The PA Announcer

Bob Sheppard (The best, of course)

The day started with a message form Harold.

In short, Carmel High School was looking for a public address announcer for tomorrow night. It's senior night for their hockey team, and he wondered if he could recommend me.

I thought about it. I considered that it was my weekend with Sean.

I told him to go ahead and tell Carmel High that I was available if they needed me.

A few hours passed, and I hadn't heard from anyone, so I thought I was off.

Then I got a message from Mahopac High School hockey.

They, too, needed a PA announcer for their Senior Night.

But wait...there's more. I need to do the whole shebang, music included.

I'm getting ahead of myself.

You'd think -- after too many years of this -- that doing the PA is no big deal for a natural ham who has been on the radio since 1990.

But being the in-house announcer is a different world.

There's a different kind of immediacy here, as opposed to radio. Mispronounce someones name, and you can get grumbled at.

That's not to say it doesn't happen in radio, but I'm also insulated in a world inside my headset.

It's hard to explain.

One other thing: I'm not the "rah rah" type of announcer. There's a reason I posted the picture of Bob Sheppard at the top of the post. That's more of my style.

So I'm looking through some music tonight in case my (vast) selection is needed, but I warn you: there's not a lot post-2000 (or so).

I'll be nervous, as being PA announcer isn't my usual forte. Then again, I survived Senior Day for Greenwich football.

To be fair, I've done PA before for several events. Yes, I've spoken in public countless times. Yet -- surprise -- I get nervous.

We'll see how this experience goes.