If his resume so far should tell you one thing, it’s that he will always find a way to make it happen.
Jake McGrady, also known to his followers as Mr. Portland, has created a career for himself in media through hard work, talent, and the power of social media. He is best known for co-hosting Blazers Outsiders on NBC Sports as well as his radio show turned podcast, 2nd String Show. His content is known to cover sports, music, pop culture and a multitude of other topics with his uncensored style of humour. Jake started his career in sports media in 2012 as a TV and radio host at Oregon State University, where he first developed a following on social media. How did it all start?
‘The culture’ is constantly evolving. The idea of fame and success has been redefined by the younger demographic of entrepreneurs and creators who harnessed the ability to think beyond traditional media.
Anyone can dream. In the digital age, dreams can be turned into reality when work ethic meets curiosity and passion. Jake McGrady is a testimony to that. What started as a kid with a dream turned into a self-made TV host, podcaster, and social media personality pursuing a reality in the entertainment industry.
Jake’s achievements can be credited to his initiative to always create his own lane. From a young age, Jake has never shied away from the limelight. Growing up in Oregon, he was heavily involved with acting and performing. From school plays, talent shows, stand-up comedy, acting in TV shows and films, to creating his own comedy sketches and short films for YouTube. After numerous talent showcases and auditions, he began to book roles at a young age. He starred in commercials, short films, feature films and even had supporting roles in TV shows like TNT’s Leverage and Showtime’s Dexter. He has always known that he wanted to be in front of the camera since day one.
In addition to performing for the camera, from Jake’s earliest memories he was fascinated with social media and the possibilities it provided. From Facebook to Twitter, to Reddit, when he would create content or finish a film, he would promote it on every social media platform. Jake would rename his videos and edit his thumbnails to match certain trends or viral moments he saw at the time. He would then hunt down blogs online to promote his work where he thought he could get the most clicks. Slowly but surely learning how to grow an audience.
Starting his freshman year at Oregon State University, Jake started to pursue a career in broadcasting his first week on campus with KBVR. He dived into sports television and sports radio, where he quickly developed his skills of talking on-air and being on camera. In his first year at college, he worked his way up to being the host of the Beaver Sports TV Show while also launching his ‘2nd String Sports’ radio show.
While at school, he also decided to create a project based on the one thing he loved the most: the Portland Trail Blazers. Through Twitter and Instagram, his “Mr. Portland” persona was born. From there, he started to build a loyal following of fellow Rip City fans through his unique sense of humour and original online content. After gaining some momentum online, Jake decided to “shoot his shot”, and started to reach out to the Portland Trail Blazers themselves. After hundreds of unanswered emails, he finally got a response from a member of the digital team who, to Jake’s surprise, said they were already paying attention to his growing online notoriety. After setting up a meeting, the team was impressed enough by Mr. Portland that they created a custom internship role for him on the digital media team where Jake began working in the world of content creation and social media for a professional sports team. He even eventually scored an NBA x Budweiser partnership.
After graduation, Jake was determined to continue chasing his dream while continuing to grow the platform he had created. He turned his “2nd String Sports” college radio show into the now rebranded “2nd String Show” podcast. As Jake continued to grow as a creator, so did his content.
Jake began using social media to reach out to potential guests to have them on his podcast. In college, Jake and his co-hosts had interviewed plenty of college athletes, coaches and media personalities on the show. However, as the podcast began to grow, sports wasn’t their only focus anymore. The first high-profile guest appearance on the podcast was the now Grammy award-winning band, ‘Portugal. The Man’. Jake and his co-hosts have now gone on to interview the likes of professional athletes, rappers, media personalities, and many more.
What started as a podcast with a local following had quickly grown into a show that had dedicated listeners from all over the world. The 2nd String Show keeps listeners invested in the co-host’s lives, as well as their outlandish opinions and takes on everything sports, music and pop culture.
As Jake continued to grow the podcast, he also continued creating Portland Trail Blazers-related content as Mr. Portland. In 2018, NBC Sports Northwest reached out to Jake and wanted him to come in and do a screen-test for an unknown project at the time. This would eventually lead to Jake getting the role as a co-host on the TV program, “Blazers Outsiders” on the network. Back in college, this very same network turned down Jake for a digital media internship he applied for. Fast forward a few years and that same network hired him as on-air television talent covering his favourite basketball team, pop culture, and more. It was Jake’s biggest dream coming true.
On top of his podcast, TV show and social media content, Jake and two of his closest friends launched the streetwear brand, Seven Seven which is inspired by the Portland Trail Blazers 1977 championship team. His brand has gone on to be worn live on SportsCenter by host Neil Everett, purchased by supporters of the brand not only in Portland and the United States but many other countries as well. Seven Seven has been worn by the likes of athletes and musicians, and last but not least, the brand collaborated with NBA superstar Damian Lillard to drop a t-shirt collection for Lillard’s last Dame D.O.L.L.A. album. The brand also dropped a collection with fellow OSU alum turned Golden State Warrior, Gary Payton II.
Aside from Jake’s work as a media personality and entrepreneur, he continues to pursue his passion for music and social media as a strategist and creative director. As a member of RapTV, Jake is helping create content for the largest hip-hop community in the world over a network of accounts accumulating 25+ million followers.
It’s been a whirlwind since graduating college, but Jake has managed to stay busy, and that’s an understatement. These days Jake has continued to grow his online presence on Twitter and Instagram and many of his other online outlets.
Jake’s biggest motto is “always shoot your shot.”
No one is going to hand you anything if you just sit around wishing your dreams would come true. Create your dreams yourself and make them come true. Create your own platform, create your own audience, be your own boss. Jake found a unique way to turn his passions and dreams into a legitimate career in media and entertainment through social media and lots of persistence.
The journey from being an unknown dreamer to a local celebrity took years of commitment and sacrifice. Jake found a unique way to turn his passions and dreams into a legitimate career in media and entertainment through social media and lots of persistence.
He has conquered the local media scene, but he now has his sights on breaking into the national media scene and music industry with many projects on the horizon. Get familiar with the name “Jake McGrady”.