This week, we have the opportunity to talk to Pete Richmire, an announcer in the Pacific Northwest who also has a good amount of broadcast experience.  Earlier this year, Richmire would wind up becoming part of the show that he used to cover on his talk show, with the Tacoma Rainiers of the AAA Pacific Coast League.

Most people begin their career on the P. A. mic and expand into radio or TV.  Richmire went the opposite way as he had a weekly sports-talk show called “The Sideline” on KLAY in Tacoma, Washington.  It was on the air that a semi-pro team in Tacoma asked him to announce their games.  Richmire jumped at the chance to become the voice of the Tacoma Cobras.  It was during his research to make the switch to P. A. announcing that he found SportsAnnouncing.com, along with Sports Sounds Pro that allowed him to put together a playlist for football games.

“Ever since I began attending sports events as a child, I liked how the P. A. announcer boomed,” Richmire said.  “The music was usually relevant and situational to the game.”

After loading music for football and announcing the Cobras games, Richmire decided he wanted to give baseball a try.  He decided to try to expand his network and approached Tacoma Community College about providing announcing and music on the diamond.

“I was very successful with them, and it was incredibly fun for me,” Richmire said.  “So I inquired about their other sports.”

Other Titans programs were able to take advantage of Richmire’s work as he handled music primarily, with some announcing work, for basketball games and tournaments, along with continuing with the baseball team.  It was in that second season with the baseball team, the 2014 season, that the team won 27 straight games, ranked in the Top 20 nationally, and finished with a 38-9 record.  The winning team meant bigger crowds which always makes it more fun for those involved.

The baseball bug biting, it couldn’t just stop in June when the college season ended, so he contacted the Kitsap Bluejackets of the West Coast League, a collegiate summer league that uses wooden bats instead of aluminum.  Richmire was just hoping to do the music, instead the Bluejackets asked him to handle P. A. duties as well.  After his first game, they asked him to do music for weekend games as well.

During the third homestand, the athletic director at Tacoma Community College, Jason Prenovost called Richmire to ask if it would be ok to give the Rainiers his information as the team was in dire need of a P. A. announcer.

The Rainiers called and that night Richmire was announcing in front of 5,800 people.  By the end of that first home stand in AAA, he’d announced for a sell-out crowd of 7,500 and had a chance meeting with Rainiers Presient Aaron Artman who told him he did a great job.

With the end of baseball season and the colleges beginning, Richmire added volleyball to his list of sports for Tacoma Community College.

In addition to his college and Minor League Baseball work, Richmire has also worked with the Puget Sound Outlaws, a semi-pro football team; and in the Legends Football League as the voice of the Seattle Mist.  With the LFL, he’s also assisted the league at Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin; Sears Centre in Chicago, Illinois; Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California; and Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Still looking to add more to his plate, Pete would like to try ice hockey, with several NORPAC teams in USA Hockey’s Tier-III Junior-A level in the Pacific Northwest, this could very easily become a reality for Richmire.