JAMES JOHNSON
Star Beacon
March 18, 2008 02:10 am
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It’s not taking Conneaut graduate Dan Watson long to move up in the world of minor-league baseball broadcasting.
Only a year after serving as co-director of broadcasting for the Daytona Beach Cubs in the Class Advanced-A Florida League, Watson, the son of Donald and Kathy Watson of Conneaut, was recently hired to be the No. 2 play-by-play radio man for the Harrisburg (Pa.) Senators, the Class AA affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Just two years out of college, Watson appears headed full-steam toward his eventual dream — working in the big leagues.
“It’s a great situation for me,” Watson, a 2002 Conneaut and 2006 Otterbein College grad, said. “It’s not even the upgrade in the class that makes the difference for me, rather in how excited about taking a job when an accommodating special group is running the team.
“The team was just bought by Michael Reinsdorf, Jerry’s son. He took it over and this is really the first season he’s been running the team. Things here are different now and that kind of shakeup is one of the main reasons why I am here. It opened up a second broadcasting position.”
Working for the Senators team itself, Watson will broadcast on WTKT 1460-AM “The Ticket” in Harrisburg as the No. 2 guy in the radio booth. Interestingly enough, the Senators play in the Eastern League with the Cleveland Indians’ Class AA affiliate Akron Aeros — a team he followed religiously in his youth.
“It’s kind of ironic, us playing Akron,” he said. “I watched the Aeros growing up and now to be going into that stadium I used to go into as a kid is pretty cool. It’s exciting for me to be able to work out there. I’m also coming up to Erie (Pa.) to get one or two of their games when the Senators play up there in May. It’s cool that I get to be up in that same pressbox.”
Watson said the job literally fell into his lap. After spending his first full year in minor-league baseball broadcasting last summer with the Daytona Cubs, Watson was prowling for work at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville in early December.
“I was doing interviews for work during the winter meetings and I applied for the job when it was posted online,” Watson said. “There weren’t many broadcasting jobs in baseball. Where I worked last year was very entry level. It didn’t pay anything. I’ve now advanced to the end of entry level. It’s the No. 2 assistant job for the play-by-play guy and from what I’ve seen, it’s one of the best assistant jobs in minor-league baseball.
“It was really weird getting the job. I had been looking into work for a few teams, including the Boise Hawks out in Idaho. They played a short season, like 80 games, but I liked some of the things they did. But realistically, it wasn’t something I was considering. Then, at the last minute, I had applied for the Harrisburg job.
“I called them up to see how their search was going and their director of broadcasting, a guy named Terry Byrum, told me that he was on the phone with one prospect and had another on hold,” Watson said. “That really didn’t bode too well for me, but I got a call back the next day and they told me they were interested. A week later, I was offered the job.”
Watson relishes his chance to move closer to home and has aspirations of moving even closer.
“It’s a chance to be closer to home and that’s something I have been shooting for,” he said. “I’m excited at the chance to work here and come back home.”
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ollow Watson and the Senators via webcast at senatorsbaseball.com, minorleaguebaseball.com or pnnlive.com.
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DAN WATSON Star Beacon