Have you ever noticed that voice coming out of the speakers at athletic events? Yep, that’s me. While the fantastic student athletes at Oak Park and River Forest High School are center stage at sporting events, announcers play an important role too. Whether they are in person or broadcasting, announcers can make or break the spectator experience.

So what makes a good public address (PA) announcer? I am the PA announcer for OPRF athletics and have been for a year now. It’s a job with some specialized skills. Improvisation is legitimately in the job description; it is all about learning what’s appropriate to say and when. Practicing is the only way to approach perfection. 

Unlike broadcasters, who get a delay before their comments reach the audience, PA announcers are live. What they say in the microphone is going to be heard by everyone in the stadium. When heard at a home game, PA announcers usually are more enthusiastic for the home team, but they are not cheerleaders. They are supposed to use their cadence to project their enthusiasm to help hype the crowd up.  

But it’s not all in the voice. Before games, PA announcers must be good with their social skills when asking opposing coaches for rosters and starting lineups. 

After getting all the rosters, the most important part about being a PA announcer is not making yourself the star of the show. The role of the PA announcer is to hype up and give pertinent information to the crowd when necessary.

Sometimes the crowd doesn’t like the information–or your take on it. Anyone who watches sports has at some point expressed anger or disapproval of the announcers calling the game. It’s important for announcers to rise above those comments and know that you can’t please everyone all the time.

That said, it’s important to remain as unbiased as possible. Fans are good at sniffing out bias in announcers calling a game. Yes, announcers, just like all journalists, have a set of experiences and viewpoints that shape their opinions. The goal is to think beyond those limits in order to objectively commend good plays and explain the rules of the game when necessary. Good announcers do their research. Announcers need to be familiar with the rules of the game for the announcing to be smooth and uniform. 

That’s especially tough to pull off in the middle of a game, which doesn’t stop for anyone. Things are happening fast, so a good announcer will be able to quickly and clearly interpret plays for viewers who might be confused about what’s happening. 

It takes a very specific person to muster up the courage to be a PA or broadcasting announcer, but it’s a skill that is so incredibly useful in the whole scheme of life. Being able to talk to people with confidence is something that I will use for the rest of my life. 

So I’d like to thank all of the coaches and the Athletic Department for teaching and putting up with me throughout my year of being the announcer for OPRF. 

If a student has some interest in taking this important role in OPRF athletics or taking on a different role like being an official scorer, scoreboard operator or timer, contact Nicole Ebsen, OPRF’s athletic director, at [email protected], or fill out the form in the Daily Bulletin.