New wave radio

Blue Crabs offer radio broadcasts over the Internet

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

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On March 3, the Blue Crabs welcomed a new face to its team in Paul Braverman. But more important than Braverman's face is his voice.

Braverman was hired as the new announcer for the Blue Crabs and starting this season, all 140 regular season games will be broadcast over the Internet through the Blue Crabs' Web site.

"I was with York last year and it was certainly a good experience," Braverman said. Braverman will also handle media relations and Web development for the Blue Crabs. "I didn't know too much about the Atlantic League. … I got into it, enjoyed it. … I liked my job there but was definitely looking to add the play-by-play duties."

Braverman will be the sole voice of the Blue Crabs and will also host 15- minute pregame shows for any games played from Monday through Saturday, as well as a 30-minute pregame show for any Sunday contest.

What makes the broadcast special is that it will, for the first time, offer fans the chance to enjoy Blue Crabs games without having to travel to the ballpark. Braverman also said that the company handling the actual broadcast, Maryland-based All In Broadcasting, will keep an archive of previous broadcasts so that fans can go back and listen to games if they miss the live feed.

It will also provide the opportunity to cut snippets of the broadcast and save them to a hard drive so that fans can keep special moments in Blue Crabs history.

Perhaps more important than how the games will be delivered to fans, is the man who will be handling that delivery. A good broadcaster can become part of the family for diehard fans. For those who fall into that category for the Blue Crabs, Braverman seems as though he will be a fine choice.

Thursday, in a press release, Interactive Broadcast Network Sports, or iBN Sports, a premiere Internet-based broadcast sports television network, stated it had reached an agreement with the Blue Crabs for Internet rights to broadcast all 70 of its home games over the iBN Sports Baseball Channel at www.ibnsports.com. 

The Blue Crabs join the Lancaster Barnstormers as the first two teams in the Atlantic League to sign with iBN Sports this year, joining teams from the American Association, Frontier, Northern, and Can-Am Leagues. With the signing of the Blue Crabs, and other teams to be announced, iBN will cover nearly 1,000 professional and collegiate baseball games in 2009.

Braverman has a hefty play-by-play background, most notably at Bowling Green University and as the lead broadcaster for the Jamestown Jammers, a Class-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins.

He counts some big names as his favorites in the announcing business, including Michael Kay with the New York Yankees and Tom Hamilton with the Cleveland Indians. But Braverman said that a long time ago, he got advice from former Baltimore Orioles announcer Michael Reghi to find his own voice and not to mimic other announcers, advice that he will soon put to use in Southern Maryland.

"He basically told me — don't worry about who else is out there," Braverman said. "Develop your own style and let someone else look up to you. I thought that was pretty good advice. … You'll drive yourself crazy [if you think about what other guys do]."