Submit your video to be the next Voice of the Redbirds

Illinois State Athletics is ready to hire the next Voice of the Redbirds and encourages interested individuals to apply through one of two ways.
The Illinois State Athletics Department wants to fill the positions of Redbird football and men’s basketball public address announcer by asking interested community members to submit online videos highlighting their announcing skills. One video submitter will be guaranteed as a finalist for a position.  
Those interested are encouraged to make a video displaying how they would announce for ISU, including terminology utilized for football and/or men’s basketball, and any personal extras they would like to add. Videos are to be submitted online through the official Illinois State Athletics Facebook fan page as a YouTube or Vimeo URL link on the contest tab, located just below the cover photo on the right-hand side.
Once videos are submitted and posted on the ISURedbirds Facebook page, all videos will be open to the public to view and vote on. The Top 3 videos that receive the most votes by midnight June 3 will be selected as finalists, and the winner will receive the opportunity to audition in-person. The final round of voting will be open from June 4 through midnight on June 10. All voting in unlimited, so fans are urged to vote as much as they would like for the video they want to win.
In addition to submitting videos online, all entries must be accompanied with the informational questionnaire available on GoRedbirds.com. Videos submitted without the questionnaire will not be eligible to win. Although becoming the video submission winner does not guarantee one of the announcer positions, fan votes and comments will be included in the final judges decisions.
For more information, and for those who are unable to submit a video, please contact the Director of Marketing LB Nagle by email at lbnagle@ilstu.edu or phone at (309) 438-3630.

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PA Announcer brings smiles to Miracle League play

CARY, N.C. — It doesn't take much to get a smile out of someone on the Miracle League field.

The league has been making baseball dreams come true for players with special needs, especially when Steven Mongno takes his seat behind the mic.

"He's a little corny. He's a little quirky. The kids love him," said Steven's mother Elaine Mongno.

Steven is a a senior at Green Hope High School and is enjoying his third season as the Miracle League's favorite public address announcer.

"The Miracle League had just lost an announcer to college so I decided, I am loud and obnoxious enough, I might as well try it out," said Steven.

"It was just natural. He loves the reaction he gets from them," said Elaine.

"A lot of times they will stop and think they need to stop, and I'll say he's moving to third base and they will start going," Steven said. read more

Reds' PA announcer Joe Zerhusen: My seat's tough to beat

Joe Zerhusen says he has the best seat at Great American Ball Park. It’s hard to disagree. The Reds’ public address announcer sits behind home plate in a booth with the official scorer, between the press box and Fox Sports Ohio’s TV perch. “I have a great view,” says Zerhusen, 58, a former Cincinnati radio DJ, program director and account executive.

Zerhusen was hired by the Reds when the stadium opened in 2003. Before that, his deep resonant voice was heard on WRRM-FM, WOFX-FM, WCKY-AM and WUBE-AM, and on the PA at University of Cincinnati football and basketball games (1997-2007). The 1973 Covington Catholic High School graduate grew up in Park Hills. He resides in Clermont County’s Union Township.

QUESTION: How did you get the Reds’ job?

read his answer and the rest of the story here

Paul Olden - On Script and Off, Giving Voice to the Yankees

Paul Olden, the Yankees’ public-address announcer since 2009, says that preparation is important to avoid mispronouncing a player’s name, and that he is free “to change stuff the way I would say it.”

The day after the Boston Marathon bombings, the New York Yankees honored the fallen in a pregame ceremony at their stadium in the Bronx. The task of leading the fans in this tribute went to Paul Olden, the team’s public-address announcer. He felt something was missing, though.

Not long before game time, word came that the sports announcer Pat Summerall, once a star kicker for the New York Giants, had died. The script that the Yankees’ marketing department handed Mr. Olden focused solely on Boston. While there was obviously no equivalence between that monstrous event and the death of Mr. Summerall at 82, Mr. Olden sensed a rewrite was in order.

“I said, ‘Hey, this guy was big in New York,’ ” he recalled over lunch at the Yankee Stadium branch of the Hard Rock Cafe. “So they went upstairs and wrote up a remembrance that I read. I said, ‘We can’t delay it a day. We have to recognize him today, and we’ll just do it before Boston.’ ”

So it was written. So it was done.  read full article in The NY Times

My Top All Time Greatest PA Announcers - Add Yours in The Comment Section

Bob Sheppard-NY Yankees-Robert Leo "Bob" Sheppard (October 20, 1910 – July 11, 2010) was the long-time public address announcer for numerous New York area college and professional sports teams, in particular the MLB New York Yankees (1951–2007), and the NFL New York Giants (1956–2006).  

Sheppard announced more than 4,500 Yankees baseball games over a period of 56 years, including 22 pennant-winning seasons and 13 World Series championships; he called 121 consecutive postseason contests, 62 games in 22 World Series, and six no-hitters, including three perfect games. He was also the in-house voice for a half-century of Giants football games, encompassing 9 conference championships, 3 NFL championships (1956, 1986, 1990), and the game often called "the greatest ever played", the classic 1958 championship loss to Baltimore.




John Condon-MSG-Mr. Condon, who was as much a part of the history of New York professional basketball as any player or coach, had a trademark greeting: ''Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Madison Square Garden.'' Those words echoed through two Gardens for more than four decades before Mr. Condon's announcements of the starting lineups at Knick and college basketball games. Started Job in 1947 Mr. Condon began sitting in the announcer's seat in 1947, 21 years before the Garden moved from 50th Street and Eighth Avenue to its present site and one year after the Knicks were created. While attending a game between the Knicks and the Boston Celtics, he was asked to try out for the public-address job. He never left the scorer's table after that.

Claude Mouton-Canadiens-Claude Mouton OC ( 20  September  1931 in Montreal , Quebec - 30  March  1993 ) is a public address announcer of ice hockey in the NHL, certainly considered one of the most popular bilingual commentators to have have worked for the NHL.
In his first season with the Montreal Canadiens in 1968 , he was noted for his statement style and warm voice. He became the first announcer in history to work more than eight consecutive seasons for the same venue . He was the director of public relations for the Montreal Canadiens from 1973 to 1993.
Mouton was also the pa announcer for the Montreal Expos from 1969 to 1973, when the team played in Jarry Park , his pronounciation of player "John Boccabella," is famous in Montreal baseball lore.

Howard Finkel-WWE-Finkel, a native of Newark, New Jersey, is the WWE's first employee after having been hired in 1975 by Vince McMahon, Sr. for what was then known as the WWWF. Finkel debuted as a ring announcer at Madison Square Garden on January 17, 1977. By 1979, he had become the organization's lead ring announcer for the their biggest events. Throughout his career, Finkel's distinctive voice was sometimes used in the title sequence for the company's

various television programs. Finkel's signature call was his announcement of a new champion following a title change, in which he would place extra emphasis on the word "new", in order to draw the greatest reaction from the crowd. Finkel came up with the event name "WrestleMania", as well as Ricky Steamboat's "Dragon" nickname. In 1984, Finkel became WWF's lead ring anouncer for TV tapings, replacing the retired Joe McHugh.

Chip Monck-Woodstock 1969-Chip Monck (born Edward Herbert Beresford Monck) is a Tony Award nominated lighting designer, most famously serving as the Master of Ceremonies at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
In 1969 he did the concert that would define his career and make him a public figure.
Monck was hired to plan and build the staging and lighting, ten weeks of work for which he was paid $7,000. Much of his plan had to be scrapped when the promoters

were not allowed to use original location in Wallkill, New York. The stage roof that was constructed in the shorter time available was not able to support the lighting that had been rented, which wound up sitting unused underneath the stage. The only light on the stage was from spotlights. He was drafted just before the concert started as the master of ceremonies when Michael Lang noticed that they had forgotten to hire one. He can be heard (and seen) in recordings of Woodstock making the stage announcements, including requests to "stay off the towers" and the warning about the "brown acid".
“ The warning that I’ve received, you might take it with however many grains of salt you wish, that the brown acid that is circulating around is not specifically too good. It is suggested that you stay away from that. But it’s your own trip, be my guest. But please be advised that there’s a warning, okay?  "

Jack E. Lee-Roosevelt Raceway-Jack E. Lee (May 29, 1936 - July 30, 2009) was a track announcer who called several major harness races at the now-defunct Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island (Westbury, NY) in the 1970s and 1980s, and is considered by many to be the "Golden Voice" of that era in harness racing. In addition to his stint as the track announcer at Roosevelt Raceway (1968–1985) and Freehold Raceway (1966, 1990–1998), Lee also called quarter horse races at Suffolk (Parr) Meadows on Long Island from 1986-1987. In addition to Roosevelt, Lee occasionally substituted for Bob Meyer at Yonkers Raceway.   

Known for having a mellow voice and a descriptive style of announcing, Lee was considered by many to be the top racecaller in all of harness racing during the 1970s and 1980s. His calls were heard nationwide on the superstation WOR-TV, where he co-hosted the show "Racing from Roosevelt" with Stan Bergstein and Spencer Ross. Aside from announcing at Roosevelt and Freehold, Lee was the PA announcer for the New York Mets at Shea Stadium and for a time in the 1970s, was the ring announcer for the World Wide Wrestling Federation at Madison Square Garden.
Jack E. Lee died on July 30, 2009. Lee was retired, living in Florida.

Tom Durkin-Belmont Racetrack-Tom Durkin (born November 30, 1950, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American sportscaster and public address announcer specializing in Thoroughbred horse racing. He was the race caller for NBC Sports from 1984 through 2010.
Durkin studied drama at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. In 1971, he was hired as a race caller at Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred races at county fairs in Wisconsin. He did this each summer through 1975, then the following year was employed by the Daily Racing Form as a call taker responsible for documenting the comments and statistics used in the official charts of the races at Cahokia Downs and Thistledown Racecourse.

He went on to work as a race caller at Florida Downs in Oldsmar, Florida, Miles Park Race Track in Louisville, Kentucky, Quad City Downs in East Moline, Illinois, Balmoral Park Racetrack in Crete, Illinois, Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida, Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, and in 1990 was hired to call races at the New York Racing Association's Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. Durkin served as the Breeders Cup's chief TV voice from its inception through 2005 and was a longtime broadcaster on NBC as part of the network's sportscasting crew for horse races, providing analysis, commentary and features in addition to the descriptions of races.
On April 26, 2011, Durkin announced his decision to not to renew his contract with NBC Sports, citing stress.

The Red Sox' new nighttime PA announcer teaches history by day

HENRY MAHEGAN'S FIRST day as the new voice of Fenway Park began in Room 426 of Charlestown High School, in the long shadows of the history he teaches. Portraits of presidents line one wall; on another hangs a photograph of a young B.B. King. The 32-year-old Mahegan stood in front of them and his students, and he cleared his throat, and he talked in his deep, warm tenor about time and its passage: who and what brought us here, and why it's important that we remember the beginnings that gave us our middles and ends. But teenagers, even Boston teenagers, even kids who grew up around landmarks and monuments, can have a hard time seeing beyond the concerns of the present. One raised his hand. "Did you bring us Sox tickets?" he asked.  read full story here

Quincy’s Dick Flavin one of the voices of Fenway Park

BOSTON-
If these walls at Fenway Park could talk ... they might sound a lot like Dick Flavin. So this marriage makes a lot of sense.
And it must be a dream job for him, right?
“Well, my dream was always to be in center field,” Flavin said with a chuckle, “but it’s a pretty good backup (plan).”
Flavin was sitting in the auxiliary media room on Monday a few minutes before he was scheduled to slip behind the mike and make his debut, in the home opener, as one of the Red Sox’s public address announcers.
The 76-year-old Quincy lifer (he lives in the same house in which he grew up) is part of a three-man PA rotation for the 2013 season.
Flavin, who spent 20 years in Boston television (mainly at WBZ-TV), winning seven Emmy Awards, will work most day games, including Sunday’s matchup with Tampa Bay. Longtime sportscaster Bob Lobel will handle most Saturdays. And Henry Mahegan, a 31-year-old Charlestown High teacher, will be the workhorse, taking most of the night games. read full story from source

New Angels announcer Michael Araujo living a dream

ANAHEIM – Before Tuesday night's home opener, the new, not-yet-familiar voice of Angel Stadium introduced the starters, the reserves, the coaches, trainers and equipment managers, first for the visiting Oakland Athletics, then for the Angels.

But Michael Araujo didn't introduce himself.

It's not his style, which is why we'll do it for the Angel Stadium public address announcer.

First, we need a little help with pronunciation for his last name. So he told me a joke he has been using since elementary school: "What do you call an uncooked garden tool?"

The answer: a-RAW-hoe.

Araujo knows he is supposed to be heard but not seen, his voice distinctive but not distracting and his words informative but not intrusive.

"There's a balance because you never want to do too much," said Araujo, 41, who announced his second career Angels' regular-season game Wednesday night.

"I learned the balance from years of going to games at Angel Stadium and listening to someone who did it perfectly."

Araujo takes over the announcing job after the passing of 19-year stadium voice David Courtney, who died of a pulmonary embolism in November at the age of 56.

read full story here

Q&A: Columbus Clippers PA announcer Matt Leininger

Sports have always played a big role in Matt Leininger’s life. He grew up playing baseball and football, and even started for Urban Meyer at Bowling Green University. Now Leininger announces games instead of playing in them.

After winning a contest while at Ohio Center for Broadcasting in 2011, Leininger was awarded a guest spot as the PA announcer for the Columbus Clippers. That one shot turned into a full-time gig almost immediately. If you’ve been to Huntington Park, you know Leininger’s raspy, deep voice. Here’s a bit about the man behind it.

I was going to the Ohio Center for Broadcasting, and we had a contest: Who could read the starting lineup for the Blue Jackets best. The award for winning the contest was doing the PA announcing for the last Clippers preseason game in 2011.That was my first game.  read the entire Q&A here

Bob Lobel: My Red Sox Dream Job

Maybe you have an answer to this question. I have been given the honor of being one of three Public Address announcers to do the games at Fenway Park this year.. Dick Flavin, long time political satire guy , author and poet is one. Henry Mahegan, Charleston teacher and coach, is another and I am the third.

My days for the booth are Saturdays and maybe some summer nights.. The pay is very little but it does come with a parking space. Here is what I can't figure out: Why is this more exciting to me than what I did for over 25 years, ie. sitting behind a desk doing sports in local newscasts? I'm not finished with the unanswerable questions. Why do other folks feel the same way? Is it because it's the Red Sox? Is it because it's Fenway Park? The closest I can come is that it is some tucked away fantasy most of us had at one time to do that kind of public announcing at sports venue.  read full article here