Growlers Announcer Named NWL TV Announcer of the Year (original) (raw)

Kalamazoo Growlers

The Northwoods League announced that the broadcast voice of the Kalamazoo Growlers, Jaden Taylor, was named the 2024 NWL TV Announcer of the Year.

Taylor was the play-by-play voice for the Growlers throughout the entire 2024 Championship season calling all 77 games for the team. Fans could hear Taylor's voice on all Growlers home games as they were featured on NWL+, ESPN+ and the NWL F.A.S.T. channel.

"Jaden was the voice in 2023 and bringing him back for 2024 was an easy decision," Growlers General Manager Tom Olds said. "He had a list of goals to accomplish in 2024 that went above and beyond broadcasting. He's the type of guy that shows up every day and wants to be better and that's why he's being recognized for this award - he carries himself like a professional."

Taylor is originally from Omaha, Nebraska and is a junior at Arizona State University - Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communications.

Taylor is an aspiring play-by-play broadcaster previously being the voice for MLB's Arizona Fall League, the Phoenix College Bears baseball program and select Arizona State University baseball and softball games.

"It was easy to do all of the extra work because everyone within the organization had such trust in me to try to produce a quality product in everything that I did. The Growlers are the best of both worlds in summer baseball," Taylor said. "Not only do they continue to win and help produce incredibly talented players but they are also one of the most electric and wacky atmospheres that you're going to get in this league. There is such an amazing connection to this community and it makes it even better when they can watch ballplayers who just a few years down the road will hear their names called in the MLB Draft. There is never a dull moment in Homer Stryker which makes it so easy for fans to route for this team."

The Northwoods League streamed over 170 select games on ESPN+ throughout the 2024 season.

Northwoods League games that stream on ESPN+ are exclusive to ESPN+ and amount to approximately 20% of the Leagues 800+ games from its Memorial Day season opener to the League championship in mid-August.

The League saw over two million unique viewers tune in for its live games during the season and totaled over five million unique viewers to its live games, replay games, as well as shows that were created for the 2024 season.

Fans can watch Northwoods League games on their own televisions using Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku, and Android TV, in addition to being able to watch them on their pc, mobile phone or tablet.

The Northwoods League webcasting operation has continuously strived to improve the quality of its broadcast content since its inception well over a decade ago, and a part of that effort in recent years has been transitioning from simulcast audio operations to dedicated tv announcers for the game productions.

All Northwoods League teams have dedicated TV announcers for the game day productions, in addition to producers, directors, and camera operators, and all the broadcast quality equipment that has been a valuable part of the League's four camera high-definition webcasting stream of each Northwoods League game for years.

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.