{"id":35467,"date":"2022-08-04T14:50:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T18:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/?p=35467"},"modified":"2024-02-13T15:01:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T20:01:20","slug":"nashville-voices-jeff-hem-of-the-nashville-sounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/nashville-voices-jeff-hem-of-the-nashville-sounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Nashville Voices: Jeff Hem of the Nashville Sounds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NASHVILLE &#8211;<\/strong> The Nashville Sounds have been in Music City since 1978, predating the Titans and the Preds as the oldest professional franchise in Nashville. For those who love the team but can\u2019t head to every game at First Horizon Park, they can find comfort in hearing veteran broadcaster\u00a0<strong>Jeff Hem<\/strong>\u00a0on the Sounds call game in and game out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hem, Director of Broadcasting, has been the \u201cVoice of the Sounds\u201d for over a decade, taking over the role in 2012. He\u2019s been a mainstay in Middle Tennessee as he\u2019s called games for Vanderbilt, MTSU and continues to call TSAA football and basketball games. While with the Sounds, he\u2019s called countless comebacks, heartbreakers and record breakers, and has seen dozens of MLB prospects come through Nashville\u2019s Triple-A team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe city is tremendous. The team, the ballpark, the front office\u2013everything about who the Sounds are and what the Sounds do as a front office is a pleasure to be a part of,\u201d Hem shares in an interview with\u00a0Steven Boero of <em>Pressbox615<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;NOPE.&quot; <br><br>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Weston_Wilson8?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">@Weston_Wilson8<\/a>, probably <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8CqgyUS5ep\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/8CqgyUS5ep<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Nashville Sounds (@nashvillesounds) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nashvillesounds\/status\/1554516124322058242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">August 2, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>However, his journey started when he was a junior at the University of Iowa and began dabbling in broadcasting. The Aurora, Illinois native played sports throughout his life and knew that he wanted to work in sports, but didn\u2019t quite know where he\u2019d fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSome guys have these stories like, \u2018When I was eight years old I wanted to be an announcer,\u2019 but I didn\u2019t have that,\u201d Hem explained. \u201cI had a family member tell me, \u2018Take money and all of the side factors out of it. What would you love to do if you could do anything?\u2019 I had this moment of thinking maybe sports broadcasting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While at Iowa, he worked at the college station and eventually tried his hand at play-by-play in Aurora for high school basketball, even calling some amateur, high-performance Fastpitch softball tournament games for the local access TV station in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThose were the first two times where it was really me with the mic doing a game, and I did not want to hear tapes of those calls,\u201d Hem jokes. \u201cIt would be pretty awful, I\u2019m sure, if I went back to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After he graduated in 2004, Hem found himself interning with the Battle Creek Yankees, a Single-A baseball team in Michigan. This was his first steady professional broadcasting gig where he learned and grew in his craft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs a kid, right out of college, I thought I was doing game seven of the World Series every day,\u201d Hem recalls. \u201cI was just so happy to be doing games regularly, traveling with a team, being on the air every single day. I learned a lot that first summer just because of the volume of repetitions you\u2019re getting and the day-after-day preparation involved in doing a job like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After spending a season in Battle Creek, he took the job as the play-by-play voice of the Kane County Cougars, a minor league affiliate in the greater Chicago area who were in the same league as the Yankees. He would spend seven years with the Cougars before leaving to join the Sounds in 2012, which he saw as a new opportunity in his journey as a broadcaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Going from low-A baseball to a Triple-A club in a major city would allow for growth and possibly greater opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In June of 2018, Hem had the opportunity of a lifetime when the Oakland Athletics, the Sounds Major League affiliate at the time, asked him to fill in for their radio broadcaster. Like a minor league ball player, Hem finally made his major league debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt turned out to be a doubleheader because the game the day before got postponed, so I got two for the price of one,\u201d Hem says cheekily. \u201cI always joke that it\u2019s the only doubleheader I\u2019ve ever truly been excited about. Most of the time you you dread doing a doubleheader just because it\u2019s a long day, but they had to pull me out of that booth that night because I enjoyed the day so much.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo have a major league broadcast opportunity, given the fact that that\u2019s what I still aspire to do on a daily basis, was pretty special. That\u2019s always going to take the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though his primary role is with the Sounds, Hem has offered his voice to Vanderbilt, Lipscomb and to Middle Tennessee high school athletics. He calls select MTSU men\u2019s basketball games for the Blue Raider Network, High School Hoops and Friday Night Rivals matchups on MyTV30, and is the voice of the TSSAA\u2019s Blue Cross Bowl football championships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Athletics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">#Athletics<\/a> recalled <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JeffHemPBP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">@JeffHemPBP<\/a> from AAA-<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nashvillesounds?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">@nashvillesounds<\/a>.. He will start 6\/22. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vincebaseball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">@vincebaseball<\/a> (Oakland) will return 6\/23. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mbIVuIk8Ne\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/mbIVuIk8Ne<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Oakland A&#39;s (@Athletics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Athletics\/status\/1008824220359503874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">June 18, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always loved baseball, but I\u2019ve also always loved other sports. Any opportunity I have in the fall, winter and spring to spread my broadcast wings a little bit and take on other challenges, I welcome,\u201d he notes. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to do a combination of football and basketball on both radio and television for the TSSAA and I love doing that. All the sports\u2013baseball, basketball, and football\u2013are so different as far as what you\u2019re trying to do as the announcer and the pace is different. There\u2019s just so many different challenges that come with each sport, and I love all of them. Even though the Sounds, by volume, accounts for the most games that I do, I love taking on the other opportunities that I\u2019ve been able to have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hem has solidified himself as a Nashville broadcaster over the decade, being the voice for so many games from high school, college, and the city\u2019s beloved minor league baseball club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As long as it isn\u2019t raining, you can always catch Hem on 94.9 FM calling every moment, every play, sharing some Sounds history and bringing excitement to Nashville\u2019s oldest team.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nashville Sounds play-by-play broadcaster Jeff Hem talks about how he got his start in the sports business and his Major League call-up with the Oakland A&#8217;s.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2823,"featured_media":35479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"close","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Nashville Voices: Jeff Hem of the Nashville Sounds","_seopress_titles_desc":"Nashville Sounds play-by-play broadcaster Jeff Hem talks about how he got his start in the sports business and his Major League call-up with the Oakland A&#039;s.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1539],"tags":[1552],"class_list":["post-35467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nashville-voices","tag-nashville-voices"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/jeff-hem-headshot.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Steven Boero","author_link":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/author\/stevenb\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2823"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35467"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35480,"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35467\/revisions\/35480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}