I have always had a bunch of random thoughts getting tossed about in my head like a borderline crazy person on his way to a padded room. What I didn't have was an outlet for those thoughts that anyone actually wanted to hear about. So I have decided to put them here, for you to read, if that makes any sense at all. It doesn't to me, but I guess that's why I am writing this all down. Maybe I can sort it all out. I plan on using this Blog to discuss with myself things that matter to me, but not really to those close to me.
I absolutely love sports, especially Junior or Collegiate sports. I have always felt that watching young men and women battle it out on the ice, or court, or pitch, is leaps and bounds more entertaining than professionals getting paid more money per year than most of us see in a lifetime, or two. I wanted to start with a brief history on how I got to where I am now.
I was lucky enough in my teenage years to befriend an awesome guy by the name of Curtis Machek. Now you may not know his name now, but if you're into radio at all, even just listening at work, you'll learn his name eventually. This kid got hooked on the radio bug young, even went so far as to build a full blown studio in his house! This wasn't just a microphone hooked up to a laptop, this was a fully functioning radio station. We used to umpire baseball together, and he mentioned he wanted a few people to DJ for him on his amateur radio station. I jumped at the chance, I have never done anything like it before and relished in the chance to try something new. I played on the radio for quite a while with Curtis, and decided I wanted more. I took a few gigs hosting shows as EMCEE and as an in house announcer for some sporting events. Then one day a few years ago I got a phone call from a guy named Tony Carlson, from the Victoria Cougars. My brother had played for the Cougars for a number of years and being a local Junior B team, I was already a fan. Tony wanted to know if I wanted to try my hand at Play-by-Play. Again another challenge was staring me down. I jumped at the chance to try something new again.
I had no idea what I was doing, no training, no help, just a mic and a hockey game in front of me. It was rough, I mean really rough. I sounded nervous and clueless, truth is I was. But I had some awesome people at the Cougars to support me, fact is, we have the best hockey family around. The broadcast has come a long way in the past few years, going from two mics on the internet to a full video broadcast. I am also not done yet. I have some lofty ideas in mind to make things there even better. But one thing remains, I am still learning. I have made some amazing friends and acquaintances in the local radio world. I have had the chance to play on several radio stations, and even venture up into the broadcast booth with Victoria Royals broadcaster Marlon Martens. All of these DJ's and broadcasters have taught me plenty, especially Marlon. He has been my main influence, and because he is very approachable it's been easy to learn from him. Unfortunately we don't have the resources of an actual radio station to support the broadcast with producers to add production value, all I have is me. If you watch a video broadcast of a team like the Royals when they air the game, or even listen to Marlon on the Zone, you'll notice a difference. There is even a team in the VIJHL that employs a professional radio DJ to call the games, and he brings the resources that come with that. We are doing our best to make the gap smaller.
Now I know I glossed over a lot of stuff with the Cougars, I will go in-depth at a later time. I just needed to ramble about a bit to get things off to a good start. I plan on giving some insight into the world of the Victoria Cougars, and my other adventures, from the broadcast booth. It's cold up here, but the view is amazing.
