Todd Burlage

Holding a variety of positions at daily newspapers, monthly magazines, niche publications and electronic media has helped me learn the business of journalism through everything from school board meetings and county fairs, to the NCAA Final Four and Indy 500. And my how things have changed during those two decades of industry evolution.

The primary focus of my journalism career has been in sports writing, with a special concentration on Notre Dame athletics as a beat writer for The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind.; the lead columnist for Blue & Gold Illustrated; a regular feature contributor for the University of Notre Dame game programs; as well as the beat blogger and on-air Irish reporter for the Fox Sports Radio affiliate The Fan Michiana with “The Fan’s Voice” blog.

I’m also responsible for a regular automotive trend feature titled “Auto Know” that is generated by Wheelbase Communications for print and electronic outlets throughout North America.

As a writer in his mid-40s, I’m part of that unique generation that went from working with ink before the Internet age – when typesetting machines ruled, and Twitter was only an awkward name for a bird chirp – to daily papers either going weekly, or going under.

Perhaps more than any other generation in journalistic history, us “middle-agers” had to adapt for survival in a business where editorial focus so quickly moved from thorough to immediate. Fortunately, Yahoo! demands a blend of both – quickness with quality.