High School PA Announcers

Something to talk about during the rain outs.
Last season, we didn't have anyone to announce the games, so I got drafted. Pulling from my experience as a kid and listening to the Braves radio broadcasts, I took
on the assignment. Just used a mic and some cd's last
season and all seemed to go ok.
This season, the guys wanted walk-ups and sound bites, soooooo, I started looking into the prospect of doing just that. I found an old thinkpad and some software and made it happen for this season. The kids love it!
The parents seem to also enjoy the music and the sound bites. I try to copy the PA Announcer I heard a couple of years ago at Ledford in a playoff game. I'll never be that good, but he was the best I have ever heard.

Let me know if any of you are doing this or have tried!
Maybe we can get together and compare notes or freeware etc.

 

In the pressbox

I did PA at Northern Nash games for 3 years and it was very enjoyable and I had the best seat in the house. One thing you might want to try is: spot certain fans that are in attendance and say the team welcomes them for coming out to the game. The ones that wave are the true hams!!!

 

What kind of freeware have you found useful?

 

I use Audacity to edit songs and CDex to rip .WMA files to .WAV files so Audacity can import them, both free.

Here is a website that I found some free sound bites:
http://www.folloder.com/sounds/soundbites.htm

Here is a good site for PA Announcers:
http://www.pa-guy.com/links.html

A forum for pa announcers:
http://www.pa-guy.com/index.html
Found a lot of useful info here as to what equipment
I needed. It's like TBR, but just for announcers and they are very helpful.

Oh and I use SportsSoundPro to keep track of it all. $150.00
http://www.sportssoundspro.com/

Mostly have just googled what I want and find it,
i.e. "Homer Simpson Quotes".

As far as songs, I just got out my old cd's and bought new from ITUNES.
Hope this helps.
If anyone has anything to share, let us know as I'm always looking for new material.

Strech: The name calling thing is a good one! I believe I'll try it next home game.

 

send me a private message and i can get you in contact with a very good young PA guy if you're serious bout it

 

I did PA at West Stokes my senior year of high school and freshman year of college while I was going to community college. I've gone back the past four years and done a few games every now and then. I, too, stole from Ledford when I was first starting out.

Here's what I've learned: talk to the players and find out what they like. Yes, you're there to entertain the fans, but most importantly, you're there to give the kids an extra kick that they enjoy while they play. For example, I know our team, in general, has a lot of kids that are into more of the punk/rock/indie music. Luckily, this is my favorite style as well. So while I still play some of the country stuff, the classic rock, and the typical baseball songs (Centerfield, Glory Days, etc), I've mixed in some stuff that I knew the players would like and the grandmas would tolerate. I've also had guys who are pitchers ask if I could play certain songs when they came into pitch. I had one kid come up to me when I was home last time and tell me, "Hey, I'm scheduled to come in and pitch in the 4th inning. Can you play Lights Out for me before that inning?" I said sure. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

The other thing I've done is gotten movie quotes. There are wav sites all over the internet that have clips from movies. Just little things that can be fun for the kids. I did a couple games over spring break and when we turned a really nice double play I played a clip from Anchorman where Will Ferrell goes, "Don't act like you're not impressed." The players ran off the field feeling good and laughing.

Another is take songs and use the lyrics situationally. If we steal a base, I'll play the theme from the Jeffersons real quick because it starts out with "Movin on up..." If we are hitting and draw a walk, I'll play a clip from Eye of the Tiger, These Boots Are Made For Walking, I Would Walk 500 Miles, or Walk It Out. If we hit a home run, I'll play Slow Ride, Final Countdown, or another song that works with it. If one of our pitchers strikes out two or three guys in a row I'll play a clip of Ric Flair going "woo" (side note: Salisbury really hated that when I played it and we struck out 11 a few years back). When the opposing team's coach goes out to the mound for the first time, I start playing the Andy Griffith theme. It's guaranteed when I do this, both dug outs and fans from both teams start laughing. If he comes out a second time, I play the theme from Jeopardy.

I know most of that is music and that's because that's where I really have fun with it. When it comes to actually announcing, I do the same thing every game. During pregame I announced the subs for the opposing team, the starters for the opposing team, then the coaches for the opposing team. Then I do the same for our team. This way every kid gets their name announced at least once. After that I play the national anthem and go straight into Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones.

One thing to do is try and make sure you announce the player who comes in to pinch run for the pitcher or catcher. A lot of times this is the only time the kid's going to get in the game so it's nice for him, his parents, and his friends to hear his name over the big speakers.

Yeah, this was long. Sorry for that. Announcing is just a hobby of mine that I like to have fun with. Be careful though, it gets addicting.

 

Having a Great Time!

After the first few games, I am really enjoying the experience. I try to announce new runners, pitchers etc.
All the kids get their name called at least once!
I do have the best seat in the house!
Now if I could get someone to operate the scoreboard,
would make my life easier!

SuperJon, Good advice! I will listen and try to incorporate into the program.

 

I have done PA for Garner High School for about 5 years now, I also do PA for Garner's American Legion team and also East Carolina Baseball. All this information is good, useful information.

I use Sports Sound Pro for all of the games I do PA for which is about $125, but it is well worth it. I could sit here all day and talk about PA announcing but I won't take up too much time. If you have any general questions, shoot my a private message and I will be happy to talk to you about any questions you have.

Good luck!

 

Been a PA anouncer for 8 years, I have always used home made CD's, thanks to a friend who have every song that was ever put on a CD and another friend that has the software to take clips from songs. We have walkup songs for each batter (the CD track is also their jersey number-idiot proff--), recorded organ music, clips from TV shows, etc. We always have a 5th inning streach and have a guest organist (some one in the croud, teacher, school official, community leader etc.) to play Take me out to the Ballgame. Examples: Big hit=Ya Ba DAB aDOOOO, Double play=Rawhide, ROLLIN' or Bang Bang, Player picked off= what a day for a daydream HBP= hit me with your best shot, BB=Walk it out. Mound visit=Some body help me. Intro of visiting team=Mr. Big Stuff, Player hurt=MASH. We have about 10 RAIN songs ie:Rainy Night, I wish it would rain. The best 5th inning streach was for a 50+ year old divorced man that attends all female sporting events. As I introduce him, I play the Dating Game song,as the #1 batchelor. I try to make each player feel like they are playing in the majors and each in attendance feel that they have been entertained. After each win=Jefferson's Movin' on up, this has beena tradition for 8 years.......Loss=you had a bad day. Sometime I announce a "partial score' from the rival school, I always say 0 or in football just 6.

 

truthbetold....

I just use my home computer, laptop of course. I plugged the mixer into the computer via a 3.99 cord from Lowe's (You can get one at Radioshack).

I took about 4-5 hours to collect sound clips from various websites, converted them all to Windows media files via a free converter found online. Then I used the Microsoft Zune site, much like itunes, to download the players intro songs and supplemental music for between innings and to play in certain situations, as someone else previously mentioned.

It was a ton easier than I thought it would be, but I did have a mixer that made the hookup very easy. I find it lots better than using CDs that may scratch and I have everything all in one folder on the desktop, from the National Anthem to Enter Sandman.

If you want more info, let me know.