Episode 6: Episode 6: John Asalon (Part 2)

Brady and John pick up their conversation talking about John’s time as a sports talk radio show personality. It begins innocently enough when John is catering food to the station and ends up with him getting on the air. John gives credit to Mark Amazon and Dennis “Wild Man” Walker for giving him his break. He also talks about some debauchery that takes place in the studio thanks to The Wild Man.
Through his friendship with Wild Man, John was able to also fill-in as the public address announcer for local hockey team the Cincinnati Cyclones (https://cycloneshockey.com). Also, Mark Amazon helped get John the full-time public announcing job for a minor league basketball team in town known as the Cincinnati Stuff.
In 2012, Brady actually hired John to be the play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Steam (http://cincinnatisteam.com/view/cincinnatisteam) of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (http://greatlakesleague.org/view/greatlakesleague). The Steam is a team comprised of college players in a wood-bat league that plays its home games on The Westside at Western Hills High School.
Brady and John fondly reminisce about all the great people that contribute to the day-to-day operations of the team. This conversation can’t happen with talking about the man who was the heartbeat of the organization, the late great Max McLeary.
Some of the highlights of John’s career included call two triple plays, a 23-game that was the second game of a double header, having his nephew Anthony Asalon play for the Steam and John singing God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch on the Fourth of July. Click here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6iWgrJpt0Q) to hear John’s first triple play call from June 25, 2016 versus the Lake Erie Monarchs.
Next we talk about some of John’s broadcasts partners over the years. While with the Steam John gave a high school kid a chance to do his first television game. John didn’t realize this kid really didn’t need his help but was still gracious enough to accept the invitation. That young man was Jac Collinsworth who now works for ESPN and NBC Sports.
Brady asks John to talk about a couple of his broadcasts partners over the years Denny Wright and Andrew Kappes. Wright is a long-time broadcaster for both Thomas More and Northern Kentucky University. Kappes, who is currently the number-two broadcaster for the Indianapolis Indians (https://www.milb.com/indianapolis), got his start as a student at NKU.
John talks about some of the difficult vantage points to call games for a broadcasts. Many people assume the media have luxurious press box facilities, and sometimes that’s true, but most times it is not even close to being ideal. John shares some of the unusual accommodations provided for a professional broadcast.
We wrap up the conversation where John talks about his current project which is a podcast detailing the American Professional Baseball Association.
You can follow “Johnny A” on Twitter @john_asalon (https://twitter.com/john_asalon) and catch his podcast The Week in APBA Anchor preview. Click here (https://anchor.fm/john-asalon) to listen to the podcast.
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)
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)

Brady and John pick up their conversation talking about John’s time as a sports talk radio show personality. It begins innocently enough when John is catering food to the station and ends up with him getting on the air. John gives credit to Mark Amazon and Dennis “Wild Man” Walker for giving him his break. He also talks about some debauchery that takes place in the studio thanks to The Wild Man.

Through his friendship with Wild Man, John was able to also fill-in as the public address announcer for local hockey team the Cincinnati Cyclones. Also, Mark Amazon helped get John the full-time public announcing job for a minor league basketball team in town known as the Cincinnati Stuff.

In 2012, Brady actually hired John to be the play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Steam of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League. The Steam is a team comprised of college players in a wood-bat league that plays its home games on The Westside at Western Hills High School.

Brady and John fondly reminisce about all the great people that contribute to the day-to-day operations of the team. This conversation can’t happen with talking about the man who was the heartbeat of the organization, the late great Max McLeary.

Some of the highlights of John’s career included call two triple plays, a 23-game that was the second game of a double header, having his nephew Anthony Asalon play for the Steam and John singing God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch on the Fourth of July. Click here to hear John’s first triple play call from June 25, 2016 versus the Lake Erie Monarchs.

Next we talk about some of John’s broadcasts partners over the years. While with the Steam John gave a high school kid a chance to do his first television game. John didn’t realize this kid really didn’t need his help but was still gracious enough to accept the invitation. That young man was Jac Collinsworth who now works for ESPN and NBC Sports.

Brady asks John to talk about a couple of his broadcasts partners over the years Denny Wright and Andrew Kappes. Wright is a long-time broadcaster for both Thomas More and Northern Kentucky University. Kappes, who is currently the number-two broadcaster for the Indianapolis Indians, got his start as a student at NKU.

John talks about some of the difficult vantage points to call games for a broadcasts. Many people assume the media have luxurious press box facilities, and sometimes that’s true, but most times it is not even close to being ideal. John shares some of the unusual accommodations provided for a professional broadcast.

We wrap up the conversation where John talks about his current project which is a podcast detailing the American Professional Baseball Association.

You can follow “Johnny A” on Twitter @john_asalon and catch his podcast The Week in APBA Anchor preview. Click here to listen to the podcast.

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

Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm

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