(May 3, 2012) It isn’t every day that the hockey team sales intern gets to add “broadcaster” to his list of job duties – particularly when he has no prior hockey broadcasting experience. Nathan Barnett has been hired as the Play-by-Play Broadcaster/Account Executive for the Ontario (CA) Reign of the East Coast Hockey League.
Barnett has been working for the Reign as an Inside Sales Representative since September 2011. Barnett originally took the job to build his sales experience; he didn’t consider the broadcasting side because he had never broadcast hockey before. Then, Barnett’s boss approached him about the position.
“I worked as hard as I could. It got noticed, I guess,” Barnett says. “I made them realize that hiring me could be a good broadcasting decision and a good business one–I think that was very important.”
After Barnett’s boss approached him about the position, there was the small matter of not having any hockey demos to submit as material.
“The team allowed me to take a few games off, and I was able to mock broadcast a few of their games from inside the arena. I used a digital recorder and a broadcasting headset to ensure good quality inside the loud arena, and it was much more familiar than using just the recorder. I pulled a good ten minutes from each game I did.”
A 2011 graduate of Pomona College, Barnett also was a student in STAA CEO Jon Chelesnik’s sports broadcasting class at Palomar College. Last year Barnett was the broadcaster for the Palm Springs Power baseball club. He also has experience in football and basketball. This summer, Barnett will be broadcasting baseball for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters of the Northwoods League.
“I’m not at all surprised Nathan earned this position without prior hockey play-by-play experience,” Chelesnik says. “The fundamentals of play-by-play are the same, regardless of sport, and Nathan has the fundamentals down cold.”
Barnett knows that this position with the Reign will benefit his future career in more than just the on-air side.
“While a slight deviation from the sport I primarily want to work in, baseball, broadcasting in the ECHL in a big market like the Inland Empire, is a tremendous broadcasting position for me–especially at this point in my career.”
“The opportunity to enhance my sales resume and improve skills on the business side of sports is perhaps just as important for me. I got this job in large part due to my sales ability. I know it might not be the last like it and it keeps doors open for the future.”
(Visit Nathan’s STAA Talent Page).