DAVIS, Calif. — His voice is worth a thousand pictures and, for Aggie fans tuning in from afar, what a view it is.
Since his days as a neophyte on the microphone as a student at the campus radio station, UC Davis alum Greg Wong has been a constant thread when it comes to Aggie athletics, helping weave together a tapestry for fans for some of the biggest moments of their favorite teams.
Now, Wong has another opportunity to showcase his talents to a whole new audience — albeit 2,700 miles away from his hometown in Berkeley, Calif. — after accepting a position as the Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations Manager of the Salem Red Sox, the Advanced-A minor-league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox for the 2020 season.
It's not the first trip to the East Coast for the 2015 UC Davis graduate (B.A. political science), who enters his fifth summer calling minor league baseball games after stints with the West Virginia Power (Single-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates) and the Harrisburg Senators (Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals), before spending last season on the mic with the Sacramento River Cats (Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants) a little closer to home.
Wong is the latest in a line of KDVS alumni whose work alongside UC Davis athletic teams sparked a move to professional broadcast careers. Rich Waltz (Class of '86) is a three-time Emmy winner who has worked broadcasts in Major League Baseball, CBS Sports Network, and Fox Sports, while Eric Hasseltine served as the play-by-play voice of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, and Scott Marsh, the voice of the UC Davis men's basketball program, who has worked alongside the broadcast teams for the Sacramento Kings. Behind the scenes, Andy Reichwald has won an Emmy — and garnered multiple Emmy nominations — for his work with ESPN's NFL and Major League Baseball broadcasts.
Known locally for his work with the Aggies' women's basketball program since his days as an undergraduate, Wong dabbled in a little bit of everything during his early days as a broadcaster at KDVS 90.3 FM, including football, soccer, volleyball, lacrosse, and softball, despite having never picked up a mic before arriving at UC Davis.
"Within a few days of joining KDVS Sports in April of 2012, I got a call from then Sports Director Steven Vote saying we've got an opening for a baseball broadcaster tomorrow at Dobbins, UC Davis vs Long Beach State," Wong recalled. "Obviously, I say 'yes' and the next day I'm sitting in the Dobbins press box, the game's about to start, and I put on the headset for the first time.
"I had called plenty of games from my couch growing up, but that was the moment it felt more like reality than some fantasy I hoped one day might happen. I was actually doing it and everything made sense to me. Every broadcasting action and reaction felt natural. I knew what to do and how to handle it. It all made complete sense. That's when I knew this was where I belonged."
Now off the couch and sitting courtside, Wong credits the culture and environment at KDVS for helping nurture his start in the business.
"Student broadcasters at KDVS and UC Davis have the unique ability to call almost anything they want and as much of it as they want," Wong said. "There's no substitute for experience especially in this industry, and there's no way I would be a good enough broadcaster to get a job out of college without all those chances to get better.
"However, one of the most important ways working as a student broadcaster at UC Davis and KDVS helped was that it let me fail. I fell on my face and made a million mistakes in four years broadcasting at UC Davis as a student. For every million mistakes I made though, that was also a million times I was able to get off the floor and find my footing again."
A Bay Area native whose first love has always been baseball, Wong was a regular in the stands at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) attending San Francisco Giants games, and his soundtrack growing up included the voices of broadcasters Jon Miller, Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow, and Dave Flemming, listening to the long-time Giants' quartet paint their own picture of the action via a radio and headphones from his seat.
"Obviously, I try to be myself on the air and don't try to mimic anybody's style, but they are the broadcasters that shaped who I am as an announcer," Wong remembered. "Those four taught me how important it is to have fun on the air and laugh. We're not solving the world's great mysteries, we're talking about sports for a living. Nothing should be that serious."
Those experiences have led him up the food chain in minor league baseball, taking him to places such as Charleston, W.V., Harrisburg, Penn., and now, Salem, Va. Each stop has provided him with valuable experiences, contacts, and memories to last a lifetime.
"Right off the bat each of the three combined seasons in West Virginia and Harrisburg consisted of 70-90 games each, which again, is the most important thing, just getting me reps," Wong said. "I learned from them how I can be better, how broadcasters should and shouldn't behave, and the type of preparation and work it takes to be a great broadcaster every single day.
"Not only that, but being around the teams and other broadcasters both in West Virginia and Harrisburg almost every day allowed me to learn things about baseball that I would never be able to otherwise. I learned incredible things just by listening in on conversations between players in the clubhouse or speaking with coaches in their office, nuggets that wouldn't be able to find in any book or website. So I've been able to learn from some of the very best in the profession in both baseball and broadcasting. People that have been around the game for decades."
So, what advice does he have for those looking to get their foot in the door?
"The best way to get better is to keep doing it," Wong advised. "There are plenty of aspects that go into being a good broadcaster: preparation, delivery, cadence, energy, knowledge of the sport, studying other broadcasters, the list goes on and on.... but there's no substitute for reps.
"Put yourself out there and try to call anything you can. Contact local colleges or high schools and see what sports they need a broadcaster for. There's also no harm in entering the business in a behind the scenes role or in a position you're not comfortable with. I took a job in West Virginia for my first broadcasting job, a place that is almost a polar opposite of everywhere I lived before that, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. Don't be afraid to take a job if it means getting outside your comfort zone."
Although the 2019-20 UC Davis women's basketball season was cut short just shy of a Big West Tournament appearance, that hasn't stopped Wong from looking ahead at his own career.
"My ultimate dream is to be a play-by-play broadcaster at the highest level of sports in whatever capacity that might be," Wong said. "Whether that be calling national MLB, NBA, NFL or college games for a TV network or being the radio or TV voice for a team like the Giants or the Warriors, that's where I'm trying to get to.
"I just want to call the games at the highest levels of sports meaning the the highest professional or collegiate levels. Moreover, I'd really take pride in accomplishing that as an Asian-American when we're so severely underrepresented in both broadcasting and in sports. That would mean a lot to show that reaching that level is possible for people like me."
Be sure and tune in. A familiar voice could soon be coming to a favorite team near you.
GREG WONG'S TOP FIVE BROADCASTING MOMENTS (for now…)
HONORABLE MENTION: UC Davis beats Saint Mary's on a
Morgan Bertsch buzzer beater at the Pavilion in December of 2018. It was my first game winner at the buzzer, another moment I had been waiting for and anticipating. I did everything right except right at the top of the call... my voice cracked.
5. My first walk-off home run call. It was August 9, 2016, when West Virginia defeated Greensboro, 4-2, on a Casey Hughston walk-off two-run blast. I had heard so many walk-off home run calls in my life and was waiting for my moment for a long time.
4. UC Davis defeats Long Beach State 70-67 in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament in March of 2015. Maybe the best game I've ever been behind the mic for. The season was on the line and me being a senior in college, I wasn't sure how many more Aggie games I would be able to call in my life (not knowing I would be hired a few years later). The intensity and pressure was off the charts in the arena. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest in the final minutes of the game. Kelsey Harris tied a school record with eight, three-pointers in the biggest game of the year. I've still never witnessed an Aggie shooter get that hot. It was unreal.
3. Women's basketball national powerhouse UConn at UC Davis in November of 2014. I've called over 100 women's basketball basketball games in The Pavillion in my life... that was the wildest experience I've ever had there. That was the first 'pinch myself' game. Breanna Stewart was on our home floor and Geno Aurriema was on the sideline. Two of the biggest stars in the basketball world. Opening night for both teams. And it was all happening at The Pav. Then the game started and, the moment I'll never forget, was Kelsey Harris drilling a deep three from the left wing early in the game. I still haven't heard The Pavilion roar like that since. And I got to call all of it.
2. UC Davis takes on Indiana in the "Elite Eight" of the Women's National Invitation Tournament in March of 2018. A postseason game in Assembly Hall created the greatest atmosphere I've ever called a game in.
1. UC Davis' comeback from down 17 points to Hawaii in the 2019 Big West Conference Tournament championship game to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament. I dreamed about making the "UC Davis is going to the NCAA Tournament" call for so long (maybe or maybe not practicing in the mirror a few times) and for it to happen in that dramatic of fashion was beyond anything I could imagine.
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