Episode 65: MiLB play-by-play broadcaster Rich Burk

Host: K.P. Wee

Guest: Rich Burk, Play-by-Play Broadcaster

SUMMARY: Sometimes nice guys finish first – as is the case with Rich Burk, one of the busiest and nicest sportscasters around. On this episode of The K.P. Wee Podcast the veteran play-by-play announcer (ESPN, Pac12 Networks and NBC’s Olympic coverage) is sharing insider tips for anyone who aspires to his success. In addition to having called more than 2,000 baseball games for major and minor league teams, Rich has also covered football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, swimming, diving, and wrestling. The one common thread? Prep. Prep. Prep. Rich spends as many as eight hours painstakingly compiling stats and other background related to each and every player (for both teams) going into a series. He does a similar amount of homework before conducting interviews, which is what makes him so nimble and able to elicit great conversation. You’ll also learn why young sportscasters need to read, read, read—and why silence from the broadcast booth can be a gift. The show wraps with some colorful career highlights and parting thoughts for anyone who feels shy about seeking out a mentor. “Most people in this industry have been helped by mentors,” says Rich, “and those same people are almost always happy to help younger people trying to break in.” So don’t be afraid to reach out!

Interested in checking out Rich’s perennially popular Baseball Scorebook Model? It’s available online here.

Click here if you would like to hear previous episodes of the K.P. Wee Podcast or here if you’d like to know more about the many books he has authored.

If you’re a fan of this podcast’s intro music, please follow Roger Chong: Twitter @chongroger and Instagram @chongroger

 

KEY TOPICS:

• Rich shares thoughts on the trajectory of his play-by-play career, including the priority he put on protecting stability and quality of life with his family in Oregon. 
• Public speaking has always been in Rich’s comfort zone largely because he starts with the assumption that people like him. Makes it easy to relax in front of the microphone!
• Some of Rich’s earliest training was as a college student sent out by his baseball coaches to speak on their behalf at various service clubs in Southern California.
• Pro Tip: Be yourself and trust that everyone will like you.
• Not everyone comes out of the gate with a fully formed on-air persona. It took Rich time to cultivate his play-by-play style.
• Rich developed his baseball scorebooks to help him keep track of details while juggling other stadium roles early in his career. It was a great lesson in multi-tasking!
• Rich put together his Baseball Scorebook Model in 2007 and it has sold steadily ever since. The format provides room for flexibility. He counts broadcasters among his fans!
• Pro Tip: Be prepared! People assume Rich has everything memorized but in fact he is just very organized. It takes a considerable investment of time, but he always has at his fingertips copious notes/player facts (for his team and the teams they face), including:
• • Number of games played
  • Batting average
  • Double, triples, home runs, and RBIs
  • Stolen bases and stolen base attempts
  • Trends – notable activity out on the field
  • Basic Bios: Height, weight, hometown, college career, and other fun facts.
• Inputting data prior to a series can take Rich as many as eight hours! Updates are quicker.
• Pro Tip: Be prepared with background material, but always remember: It’s about what’s going on down on the field. The art is in knowing how much to use and when to use it.
• Letting things breathe: Rich believes the age of social media has conditioned broadcasters to “blather on and on and on.” He’s a fan of the old school approach, knowing when to let the crowd to tell the story. 
• About the time Rich’s old friend, golf sportscaster Peter Jacobsen, set him up to shadow broadcast legend Vince Scully. He spent two days watching the master do his thing! And took away two bits of advice: Be yourself (which he took) and Don’t listen to other broadcasters (which he opted to ignore – he has studied other people’s on-air styles).
• Pro Tip: Read! Vince Scully once told Rich (who wholeheartedly agrees) that aspiring broadcasters should devour written material in order to build facility with language.
• Pro Tip: When conducting an interview, do your homework, know your subject and have in mind a general map (keep it flexible!) of where you’d like to go.
• Pro Tip: Listen to cues from your interviewee. Sometimes an unanticipated twist in the conversation will come up. You’ve got to be ready to go with it!
• Listener Question: About Ron Tonkin, the late car dealership owner in Portland for whom the 4,500 spectator baseball park was named in 2014.
• Rich reflects on his most memorable broadcasts:
• • 1997 Portland Rockies league championship.
  • 2014, 2015, and 2019 championships for the Hillsboro Hops.
  • A memorable game-ending (and ultimately career-ending) grand slam by Tagg Bozied taught Rich a critical lesson: Always, always keep your eye on the field! 
  • An all-out fight between Portland Beavers and Las Vegas 51s fans at an away game – a crazy scene in which once again Tagg Bozied figured.
• Closing Thoughts for Aspiring Broadcasters: Seek and reach out to as many mentors as possible. They were young once and remember what it feels like trying to break into the business!

 

KEY QUOTES:

• “I was able to work my way up the ladder without having to move. Luckiest guy in the world!” (Rich) 
• “You can always assume that people are going to like you. And the other piece of advice I’d give is: Be yourself.” (Rich)
• “You’ve done your homework! Well done, K.P. I appreciate that!” (Rich)
• “It’s probably a total of three hours of work – more at the beginning of a series – because when we face a new team I have to input all that information … The art of it is knowing what to use and when.”
• “I find myself sometimes with all this information but I have to know when not to use it because the game is the focus. If it’s a tie game late in the game I don’t want to be giving too much bio information. I don’t want to look away from the field.” (Rich)
• “It’s a lost art just to let the crowd tell the story.” (Rich)
• “Have a general map of where you want the interview to go, but at the same time be flexible on your feet so if the interviewee says something compelling you want to go down that path.” (Rich)
• “Most people in this industry have been helped by mentors; have been helped along the way by a lot of people. And those same people are almost always happy to help younger people trying to break in.” (Rich)

 

RICH BURK’S BIO: Rich Burk is a versatile sportscaster who serves as a play-by-play announcer for Pac-12 Networks. He has called football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, swimming and diving, and wrestling for the Pac-12 Networks in addition to calling games for Fox Sports Net NW, ROOT Sports, and ESPN2. Additionally, Burk has called many games on radio, from historic venues such as Pauley Pavilion, Madison Square Garden, and Cameron Indoor Stadium. On several occasions he has had fill-in stints in Major League Baseball, including time with the San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos, and Toronto Blue Jays. His professional baseball resume of nearly 2000 games includes calling four no-hitters and two perfect games. He currently lives outside of Portland in Hillsboro, Oregon, where he coaches youth baseball and during recent summers has called play-by-play for the Hillsboro Hops, a minor-league affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also has two children with his wife of over 24 years.

FOLLOW RICH: WEBSITE | TWITTER | EMAIL | RICH BURK'S BASEBALL SCOREBOOK

 

About K.P. Wee: K.P. Wee is the author of multiple books and a regular contributor to sports radio programs and websites. In addition to hosting The K.P. Wee Podcast, he also enjoys writing sports and psychological fiction with a twist of romance. He spent a decade working as a program developer and instructor for a private school before joining the Vancouver Canadians baseball club’s media relations department. 

You can find out more about books by K.P. Wee here.

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Additional episodes of the K.P. Wee Podcast are available here.