Behind the Scenes With the Great Lakes Loons: ESPN 100.9FM

At the end of a long season of broadcasting 140 games in 150 days and traveling by bus with the team, Great Lakes Loons Play-by-Play Announcer Brad Golder is ready for a break. The problem for Golder, however, is that he doesn't get a break because as soon as baseball season ends, he assumes his other role as Director of Programming for ESPN 100.9 FM. For Golder and ESPN 100.9 FM General Manager Jerry O'Donnell-who also does double duty working as the Loons Public Address Announcer-there is no off-season. Once the baseball season comes to an end, there is another season just beginning.

After a format change midway through the 2007 season which took the Loons from a rock station to a country station, the Loons purchased the radio station in March of 2008 to give the team a little more stability on the radio. They changed the format to an all-sports format, ESPN 100.9 FM, carrying all Loons games along with a variety of nationally syndicated ESPN programming including Mike & Mike in the Morning, The Herd with Colin Cowherd and The HUGE Show with Bill Simonson, Michigan's leading sports talk host.

With baseball dormant for seven months, O'Donnell and Golder worked hard to assemble a schedule filled with live local and regional programming. With a lineup that includes Michigan State University football and basketball, Saginaw Valley State University football and basketball, Saginaw Valley League football and basketball and Detroit Pistons games, the pair keeps very busy.

One of O'Donnell's primary goals for the station is to provide as much local content as possible. Both Golder and O'Donnell host programs on the station. O'Donnell is the host of The Training Room, a health and fitness program which airs every Friday at 6PM and Saturday at 10AM. The Training Room focuses on the latest advances in medical science and sports medicine, as well as offering tips to improve health.

Golder hosts SportsNight, which runs from 6-8PM on Monday through Friday. SportsNight is a daily sports talk show covering a wide variety of local sports, including area high schools and colleges.

"We're always looking for ways to increase the amount and quality of our local content. It's simple. In broadcasting, if it's not local, its dead," says O'Donnell, a 23-year veteran of radio.  "We focus on generating content that people in our region can't get anywhere else.  It's what makes our station unique."

Along with O'Donnell and Golder, the station has a crew of interns who work both at the station as well as being part of the ESPN 100.9 FM Street Team, executing various promotions for the radio station including making appearances at games being broadcast by the station and giving out prizes. The station has anywhere from 4-6 interns working at the station year-round.  

About the time January arrives, baseball begins moving up on the priority list, beginning with hiring and training the new group of interns who will work during the Loons season.  The station's staff begins creating Loons content, including writing and producing radio spots for Loons sponsors that air commercials during Loons games and developing new spots to promote the Loons 70 home games.     

During the off-season, O'Donnell also works closely with Jay Arons, ESPN 100.9 FM Director of Sales, to create unique advertising and sponsorship opportunities for the upcoming season. Working with Arons and advertisers, O'Donnell does everything from recruiting voice talent to writing and producing the final spots.

"Our advertisers recognize the value of being connected to the most exciting, intriguing sporting events and games in the area," says O'Donnell. "We offer our advertisers a unique opportunity to market directly to one of the most affluent, well-educated, and active listening radio audiences in the Great Lakes Bay Region."

O'Donnell's other duties generally involve the overall operation of the station. On a typical day, you can find O'Donnell doing a little bit of everything: writing and recording ads, prepping equipment to be used for a live broadcast, meeting with advertisers, leading station meetings, checking computers and equipment to make sure that everything is running as it should and so forth.  It's even rumored that O'Donnell is the station's unofficial plumber, although he would neither confirm nor deny the rumor.

Golder's work is more focused on the on-air aspects of the station, writing and producing station IDs and in-game messaging. Additionally, in 2009 he added play-by-play for SVSU basketball as well as hosting a nightly, two-hour sports talk program. During the off-season he follows news, keeping up with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Major and Minor League Baseball, to be aware of any developments that may affect the Loons.

Play-by-play duties for SVSU basketball wraps up around the time Dodgers spring training gets underway, allowing Golder to switch gears and put baseball front and center, closely following training camp and familiarizing himself with any new players who may end up in a Loons uniform.

As the Dodgers minor league players break camp and report to their respective clubs, Golder begins burning the midnight oil compiling player statistics, bios and other tidbits of information that will serve as fodder for his live broadcasts.  For many, the countless hours spent researching each player may seem mundane, but for Golder it's these little details that make the difference in broadcasting a game.  Knowing the Loons new third baseman attended the same high school as Ken Griffey Jr. or the right fielder enjoys cooking on his days off are what makes Golder's broadcasts unique and piques the interest of listeners tuning in to Loons baseball.

In all, it takes the staff about three months and literally thousands of man hours to fully prepare for the first time the words "Loons Baseball is on the air" are uttered across the airwaves.