Date posted: 4-17-02

Editors: You are encouraged to use this story in your publication. Please credit the author and DeKalb News Service as shown. And, please send two tearsheets to: Jim Killam, Department of Communication, Watson Hall, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115.

Voice of the Huskies
NIU sports announcer and TV host wears many hats

By Jacob Burnett
DeKalb News Service

DEKALB -- Brad Hoey may not have the most recognizable name on the Northern Illinois University campus. His voice, however, may be a little more familiar.

"IT'S TIME FOR HUSKIEEEEE BASKETBALL!"

For the last three seasons, Hoey has been the public address announcer for NIU's men's basketball games. His often-thunderous vocals are part information and part entertainment, attempting to get the crowd into the action.

"You have to always be watching the game on the court and be mindful of the action," Hoey said. "You've got to get the crowd involved."

When Hoey is not working at the scorer's table, he is often in a Graham Hall editing room, preparing a highlight tape or a promotional spot for any number of clients in his full-time role with NIU Media Services.

But Hoey's most visible role is on camera. He hosts Fox Sports Chicago's "Inside Huskie Sports," a 30-minute show that looks at the latest news and events in NIU Athletics. Hoey and Media Services just completed the program's second season a few weeks ago. (The programs can be seen at www.niu.edu/athletics)

"It takes up a lot of time," said Hoey, who produced, directed and edited each of this season's 18 episodes. "We focus on all of the sports. It's more comprehensive than it has been in the past, and just as popular. The programs are more about athletes and the programs. It's a half-hour infomercial in the third-largest market in the country, and can be seen all over the country by satellite."

Involvement in creating media and working with a college program always been a dream for Hoey, even when he was growing up in Rockton, Ill.

"I played basketball through school, and this is always what I wanted to do," Hoey said. "My father was a high school coach, and I always loved going to the games. I remember growing up, I would take a tape recorder and do the play-by-play of games between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Chicago Bulls."

Hoey started his mass-media career in middle school, writing accounts of his games in a Rockton newspaper. His career continued when he came to Northern and joined WKDI, the student-run radio station. He was broadcasting at the 1983 California Bowl that NIU won. And he called the play-by-play of Huskie basketball and football through the community-access channel on tape delay.

After graduating from NIU, Hoey called high school basketball games for teams in the Mid-Northern Conference. At the same time, he began working and producing with WIFR-TV in Rockford. He eventually worked his way up to weekend sports anchor, a position he held for five years.

"It was a great learning experience," he said. "I'd often have to do the stories on my own. I learned a lot on my own: editing, shooting and writing."

Hoey returned to NIU in Oct. 1990 to work at Media Services and to produce interview programs featuring NIU coaches. The evolution of those programs to "Inside Huskie Sports" began a few years later.

Many of Hoey's co-workers are fond of him, and his work.

"You cannot describe what Brad Hoey does for the university and Northern Illinois intercollegiate athletics in a couple of statements, said Mike Korcek, NIU Sports Information director. "The contributions of NIU Media Services and NIU Imaging are vital to our external image of the university. "

"If you watched the telecast of The Last Hurrah (the final men's basketball game at Chick Evans Field House), Brad had given Fox Sports Net vintage highlights of the first game in the field house from 1957-58, Kenny Battle, Allen Rayhorn, etc., etc. Most of those films or videos were in our archives that Brad has converted or had on file in his office," Korcek said. "Fox does not put junk on its cable outlet. The programming must meet contemporary graphics standards and Brad and his staff do an awesome job, with sometimes less than state-of-the-art equipment."

Hoey spends a lot of time working on projects for NIU Athletics and other university clients who need instructional video or season highlights. Hoey says sometimes during the season, he'll often work 10- to12-hour days.

Hoey's Media Services colleague, Brian Wiencek, who directs the message board highlights during Huskie football games, says Hoey has been a joy to work with.

"I've worked with Brad since 1993, and I don't think there was a better
teaching tool for my career, and in working with him," Wiencek said. "I learned a lot more than I could out of any classroom or textbook. When I graduated, I almost felt I like I should have written my tuition checks to him."

"If you watch Inside Huskie Sports, you can get a feel for what he's like," said Wieneck "Unlike a lot of on-air talent, once you turn off the camera and lights, he's still the same person: personable, outgoing and a Huskie at heart. People who watch the show come up to him at football and basketball games, and he'll take time out of whatever he's doing to just talk sports with them."

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Sources
Brad Hoey 753-6667
Brian Wiencek 753-6662
Mike Korcek, 753-1706