Play-by-Playcast

Eric Reid is a Miami Heat original.  With the organization since game one, Reid has served as the TV voice of the Heat for 30 seasons after beginning in a color analyst role.  On this week's podcast Reid talks about his initial move to Miami, what makes good TV basketball play-by-play, how he prepares for a game, how he gets on the same page with his analyst and more.

Ann Schatz is a trailblazer in sportscasting.  The first female sports anchor in Omaha and then in Portland, Ann then tranitioned into play-by-play, where she became one of the first women to consistently appear in that chair as well.  Well versed in calling multiple sports, Ann has worked for a handful of networks and now calls the PAC-12 home.  Also in the podcast, a discussion of covering the 1...

Rich Burk has been with the Pac 12 Networks since their inception in 2012, calling every sport under the sun.  He's also called the Olympic Games, again calling every sport under the sun.  Today he's on PxPCast to break those experiences down: how he got into the business, losing a Triple-A baseball job when the team left town, finding his way to Pac 12 TV and much more!

Brian Estridge is the voice of the TCU Horned Frogs...and a morning news/talk show host....and he owns a company that broadcasts a variety of college bowl games among other things.  So he does quite a bit with his free time.  This week he's a guest on play-by-playcast to talk about all of it.

Mike Breen is one of the absolute best at what he does.  The voice of the NY Knicks on MSG television and of the NBA Finals on ABC, Breen has been around the top rung of the craft for some time.  On this week's pod Breen talks about his start as a color analyst and working in news, his time with NBC Radio and IMUS, the differences of local and national TV, working with Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gu...

Len Kasper began his climb through Major League baseball in Milwaukee...and then Beloit...and then Milwaukee, before he headed south to become the TV voice of the Florida Marlins and eventually the Chicago Cubs.  Kasper talks about that climb, how to make it in the Majors, working with a partner and his prep and planning, his voice, being the voice of a national franchise and more.  Find Kasper on...

The first MLS broadcaster to appear on Play-by-PlayCast, Jake Zivin joins us from Portland, Oregon this week.  Zivin talks about his move from the TV 'sports-on-news' world into the TV play-by-play world in a full-time gig with the Portland Timbers.  A big-time soccer fan, Zivin got his start in broadcasting working behind the scenes with ESPN while in college...studying numbers, not broadcasting....

Jon Sciambi wanted to be a talk show host originally.  Two decades later he's one of the chief voices of baseball on TV for ESPN, with some radio mixed in as well.  On this week's edition of the podcast, Boog talks his rise through the ranks and into the pxp side of things and then delves into his prep, the study of sabermetrics, Chipper Jones and first pitch fastballs, the most important rules of...

For more than two decades Craig Ackerman has been associated with the Houston Rockets in one capacity or another.  He now does radio at home and TV on the road, but he's also been a studio host and production intern.  But his path is a little more complicated than that and he details it all on this week's pod.  We also talk about energy on air, his prep, how to work analystics into a broadcast in...

Toby Rowland has worked in the Oklahoma City market for years.  A local TV reporter and sports anchor, Toby grew up, however, a lifelong Sooners fan with a goal of one day being the "Voice of the Sooners."  That dream came true in 2011 when he was hired on and moved from the sidelines to the booth.  Rowland's career has covered big ground in a short period of time since.  He's called a Sugar Bowl,...

Jim Barbar has been a play-by-play voice with ESPN since 1995 covering college sports to the LLWS and even Ultimate.  But his path to that job was a long road with several twists, turns and stops along the way.  His first real broadcast exposure came as a TV sports anchor for WISH-TV in Indianapolis where he was once banned from Indiana University's Assembly Hall by Bob Knight.  He later called a...

"If you don't like that, you don't like NBA basketball!" It's the famous line from 30-year Sacramento Kings TV voice Grant Napear.  A native of Long Island and a graduate of Bowling Green State University, Napear eventually made his way out to being the voice of Sacramento.  Not only is he the TV pxp man for the Kings, but he also hosts a daily talk show.  It's an interesting balance that we'll ta...

Ted Emrich was born into broadcasting and then took a road less travelled into the booth.  The current Westwood One and ESPN announcer began working for the former as a stats guy for all the big names...when he was in high school.  Ted talks about his path and his process in episode 72 of PxPCast.

Dan D'Uva will forever be the first radio voice in the history of NHL Hockey in Las Vegas.  The New Jersey native hops on the podcast to talk about the role of being first, how he wound up in the desert, his climb through the ranks, his idols Ian Eagle and Doc Emrick, his binder of notes, the Cape Cod Baseball League and more.  It's one of our longer episodes but it's well worth the listen!

We've talked many times on the podcast about working with an analyst and what a good relationship with your analyst looks like.  Well, today we talk to an analyst about that same relationship.  Jay Bilas has been with ESPN since 1995 and is, by most estimations, one of their top, if not their top, college basketball analysts.  He talks this week about the partners he's worked with, how he views hi...

Steve Jones is the longtime voice of the Penn State Nittany Lions, first their men's basketball voice and now their football voice as well.  In addition Steve calls baseball for the State College Spikes and has a talk show.  In this episode he talks about making big calls under pressure, calling games in Happy Vally, working with Joe Paterno and more.

Aside from being a tremendous mini-golf player and huge fan of both Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen (discussed), Kevin Brown is a tremendous broadcaster.  The '11 Syracuse grad is in his first full year as a full-time ESPN PxP voice after having worked in Triple-A with the Syracuse Chiefs and various other freelance gigs.  We get into his career path, taking improv classes, being mentored by Jason B...

Named Co-MiLB Broadcaster-of-the-Year by Ballpark Digest, Mick Gillispie is the voice of the Tennessee Smokies, AA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.  Not only that, he also calls Cubs Spring Training games, runs his own production house, calls games on the SEC Network and more.  On this episode Mick talks his influences, broadcasting super powers, Will Ferrell, his climb in the minors and more.

David Crane suddenly found himself without a football broadcasting job.  He had a job and he hadn't changed his job, his job just changed.  When UAB dropped football in 2014 its impact was more far-ranging than just the play on the field.  Crane talks about what it was like without work on Saturdays, his excitement to have it back and more - like calling a 2015 NCAA Tournament upset.

Chris Denari has the best penmanship known to man.  So we obviously started this week talking about his charts, which he makes by hand.  Then we dive into calling football on TV...as he did last week...and, of course, we talk about working in the NBA and the WNBA and for the Butler Bulldogs and on TV in Indy.  Chris has had a wide-ranging career and we cover it all in episode 65!

Sean Grande has done a ton of things in his broadcasting career. A veteran of the NBA and the Boston Celtics for the better part of this century, Grande has also called college football on TV, been the voice of the Boston College Eagles football team, called Bellator MMA on TV and more.  It's one of the wonkier episodes of the podcast where we dive deep into how Sean does what he does and all the...

Allen Bestwick's name is synonymous with racing broadcasting.  A veteran of NASCAR and Indy racing alike, Bestwick most recently worked with ESPN and called this past year's 101st Indy 500.  He talk the dynamics of a racing broadcast on TV, adapting to start doing other sports with ESPN, the ESPN layoffs in April and more.

Dave Jageler didn't take the traditional route to Major League baseball.  But what is the traditional route really?  He didn't call baseball full time until 2005 when he was hired by the Pawtucket Red Sox and surged into the Washington Nationals booth in 2006.  Jageler talks all about prep, his talk background informing his baseball calls, moving to TV for a bit this year, his time as a student as...

Tony Caridi doesn't go by the name "Voice of the Mountaineers."  That's a title forever held by Jack Fleming.  But Tony is the guy that call the Mountaineers on radio, and he's as synonymous with West Virginia fans today as the country roads that take them home.  Tony talks about growing roots in WV, learning from the great Jack Fleming, his time as a student at WAER radio in Syracuse and what it'...

Jared Sandler made it the Majors in his early 20's. It was hard work, persistance and prep meeting opportunity when he joined the Rangers crew. Sandler talks about the chance he took on himself and how that gamble paid off.