(SUNRISE, FL) – FSN Florida today named Rich Waltz the new television play-by-play voice of the Florida Marlins. Beginning with the 2005 MLB season, Waltz will join veteran color analyst Tommy Hutton in the broadcast booth and call a total of 3 pre-season and 141 regular-season Marlins game telecasts seen on FSN Florida and the Marlins broadcast network. FSN Florida's first of three pre-season game telecasts is on March 20; FSN Florida's regular season coverage begins with the Opening Day game on April 5. Jeff Genthner, FSN Florida's Senior Vice President and General Manager made the announcement.
For the past ten years Waltz served as the Seattle Mariners' fill-in television and radio play-by-play announcer and hosted FSN Northwest's Mariners' pre-game and weekly magazine shows. Additionally, Waltz has called Major League Baseball games on a national basis for ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN Radio, FX and CBC.
"Rich has consistently demonstrated his personal passion for baseball and professional excellence as a broadcaster during his ten years at FSN in Seattle," said Jeff Genthner. "This is going to be a very exciting Marlins season on the field and Marlins fans throughout Florida can look forward to insightful and entertaining telecasts with Rich, Tommy and Craig calling the games on FSN Florida."
"The Marlins TV job is one of the best in baseball. To be able to call games on FSN Florida with someone like Tommy Hutton is an incredible privilege and opportunity for me," noted Rich Waltz. "The Marlins have a passionate owner in Jeffrey Loria who is committed to winning, they have a very competitive team and they're in a great location. My family is very excited to come to South Florida and we're eager to become part of the community."
From 1997 through 2001, Waltz worked as a college football play-by-play announcer for ESPN, calling games in the Big Ten, SEC and ACC; including the Holiday, Liberty, Music City, Peach, Independence, Hula, Senior, and Mobile Bowls. During that five-year period Waltz also announced
ACC and Pac-10 college football games for ABC, NFL Europe games for Fox Sports Net, arena football play-off games for ESPN, and served as the Seattle Seahawks' pre-season play-by-play
announcer for Seahawks TV.
In addition to calling baseball and football game telecasts, Waltz' broadcast career comprises a variety of sports including basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, and golf. Since 1993 Waltz has called college basketball games in the Pac-10, West Coast, and Big Sky Conference for Fox Sports Net, men's regular season and women's NCAA Tournament games for ESPN and multiple
conference games for ESPN regional television.
"I've had the opportunity to meet Rich and was very impressed with his baseball knowledge and extensive broadcasting experience," noted Tommy Hutton, FSN's Florida Marlins color analyst. "During my time with the Marlins I've worked with Joe Angel, Dave O'Brien and Len Kasper, and look forward to working with Rich during this upcoming 2005 season."
A graduate of the University of California, Davis, Waltz earned a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric while playing shortstop for the UC Davis baseball team. After graduating Waltz began his broadcasting career calling play-by-play in the Minor Leagues with stops in Las Vegas, Wichita, and Spokane. Waltz, 42, and his wife Renee, have two daughters: Jaimie (8) and Anna (4).
FSN Florida reaches over 5 million households in Florida. FSN Florida's programming includes Major League Baseball's Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the National Hockey League's Florida Panthers, the University of Miami, The Best Damn Sports Show Period and The Sports List. FSN Florida is managed by Rainbow Sports Networks.
Rainbow Sports Networks is a division of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC). Fox Sports Net reaches more than 81.1 million households nationwide and is a service of National Sports Partners, equally owned by Rainbow Media Holdings LLC and Fox Entertainment Group. Rainbow Sports Networks incorporates Rainbow's 50% ownership in Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports National Advertising and the ownership and management of Fox Sports Net regional networks in five of the nation's largest markets: Chicago, San Francisco, New England, Ohio and Florida.