Episode 36: Episode 36: Jim Kelch

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Jim Kelch who is a successful radio and television play-by-play broadcaster.
Jim grew in Peoria, Illinois which is the line of demarkation that divides the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals respective fan bases. Jim grew up a Cubs fans but admits that he also enjoyed Cardinals baseball because he was such a fan of Cardinals radio play-by-play man Jack Buck.
Jim grew up playing baseball but always knew that he wanted to call both baseball and basketball games and often practiced his craft in the bleachers while watching high school games.
After a short stint playing college baseball, Jim attended Bradley University with hopes of breaking into the broadcasting business. He landed a job at a local radio station but as a salesman selling commercial ads for the stations sports broadcasts.
He eventually gets his chance to be on the call local high school games. After some seasoning, he is hired to call the Peoria Chiefs games. The Chiefs was a Cubs minor league affiliate at the time and he got the gig when he was able to convince the station manager that he could sell enough ads to at least break even.
After three seasons he moved up to the Double-A level moving to Chattanooga calling games for the Lookouts. This is the first season in which Jim called every game of the season.
Two seasons later he finds out about an opening in Louisville, Kentucky in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He got the job with the team which is called the Redbirds at the time which and was a Triple-A affiliate.
While in Louisville as a Cardinals affiliate, Jim filled in for his hero Jack Buck at the big league level and helped mentor Jack’s son Joe in his early college years.
The Cardinals broke ties with the Louisville team and that group eventually became a Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds organization. After patiently waiting, Jim got his chance in do some consistent fill-in work for the Reds starting in 2008.
Jim was hired full-time by the Reds for the 2010 season and being in the big leagues was his crowning achievement. He stayed with the Reds for eight seasons until his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2017 season.
Jim was devastated when the Reds parted ways with him and he talks candidly about it. You can hear the pain in his voice as he talks about being let go and the lasting effects.
Jim became the radio voice of the Northern Kentucky University Norse men’s basketball program in 2012. His hiring was also a seminal moment in his career since it was his other major goal to call Division-I men’s basketball. We talk about some of his memorial calls and fond memories as the Voice of the Norse.
You can follow Jim on Twitter @JimKelch (https://twitter.com/KelchJim) and the NKU Norse basketball teams @NKUNorseMBB (https://twitter.com/NKUNorseMBB)
You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe
Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety.
For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to [email protected]
Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Jim Kelch who is a successful radio and television play-by-play broadcaster.

Jim grew in Peoria, Illinois which is the line of demarkation that divides the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals respective fan bases. Jim grew up a Cubs fans but admits that he also enjoyed Cardinals baseball because he was such a fan of Cardinals radio play-by-play man Jack Buck.

Jim grew up playing baseball but always knew that he wanted to call both baseball and basketball games and often practiced his craft in the bleachers while watching high school games.

After a short stint playing college baseball, Jim attended Bradley University with hopes of breaking into the broadcasting business. He landed a job at a local radio station but as a salesman selling commercial ads for the stations sports broadcasts.

He eventually gets his chance to be on the call local high school games. After some seasoning, he is hired to call the Peoria Chiefs games. The Chiefs was a Cubs minor league affiliate at the time and he got the gig when he was able to convince the station manager that he could sell enough ads to at least break even.

After three seasons he moved up to the Double-A level moving to Chattanooga calling games for the Lookouts. This is the first season in which Jim called every game of the season.

Two seasons later he finds out about an opening in Louisville, Kentucky in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He got the job with the team which is called the Redbirds at the time which and was a Triple-A affiliate.

While in Louisville as a Cardinals affiliate, Jim filled in for his hero Jack Buck at the big league level and helped mentor Jack’s son Joe in his early college years.

The Cardinals broke ties with the Louisville team and that group eventually became a Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds organization. After patiently waiting, Jim got his chance in do some consistent fill-in work for the Reds starting in 2008.

Jim was hired full-time by the Reds for the 2010 season and being in the big leagues was his crowning achievement. He stayed with the Reds for eight seasons until his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2017 season.

Jim was devastated when the Reds parted ways with him and he talks candidly about it. You can hear the pain in his voice as he talks about being let go and the lasting effects.

Jim became the radio voice of the Northern Kentucky University Norse men’s basketball program in 2012. His hiring was also a seminal moment in his career since it was his other major goal to call Division-I men’s basketball. We talk about some of his memorial calls and fond memories as the Voice of the Norse.

You can follow Jim on Twitter @JimKelch and the NKU Norse basketball teams @NKUNorseMBB

You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe

Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety.

For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected]

Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com