About

Mick Gillispie, the “voice” of Smokies baseball will again anchor this year’s radio broadcast joined by Brad Pope, Justin Shackil, and former Montgomery Biscuits play-by-play man Jim Tocco. The team will bring all 140 games to the East Tennessee airwaves.

Gillispie enters his seventh season in the Southern
League after spending the first two with division rival Chattanooga. Shackil and Pope will host the Pilot-Oscar Meyer Pregame Show live 15-minutes prior to the scheduled first-pitch.

Tocco is a veteran of broadcasting baseball of the Southern League after spending five season’s with the Montgomery Biscuits. The 2006 SL
Broadcaster of the Year award winner joins Tennessee on part-time basics and will bring a wealth of experience to the airwaves.

The Smokies Radio Network is very fortunate to have Jim Tocco as a member of the 2011 broadcast team. He will contribute his award winning broadcast style part-time to the Network. Tocco has called games for three league champions including two in the Southern League and one Cubs affiliate. He joined Mick last year on a few occasions and is expected to be featured on 10-25 games this campaign.

Brad Pope enters his first season with the  Smokies Radio Network and minor league baseball. Brad is originally from Raleigh, North Carolina. He works as a beat writer for HolyTurf.com, writing weekly articles on the University of Tennessee football, focusing on recruiting and spring practice. The recent graduate studied Sports Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee. While a student, Brad worked as a deejay for WUTK 90.3 The Rock. He was also a staff sports writer for the Daily Beacon. His responsibilities included covering Volunteer football and basketball while acting as the assistant to the Sports Director. He is entering his first season as the executive producer for the Smokies Radio Network.

Mick Gillispie is in his fifth season as Director of Broadcasting for the Smokies Radio Network. He will again be the featured play-by-play voice of the Cubs Double-A Affiliate. Gillispie also directs and manages the SRN broadcast staff and over sees the entire on air product from the intro song to the closing billboard and everything in between. Prior to the Smokies 2011 season getting underway, Gillispie handled the play-by-play for 20 Chicago Cubs spring training games on WGN, the radio home of the Chicago Cubs. In 2010, it was announced that Mick won his first Southern Leage Broadcaster of the Year award as voted on by his peers and colleagues. Prior to joining Tennessee he spent 2005 & 2006 on the Chattanooga Lookouts broadcast team. In 2004 Gillispie called games for the Salem Avalanche (Class A Carolina League) and began his career doing play-by-play for the Wilson Tobs (Coastal Plains League) in 2003.

The Smokies Radio Network has the largest coverage reach in the Southern League. This four-signal network is anchored by flagship station WNML 99.1, a 6,000-watt FM transmitter located in Lenoir City just outside of West Knoxville and covers Maryville, Sevierville, Dayton and Crossviile. The east side of Knoxville into Gatlinburg, Newport and Morristown and even Smokies Park tunes to WNRX 99.3. The Thousand-Watt transmitter sits in nearby Jefferson City. The most powerful signal of the network can be heard in parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, North and South Carolina. WNML-AM 990 boasts a massive 10,000–Watt, flame-throwing transmitter that is located in downtown Knoxville. 2010 marks the eighth-straight season that Smokies’ games will be aired mostly by Citadel Broadcasting of Knoxville with the “Sports Animal” serving as
Flagship station.

All weekday day games and selective night and weekend contests maybe subject to conflict with other Citadel station programs. Some of those games will now be heard on WPFT 106.3. Operated by East Tennessee Radio Group this 500-Watt FM station sits in Pigeon Forge and comes in clear all across Sevierville into parts of Knox County. In addition every Smokies broadcast will be streamed live and free, via the Internet, at www. smokiesbaseball.com.