strengthen community through greater local engagement and knowledge.

He currently covers a growing and dynamic landscape in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. His reporting with Lehigh Valley Public Media has focused on transportation, arts, local government, commercial developments, protest movements and a variety of other topics.

Other topics in the past he has written about include science education, religious communities, business, housing, technology, sporting events, and navigating love lives in the pandemic. 

He always appreciates a good pitch.

Who I've Worked With

Lehigh Valley Public Media

📅 Jul. 2022 – 
📍Bethlehem, PA

Reporter – East Penn Community Beat

Ithaca Times

📅 Jan. 2022 – June 2022
📍Ithaca, NY

Freelance Reporter

NewsChannel 34

📅 Jan. 2021 – Aug. 2021  
📍Binghamton, NY

Multimedia Journalist Intern

WBNG 12 News

📅 June 2019 – Aug. 2019
📍Johnson City, NY

Multimedia Journalism & Digital Internship

Ithaca College

📅 Aug. 2019 – May 2022  
📍Ithaca, NY

Information Technology Endpoint Technician, Journalism Research Assistant

ICTV News

📅 Aug. 2019 – May 2022
📍Ithaca, NY

Correspondent – ICTV Reports

WICB News

📅 Nov. 2018 – May 2022
📍Ithaca, NY

News Director, Reporter, On-Air Newscaster & DJ

The Esports Integrity Commission

📅 Aug. 2021 – Dec. 2021  
📍London, U.K.

Digital Media Intern

Institute for Public Accuracy

📅 June 2021 – Aug. 2021  
📍Washington, D.C.

Digital Media Intern

Upstate NY Smash Bros. Tournaments

📅 July. 2017 – 
📍Binghamton, NY & Ithaca, NY

Tournament Organizer, Editor, Webmaster

Binghamton Food Rescue

📅 Aug. 2020 
📍Binghamton, NY

Volunteer Freelance Videographer

The Ithacan

📅 Sep. 2022 – June 2022 
📍Ithaca, NY

Contributing Writer & Reporter

Ithaca College Esports

📅 April 2019 – May 2022
📍Ithaca, NY

Co-Founder, Vice President, Event Manager

NC34

📅 Jan. 2021 – May 2021  
📍Ithaca, NY

Contributing Producer – “Which Way Forward”

TNT Radio Productions

📅 Nov. 2019 – 
📍Ithaca, NY

Lead Producer

Awards

  • 1st Place – Syracuse Press Club Student Radio/Podcast Feature Story (2023)
  • Award of Excellence – BEA Festival of Media Arts, Radio Feature Reporting (2023)
    • “Electric Vehicles for Earth Day”, Ithaca Now 4/3/2022
  • Runner-Up – SPJ Mark of Excellence National Competition – Best All-Around Newscast (2021) 
    • Ithaca Now, 4/4/2021
  • Winner – SPJ Mark of Excellence Region 1 – Best All-Around Newscast (2021)
    • Ithaca Now, 4/4/2021
  • Finalist – SPJ Mark of Excellence Region 1 – Best All-Around Newscast (2020)
    • Ithaca Now, 7/19/2020
  • Winner – New York State Broadcasters Association – Outstanding College Public Affairs Program/Series (2020)
    • Ithaca Now, 9/27/2020
  • Finalist – Syracuse Press Club Student Radio/Podcast Feature Story (2020-2021)
    • “Local Religious Groups Give Community in the Pandemic”, produced with Celestina Beakes 
  • 3rd Place– CBI National Student Production Competition Pinnacle Awards, Best Documentary Audio (2020-2021)
    • “Young Love in the Age of COVID”, with editing help from Selin Tuter and Himadri Seth
  • Jessica Savitch Scholarship – Ithaca College (2020)
  • President’s Scholarship – Ithaca College (2018)
  • Eagle Scout (2018)
  • Oracle Honors Society (2019)
  • Phi Kappa Phi (Nominated) – Ithaca College (2021)
  • Lambda Pi Eta – Ithaca College (2021)