The rumor's been circulating for days that John Rhadigan would replace ousted-in-October Josh Lewin as the teevee play-by-play man for the Texas Rangers, pairing him with analyst Tom Grieve. The team just made it official in a release that follows in full. But long story short: Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan are big, big fans of the Fox Sports Southwest'er, who, 20 years ago (jeez, has it been that long?), was hired as sports anchor and reporter at KXAS-Channel 5.
Says Greenberg: "We feel that John and Tom Grieve will do a great job of bringing Rangers baseball to our fans each and every night." Adds Ryan: Rhads "has demonstrated his creativity and personality through the many features he has done with our players." Rhadigan will stay on FSSW till March, when he joins the team full-time.
EMMY AWARD WINNING BROADCASTER JOHN RHADIGAN HIREDAS TELEVISION PLAY-PLAY ANNOUNCER FOR TEXAS RANGERS TELECASTS
Veteran sportscaster to join Tom Grieve on Fox Sports Southwest and TXA21 broadcasts beginning in 2011
ARLINGTON, TX--Emmy Award winning sportscaster John Rhadigan is the new television play-by-play voice of the Texas Rangers, it was announced today.
Rhadigan, who signed a multi-year contract, will team with longtime analyst Tom Grieve for the club's spring training and regular season telecasts on Fox Sports Southwest and TXA21 beginning in 2011.
"John Rhadigan's reputation as an accomplished broadcaster is well known in not only the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex but also in our entire television market," commented Rangers Managing Partner and CEO Chuck Greenberg. "We feel that John and Tom Grieve will do a great job of bringing Rangers baseball to our fans each and every night."
"John has a strong knowledge of the Rangers through the many years he has covered the club," added team President Nolan Ryan. "He has demonstrated his creativity and personality through the many features he has done with our players. I look forward to watching John and Tom on the telecasts this season."
Rhadigan has been a fixture on Fox Sports Southwest for the last decade, serving as the network's lead anchor for the nightly pregame and postgame shows for FSSW's Rangers telecasts. He has also co-hosted and contributed to FSSW's weekly magazine show Rangers Insider and traveled on the road with the club to provide features and in-game reports.
He has also anchored pre and post game programming for the Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, hosted the regional sports network's college football studio shows, and co-hosted several of FOX Sports Southwest's other weekly magazine shows, including Mavericks Insider and Stars Insider. He was a sideline reporter on FSN's Big 12 Conference football telecasts for three seasons beginning in 2003 before moving to anchor college football studio shows.
Rhadigan has been recognized for his outstanding work by the Lone Star Chapter of the National Television Academy, the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters, the Dallas Press Club, and United Press International. He's won numerous broadcast awards, including four Lone Star Emmys, five Katie Awards, two Associated Press Broadcasters awards, three International Telly Awards, a United Press International Award, and a National Headliners Award.
He came to FOX Sports Southwest from Dallas NBC affiliate KXAS-TV where he was a sports reporter and weekend sports anchor since 1990 and also worked on the station's Texas Rangers telecasts as a roving reporter and hosted the "Rangers/Stars Report" weekly magazine show.
Before moving to Dallas, Rhadigan was a sports producer at Detroit CBS affiliate WJBK-TV, and a sports reporter/anchor at WJRT-TV in Flint, Mich. He also hosted local radio shows in Michigan.
A native of Brighton, Mich., Rhadigan earned a bachelor of arts degree in communications from Oakland (Michigan) University. He resides in Mansfield, Texas with his wife, Kathy; daughter, McKenna; and son, Kal.
Rhadigan will continue to work for Fox Sports Southwest until joining the Rangers fulltime in March. Texas will televise 11 spring training games from Arizona, eight on TXA21 and three on Fox Sports Southwest, beginning with TXA21's telecast on Saturday, March 12 versus the Chicago White Sox at 2:05 p.m. CT.
