Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Jack Corgan, Welcome to another edition of Rocky's Q and A,
and one that I've been looking forward to ever since
I saw that the Athletics were going to be here
this weekend. We get to visit with our good friend
Jenny Kapna, or the television voice the Athletics.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
How's that sound that sounds good?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Thanks? Thanks for having me on, Jack.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
This is a treat right growing up in this town,
listening to KOA. It's always fun to come back on
and obviously getting to work side by side for so
many years. Hard to believe it's already been a full
year and now we're into calendar. You're number two for
me with the a's.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, that's one of the things I was going to
ask you about first, Jenny, I mean after obviously when
you get the job in all of the hullablue taking place,
then you actually step in and start to do the job,
and it's like okay, hey, here we go.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, okay, here we go.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I don't even know if I got to say like
get to here we go part. It was like okay,
here we and then the whirlwind started. So yeah, there
was a there was a media circus there was an
actual job to do, and.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Through all of that there was a lot of change.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
You know, we maintained our home in Colorado with two
small kids, it was kind of the best thing at
that time, and also with the uncertainty of where the
athletics would eventually go. You know, when I took the job,
they were to remain in Oakland for the foreseeable future
until a move to Las Vegas in twenty twenty eight,
and about four weeks into the job, they decided they
weren't going to be playing in Oakland in the intermediate
(01:35):
years before Vegas. So it was interesting in that fact
that we, you know, kind of chose to remain here.
We're very lucky that our in laws might in laws
live in northern California, very close to Sacramento, where the
A's are playing for the next three years. We kind
of feel like we have two home bases going on.
But that being said, you know, I think as a
working mom, the pressure comes with making sure logistics are
(01:58):
taken care of for the entire household. I want to
still be a supportive wife to my husband who's a
Denver firefighter and has a crazy schedule, and yet here
we are with a crazy baseball schedule of doing a
lot of games that won't be in Colorado until this year,
and this weekend which we get to have three home
games with the A's playing at Queersfield, which is pretty cool.
So all of that was taking place, and then the job, right,
(02:21):
the job being the main important thing of I'm switching teams,
I'm switching cities, I'm switching leagues. I've been the National
League my entire career up until this point, between the
Patters and the Rockies, and so now to go into
the American League. Luckily we have the balance schedule, and
you're seeing in our league play more. And you've been
to these ballparks, but I haven't called games from the
(02:41):
booths in these ballparks. So literally every week there was
a new experience for me to have. But as our
good friend Bud Black, the manager of the Rockies, says,
experience is your best teacher. And I learned a lot
last year in my first year.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Before we delve into that a little bit more, you
and I have talked elsewhere of one of the nice things.
You're the primary television voice for the athletics, but you
don't have to do one hundred and sixty two games
being a working mom of a fireman husband with younger kids.
(03:16):
And I would imagine if you didn't have that like
my wife Lisa and I had when I started, I
wasn't doing all the games on television, and so there
was some ability to share the burden, if you will.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Was that powerful for you guys to have some gaps?
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Oh, it's so powerful, I think in our business. You know,
it's funny. You talk to a lot of our colleagues
and counterparts, and you know, I will just say men,
because it's mostly men who have been doing this for
a very long time. And they'll ask me how many
games I'm doing and I'll say ninety eight and they're like, wow, well,
why aren't you doing one hundred and forty? Why aren't
you doing one hundred and fifty? And I don't think
that's the way the game has to be anymore. There
(03:56):
is something said to doing every game and being there
every single day. There's also something said to being able
to have that work life balance with your family and
to be able to take a step away so when
you come back you're fresh and you're rejuvenated. And there's
something to be said about having two voices on a
team as well. I'm so lucky that I get to
share this job with Chris Carey, who is very young
(04:16):
in terms of his career, but very seasoned in terms
of his pedigree and where he comes from and his family.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
You know, when your great grandfather it.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Is who he is, and Harry Carey and obviously you
know his grandfather and Skip and his dad, and the
line goes on. He's been around this game for a
long time, and I learn a lot just from him
and listening to him, and I think it's a great
secondary voice to have as well. And so you know,
getting to just do this job and having different perspectives,
I think that's important to fans, and so I love that.
(04:46):
But yes, bottom line is I love it as a
working mom because it gave me an opportunity to live
out my dreams and follow my dreams, but also to follow.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
My family dreams and be around.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
And so what's crazy about this summer is I'm probably
physically home more than I've ever been home because of
the ninety eight games, Whereas with when I was the Rockies,
I was probably doing one hundred, thirty hundred and forty
and even if the team was on the road and
I wasn't with them. I'd be in the studio, but
you're missing bedtime, you're seeing nighttime. So in theory on paper,
when I'm home in Colorado, at my feet are on
(05:17):
the ground, i am a mom. First we are at
the house, I'm doing the whole schedule with them, and
then when I'm on the road, I'm on the road
and I'm working, and I'm still a mom. You're always
going to have both of those jobs and those responsibilities.
But it's kind of the idea of b where your
feet are, which I've always tried to live by. Easier
said than done, but that's the goal.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
We are visiting with Jenny Kavner, or the television voice
of the Athletics, and I got through two of those
without saying Oakland. I feel real good about that. We'll
take a quick break and talk about the roots and
how Jenny Kavnar got to where she is right now
after this timeout on the KOA Rockies Radio Network, back
(05:58):
here around Rockies Q and A. Our guest is our
good friend Jenny Kavnar, the television voice of the Athletics,
And you did have that wonderful distinction of being the
first woman to become a primary voice for a major
league team. Obviously I know the stories, but good for
(06:21):
our audience to hear it that this wasn't something.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Like, oh gee, I think I'll try that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I mean, this had had deep roots for you way
back when, not just because of your dad's baseball background,
which we'll talk about, but this idea of doing what
you're doing was incubating for a long time.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Oh man.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
And not because I incubated it at all, not because
I dreamt it up. This was something that other people
had to dangle in front of me, or had to
plan a seat of an idea. I'll go back all
the way to kind of taking a meeting at ESPN
early in my career and having a decision made there
who I'd worked for in the past, and she asked
the question of have you ever thought about doing play
(07:06):
by play? I'm trying to get more female voices involved
in play by play, whether that's basketball or soccer, or
football or baseball. And I was like, yeah, no, I
haven't thought about that, Like what.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Are you kidding? Like, No, you hear stories.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I'm sure you were one of them, Jack, where you
took a tape recorder when you were a kid to
the baseball game and you set in the bleachers way
up high and you called the gig obvious. I see,
I knew it that. That wasn't me as a kid,
So why would that be my dream? That was probably
the first seed. I didn't water it at that moment
in time, so it didn't blossom. Another seed came from you.
(07:43):
It came from Jack Morgan saying, Jerry's going to be gone.
We want some different voices. We're gonna have Spilly and
Corey come in to do some analysis work on the radio.
But you know, baseball just is any one, why don't
you come in the booth?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I was like, what this is? What mister Jack doing
a game? What is this?
Speaker 4 (08:02):
So getting that opportunity to not only do it with you,
but also with Jerry Shimmel, like wow, that opened my
eyes to a whole different level of what this could
look like and be like. And then of course the
Rockies producer Alison B. Hill ultimately coming to me in
twenty eighteen and saying, you know, Drew's gone for ten games.
We need to fill in. This is our group. We
want it to come from within. We want to give
(08:24):
you a shot. We know it's not going to sound
maybe traditional, but we're here to support that because we
don't necessarily want it to We want it to sound
like Jenny. We want you who's on our broadcast, to
be a part of our game a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And so I always joke with her that she pushed
me off a cliff and I had to learn how
to fly.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
And I had a lot of people, a lot of
people that supported that, and I'm so grateful for that,
because again, it wasn't something that I dreamt up of.
It was something other people pointed me in a direction
of that then became a dream of mine. And especially
after becoming the first to do it in so long
in twenty eighteen, when I called the Rockies Padres game
and hearing from younger women in our industry and hearing
(09:02):
from women who were calling games at the minor league
level that I didn't even know their jobs existed, it
opened my eyes that this was no longer going to
be like a passion project. This was going to be
a must do because there's women that are counting on
me to do this, to open up their passions and
to open up their dreams, and so this is what
we're going to do. And there were moments that were
(09:24):
really challenging and hard in that, but it ultimately did
become a dream and I'm living a dream and it's
crazy to think that that wasn't even something I thought
of as a kid.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
And going back to when you were a young girl
growing up and you played a lot of sports. Your
dad was a great high school baseball coach at Smokey
Hill and Regis Jesuit, but you talked. I remember either
hearing one of your interviews or reading the story of
(09:55):
seeing a woman on the sidelines at an NFL broadcast
when you were probably early elementary school or something, and
it blew you away that hey, there is somebody like
me that's actually doing one of the sports that I
don't play.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, yeah, it's it is.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
It's crazy like Melissa Stark being on the sideline for
Monday night football. And what's really crazy to think of
is she's still doing that job now. It's just she's
on Sunday Night football. And that became the goal in
the focus. It was like, I want to be a
football sideline reporter because that's exactly what I saw. It
wasn't oh, I want to be a sports broadcaster. It
would be fun to talk about sports on TV. It
(10:36):
was I want to be what Melissa Stark is doing.
But if I go back even further, that was probably
in high school. If I go back even further to
elementary school, I would say there was a very important
figure in the Colorado sports scene, and that was Marsha Neville.
I mean having a dad that was a high school coach.
If Marsha was at your game, your team was good.
If Marsha was at your school, she was in and
(10:57):
out trophies Like Marsha was a really big deal. And
so I remember even telling her. I think it probably
got in my head that that would be a job
i'd want to do because I always ran out on
the field to greet my dad after they won. And
I think they had a big win against Cherry Creek
at Smokey Hill one year and I remember getting to
the gate and Marcia and her Cameramon got through the
(11:18):
gate before me, and I thought, excuse me, that's my job.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, you're ruining the tradition. Come on, So.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
If I can talk to any coach or any you know,
star player first, that's the job I want.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
We are visiting with Jenny Kavnar, the voice of the
Athletics on television and of course a long time voice
with the Rockies TV side. We're gonna take a break,
We're gonna come back and talk about some of the
elements of the job itself from a from a woman's
perspective and and see how that process is going for
(11:54):
Jenny after this time out on the KOA Rockies Radio network.
Back here around Rockies Q and A. Jenny ca the
television voice of the Athletics and obviously a familiar voice
and name for Rockies fans through all her years working
with the Rockies. One of the things, I mean, it
seems obvious, but you still had to want to do it.
(12:18):
The fact that your dad was a baseball coach, not
that he shoved you in that direction, but that you
had developed some passion for the game and maybe more
importantly for what you've done in your career knowledge about
the game. That maybe gives you an advantage over other
(12:41):
young women who are now learning that, Hey, that might
be a better path to go to get to where.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I want to be.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, I think for me, of course, when you're around
the game, you just learn things about it by being
there right by watching, observing they're all just kind of there.
I had a lot of conversations with my dad about
the game too, is very curious. I think curiosity can
be your best friend when you're learning about something, and
I think sports in general, the idea of competition and
(13:10):
strategy unfolding and watching games with my dad, whether it
was on television or going over my own games, and
even a sport he knew nothing about, in lacrosse, but
kind of having those conversations afterwards about like how could
the game have improved for you? Where did you see
that you did well? And you know, where did you
see you could find improvements? Right, like just having to
(13:30):
go back and review, like reflect and grow, And those
are things I'm still doing now in this job, and
so I think I had the opportunity recently I was
talking about, you know, males who have been a huge
influence in my life, because there are a lot of
wonderful females in this game that we rely so heavily
on each other. But I'm so grateful, dating back to
(13:52):
my time with the Padres of getting to work with
Bob Scanlon, who was a longtime baseball player turned analysts
and getting to watch a former pitcher watch the game
and learn and ask him questions and how he saw
the game onto you know, Jeff Houston and George Frazer,
Ryan Spilborgs, Corey Sullivan having conversations with these players, these
(14:13):
former players of the game. They all saw something different
or I heard something different in how they saw the game.
And that's really kind of been a makeup too of
me just continuing to learn. I mean, you and I
get the privilege of coming to the ballpark and getting
paid for it for our jobs.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
That's not work. That's unbelievable that we get that. I know,
sh it's the best kept secret.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
But the late great Vin Scali always said, I kept
coming back because there's something you never know what you
can see in a game. There's something that always might
unfold that you've never seen before. How amazing is that
for a man that did this for over sixty years
of his life to broadcast baseball. You and I saw
in a game this weekend at cours Field where a
ball got stuck in the drain. I don't know that
(14:57):
I've ever seen that at corus Field, been in a
baseball game when the athletics were here, so pretty crazy
when you think about how things unfold. But I love
the idea that I get and never stop learning, and
really that's what this job has opened up for me.
It was a huge challenge to go from being a
sideline reporter host into being, you know, the captain of
(15:18):
the ship and calling the game and driving the show
and doing it in a way where I was forced
to reflect. That's not always comfortable to do, but I
was forced to get into a place where what's working
for me, what's not? What can I take from my
old jobs, what can what do I have to throw away?
Things that I even like being able to be in
the clubhouse and wait for players and talk to them
(15:39):
sometimes that is important to this job, but it is
sometimes that's not going to be your day to day
in this job. So I had to kind of mourn
things that I loved about my former titles and also
find things that I really enjoy about the day to
day work of my new title and doing play by play.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Perhaps the biggest challenge that I tell aspiring play by
play people is finding your voice. And it's sure partly physical,
and that's a challenge still as audiences get used to
hearing a female voice out.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
In your role.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
But there's that voice, as we call it, where there's
a style, there's a pattern, there's a personality to your work.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Yeah, And I think I lost that for a long
time last year, and it was really hard for me
because I felt very comfortable in my own skin for
a long time. I felt like I knew who I
was as a broadcaster, and I felt like I knew
my voice. And going into a new role and again
doing it in a new city in front of a
whole new audience, there were times that I got lost
(16:45):
in what that voice was and people kept telling me
just be yourself, and I don't even know what that
means anymore. And so I spent a lot of time
this off season kind of going back to square one
with that, and you know, just kind of creating data
today habits that would help me stay in that zone
of being who I am, so that my personality and
why I was hired to do this job does shine.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
You are correct there.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
There is a difference of a female voice to a
male voice, and it is a game that has typically
been moderated by male voices.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I mean, that's what you hear. You turn the TV
on in the summer.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
There's really not a ton of distinction their style distinction,
but in terms of tone coming across, it's male dominant
across the board. So people will have to change their
own mind on that. I can't change their mind. But
I can keep doing the work and I can keep
being better at being me on the air, and that's
what I was hired to do, and so I think
that's the focal point for me moving forward.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well, I've enjoyed listening to that voice developed through the years.
And while we don't get a chance to other than
the highlight shows to hear Jenny Kavner's, you know, unless
they put fountains in Vegas. I guess you have a
new home run call now.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
But to figure that out.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, But all in all, I think all of us
who have known you for the length of time that
many of us have, we can't be happier for what
you've accomplished. And maybe more importantly, Jenny, knowing what being
the banner waiver if you have to be to expand
our profession, I think it's great and I'm glad we
(18:22):
were able to squeeze in a few minutes to visit
well things.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
It's always great to visit and catch up, and I
will say, no matter where you go, it's always great
to come home and be around the people that meant
so much in your career.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Jenny kaevnar Are the voice of the Athletics. Will take
a break, We've got baseball coming up on the KOA
Rockies Radio Network.
Hi everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Jack Corgan, Welcome to another edition of Rocky's Q and A,
and one that I've been looking forward to ever since
I saw that the Athletics were going to be here
this weekend. We get to visit with our good friend
Jenny Kapna, or the television voice the Athletics.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
How's that sound that sounds good?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Thanks? Thanks for having me on, Jack.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
This is a treat right growing up in this town,
listening to KOA. It's always fun to come back on
and obviously getting to work side by side for so
many years. Hard to believe it's already been a full
year and now we're into calendar. You're number two for
me with the a's.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, that's one of the things I was going to
ask you about first, Jenny, I mean after obviously when
you get the job in all of the hullablue taking place,
then you actually step in and start to do the job,
and it's like okay, hey, here we go.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, okay, here we go.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I don't even know if I got to say like
get to here we go part. It was like okay,
here we and then the whirlwind started. So yeah, there
was a there was a media circus there was an
actual job to do, and.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Through all of that there was a lot of change.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
You know, we maintained our home in Colorado with two
small kids, it was kind of the best thing at
that time, and also with the uncertainty of where the
athletics would eventually go. You know, when I took the job,
they were to remain in Oakland for the foreseeable future
until a move to Las Vegas in twenty twenty eight,
and about four weeks into the job, they decided they
weren't going to be playing in Oakland in the intermediate
(01:35):
years before Vegas. So it was interesting in that fact
that we, you know, kind of chose to remain here.
We're very lucky that our in laws might in laws
live in northern California, very close to Sacramento, where the
A's are playing for the next three years. We kind
of feel like we have two home bases going on.
But that being said, you know, I think as a
working mom, the pressure comes with making sure logistics are
(01:58):
taken care of for the entire household. I want to
still be a supportive wife to my husband who's a
Denver firefighter and has a crazy schedule, and yet here
we are with a crazy baseball schedule of doing a
lot of games that won't be in Colorado until this year,
and this weekend which we get to have three home
games with the A's playing at Queersfield, which is pretty cool.
So all of that was taking place, and then the job, right,
(02:21):
the job being the main important thing of I'm switching teams,
I'm switching cities, I'm switching leagues. I've been the National
League my entire career up until this point, between the
Patters and the Rockies, and so now to go into
the American League. Luckily we have the balance schedule, and
you're seeing in our league play more. And you've been
to these ballparks, but I haven't called games from the
(02:41):
booths in these ballparks. So literally every week there was
a new experience for me to have. But as our
good friend Bud Black, the manager of the Rockies, says,
experience is your best teacher. And I learned a lot
last year in my first year.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Before we delve into that a little bit more, you
and I have talked elsewhere of one of the nice things.
You're the primary television voice for the athletics, but you
don't have to do one hundred and sixty two games
being a working mom of a fireman husband with younger kids.
(03:16):
And I would imagine if you didn't have that like
my wife Lisa and I had when I started, I
wasn't doing all the games on television, and so there
was some ability to share the burden, if you will.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Was that powerful for you guys to have some gaps?
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Oh, it's so powerful, I think in our business. You know,
it's funny. You talk to a lot of our colleagues
and counterparts, and you know, I will just say men,
because it's mostly men who have been doing this for
a very long time. And they'll ask me how many
games I'm doing and I'll say ninety eight and they're like, wow, well,
why aren't you doing one hundred and forty? Why aren't
you doing one hundred and fifty? And I don't think
that's the way the game has to be anymore. There
(03:56):
is something said to doing every game and being there
every single day. There's also something said to being able
to have that work life balance with your family and
to be able to take a step away so when
you come back you're fresh and you're rejuvenated. And there's
something to be said about having two voices on a
team as well. I'm so lucky that I get to
share this job with Chris Carey, who is very young
(04:16):
in terms of his career, but very seasoned in terms
of his pedigree and where he comes from and his family.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
You know, when your great grandfather it.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Is who he is, and Harry Carey and obviously you
know his grandfather and Skip and his dad, and the
line goes on. He's been around this game for a
long time, and I learn a lot just from him
and listening to him, and I think it's a great
secondary voice to have as well. And so you know,
getting to just do this job and having different perspectives,
I think that's important to fans, and so I love that.
(04:46):
But yes, bottom line is I love it as a
working mom because it gave me an opportunity to live
out my dreams and follow my dreams, but also to follow.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
My family dreams and be around.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
And so what's crazy about this summer is I'm probably
physically home more than I've ever been home because of
the ninety eight games, Whereas with when I was the Rockies,
I was probably doing one hundred, thirty hundred and forty
and even if the team was on the road and
I wasn't with them. I'd be in the studio, but
you're missing bedtime, you're seeing nighttime. So in theory on paper,
when I'm home in Colorado, at my feet are on
(05:17):
the ground, i am a mom. First we are at
the house, I'm doing the whole schedule with them, and
then when I'm on the road, I'm on the road
and I'm working, and I'm still a mom. You're always
going to have both of those jobs and those responsibilities.
But it's kind of the idea of b where your
feet are, which I've always tried to live by. Easier
said than done, but that's the goal.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
We are visiting with Jenny Kavner, or the television voice
of the Athletics, and I got through two of those
without saying Oakland. I feel real good about that. We'll
take a quick break and talk about the roots and
how Jenny Kavnar got to where she is right now
after this timeout on the KOA Rockies Radio Network, back
(05:58):
here around Rockies Q and A. Our guest is our
good friend Jenny Kavnar, the television voice of the Athletics,
And you did have that wonderful distinction of being the
first woman to become a primary voice for a major
league team. Obviously I know the stories, but good for
(06:21):
our audience to hear it that this wasn't something.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Like, oh gee, I think I'll try that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I mean, this had had deep roots for you way
back when, not just because of your dad's baseball background,
which we'll talk about, but this idea of doing what
you're doing was incubating for a long time.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Oh man.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
And not because I incubated it at all, not because
I dreamt it up. This was something that other people
had to dangle in front of me, or had to
plan a seat of an idea. I'll go back all
the way to kind of taking a meeting at ESPN
early in my career and having a decision made there
who I'd worked for in the past, and she asked
the question of have you ever thought about doing play
(07:06):
by play? I'm trying to get more female voices involved
in play by play, whether that's basketball or soccer, or
football or baseball. And I was like, yeah, no, I
haven't thought about that, Like what.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Are you kidding? Like, No, you hear stories.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I'm sure you were one of them, Jack, where you
took a tape recorder when you were a kid to
the baseball game and you set in the bleachers way
up high and you called the gig obvious. I see,
I knew it that. That wasn't me as a kid,
So why would that be my dream? That was probably
the first seed. I didn't water it at that moment
in time, so it didn't blossom. Another seed came from you.
(07:43):
It came from Jack Morgan saying, Jerry's going to be gone.
We want some different voices. We're gonna have Spilly and
Corey come in to do some analysis work on the radio.
But you know, baseball just is any one, why don't
you come in the booth?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I was like, what this is? What mister Jack doing
a game? What is this?
Speaker 4 (08:02):
So getting that opportunity to not only do it with you,
but also with Jerry Shimmel, like wow, that opened my
eyes to a whole different level of what this could
look like and be like. And then of course the
Rockies producer Alison B. Hill ultimately coming to me in
twenty eighteen and saying, you know, Drew's gone for ten games.
We need to fill in. This is our group. We
want it to come from within. We want to give
(08:24):
you a shot. We know it's not going to sound
maybe traditional, but we're here to support that because we
don't necessarily want it to We want it to sound
like Jenny. We want you who's on our broadcast, to
be a part of our game a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And so I always joke with her that she pushed
me off a cliff and I had to learn how
to fly.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
And I had a lot of people, a lot of
people that supported that, and I'm so grateful for that,
because again, it wasn't something that I dreamt up of.
It was something other people pointed me in a direction
of that then became a dream of mine. And especially
after becoming the first to do it in so long
in twenty eighteen, when I called the Rockies Padres game
and hearing from younger women in our industry and hearing
(09:02):
from women who were calling games at the minor league
level that I didn't even know their jobs existed, it
opened my eyes that this was no longer going to
be like a passion project. This was going to be
a must do because there's women that are counting on
me to do this, to open up their passions and
to open up their dreams, and so this is what
we're going to do. And there were moments that were
(09:24):
really challenging and hard in that, but it ultimately did
become a dream and I'm living a dream and it's
crazy to think that that wasn't even something I thought
of as a kid.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
And going back to when you were a young girl
growing up and you played a lot of sports. Your
dad was a great high school baseball coach at Smokey
Hill and Regis Jesuit, but you talked. I remember either
hearing one of your interviews or reading the story of
(09:55):
seeing a woman on the sidelines at an NFL broadcast
when you were probably early elementary school or something, and
it blew you away that hey, there is somebody like
me that's actually doing one of the sports that I
don't play.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, yeah, it's it is.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
It's crazy like Melissa Stark being on the sideline for
Monday night football. And what's really crazy to think of
is she's still doing that job now. It's just she's
on Sunday Night football. And that became the goal in
the focus. It was like, I want to be a
football sideline reporter because that's exactly what I saw. It
wasn't oh, I want to be a sports broadcaster. It
would be fun to talk about sports on TV. It
(10:36):
was I want to be what Melissa Stark is doing.
But if I go back even further, that was probably
in high school. If I go back even further to
elementary school, I would say there was a very important
figure in the Colorado sports scene, and that was Marsha Neville.
I mean having a dad that was a high school coach.
If Marsha was at your game, your team was good.
If Marsha was at your school, she was in and
(10:57):
out trophies Like Marsha was a really big deal. And
so I remember even telling her. I think it probably
got in my head that that would be a job
i'd want to do because I always ran out on
the field to greet my dad after they won. And
I think they had a big win against Cherry Creek
at Smokey Hill one year and I remember getting to
the gate and Marcia and her Cameramon got through the
(11:18):
gate before me, and I thought, excuse me, that's my job.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, you're ruining the tradition. Come on, So.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
If I can talk to any coach or any you know,
star player first, that's the job I want.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
We are visiting with Jenny Kavnar, the voice of the
Athletics on television and of course a long time voice
with the Rockies TV side. We're gonna take a break,
We're gonna come back and talk about some of the
elements of the job itself from a from a woman's
perspective and and see how that process is going for
(11:54):
Jenny after this time out on the KOA Rockies Radio network.
Back here around Rockies Q and A. Jenny ca the
television voice of the Athletics and obviously a familiar voice
and name for Rockies fans through all her years working
with the Rockies. One of the things, I mean, it
seems obvious, but you still had to want to do it.
(12:18):
The fact that your dad was a baseball coach, not
that he shoved you in that direction, but that you
had developed some passion for the game and maybe more
importantly for what you've done in your career knowledge about
the game. That maybe gives you an advantage over other
(12:41):
young women who are now learning that, Hey, that might
be a better path to go to get to where.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I want to be.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, I think for me, of course, when you're around
the game, you just learn things about it by being
there right by watching, observing they're all just kind of there.
I had a lot of conversations with my dad about
the game too, is very curious. I think curiosity can
be your best friend when you're learning about something, and
I think sports in general, the idea of competition and
(13:10):
strategy unfolding and watching games with my dad, whether it
was on television or going over my own games, and
even a sport he knew nothing about, in lacrosse, but
kind of having those conversations afterwards about like how could
the game have improved for you? Where did you see
that you did well? And you know, where did you
see you could find improvements? Right, like just having to
(13:30):
go back and review, like reflect and grow, And those
are things I'm still doing now in this job, and
so I think I had the opportunity recently I was
talking about, you know, males who have been a huge
influence in my life, because there are a lot of
wonderful females in this game that we rely so heavily
on each other. But I'm so grateful, dating back to
(13:52):
my time with the Padres of getting to work with
Bob Scanlon, who was a longtime baseball player turned analysts
and getting to watch a former pitcher watch the game
and learn and ask him questions and how he saw
the game onto you know, Jeff Houston and George Frazer,
Ryan Spilborgs, Corey Sullivan having conversations with these players, these
(14:13):
former players of the game. They all saw something different
or I heard something different in how they saw the game.
And that's really kind of been a makeup too of
me just continuing to learn. I mean, you and I
get the privilege of coming to the ballpark and getting
paid for it for our jobs.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
That's not work. That's unbelievable that we get that. I know,
sh it's the best kept secret.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
But the late great Vin Scali always said, I kept
coming back because there's something you never know what you
can see in a game. There's something that always might
unfold that you've never seen before. How amazing is that
for a man that did this for over sixty years
of his life to broadcast baseball. You and I saw
in a game this weekend at cours Field where a
ball got stuck in the drain. I don't know that
(14:57):
I've ever seen that at corus Field, been in a
baseball game when the athletics were here, so pretty crazy
when you think about how things unfold. But I love
the idea that I get and never stop learning, and
really that's what this job has opened up for me.
It was a huge challenge to go from being a
sideline reporter host into being, you know, the captain of
(15:18):
the ship and calling the game and driving the show
and doing it in a way where I was forced
to reflect. That's not always comfortable to do, but I
was forced to get into a place where what's working
for me, what's not? What can I take from my
old jobs, what can what do I have to throw away?
Things that I even like being able to be in
the clubhouse and wait for players and talk to them
(15:39):
sometimes that is important to this job, but it is
sometimes that's not going to be your day to day
in this job. So I had to kind of mourn
things that I loved about my former titles and also
find things that I really enjoy about the day to
day work of my new title and doing play by play.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Perhaps the biggest challenge that I tell aspiring play by
play people is finding your voice. And it's sure partly physical,
and that's a challenge still as audiences get used to
hearing a female voice out.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
In your role.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
But there's that voice, as we call it, where there's
a style, there's a pattern, there's a personality to your work.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Yeah, And I think I lost that for a long
time last year, and it was really hard for me
because I felt very comfortable in my own skin for
a long time. I felt like I knew who I
was as a broadcaster, and I felt like I knew
my voice. And going into a new role and again
doing it in a new city in front of a
whole new audience, there were times that I got lost
(16:45):
in what that voice was and people kept telling me
just be yourself, and I don't even know what that
means anymore. And so I spent a lot of time
this off season kind of going back to square one
with that, and you know, just kind of creating data
today habits that would help me stay in that zone
of being who I am, so that my personality and
why I was hired to do this job does shine.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
You are correct there.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
There is a difference of a female voice to a
male voice, and it is a game that has typically
been moderated by male voices.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I mean, that's what you hear. You turn the TV
on in the summer.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
There's really not a ton of distinction their style distinction,
but in terms of tone coming across, it's male dominant
across the board. So people will have to change their
own mind on that. I can't change their mind. But
I can keep doing the work and I can keep
being better at being me on the air, and that's
what I was hired to do, and so I think
that's the focal point for me moving forward.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well, I've enjoyed listening to that voice developed through the years.
And while we don't get a chance to other than
the highlight shows to hear Jenny Kavner's, you know, unless
they put fountains in Vegas. I guess you have a
new home run call now.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
But to figure that out.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, But all in all, I think all of us
who have known you for the length of time that
many of us have, we can't be happier for what
you've accomplished. And maybe more importantly, Jenny, knowing what being
the banner waiver if you have to be to expand
our profession, I think it's great and I'm glad we
(18:22):
were able to squeeze in a few minutes to visit
well things.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
It's always great to visit and catch up, and I
will say, no matter where you go, it's always great
to come home and be around the people that meant
so much in your career.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Jenny kaevnar Are the voice of the Athletics. Will take
a break, We've got baseball coming up on the KOA
Rockies Radio Network.
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