Rome City Schools is pleased to announce that the Rome High Football Radio Crew recently earned the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Award for Best Sports Play-By-Play, Small Market Radio in the state of Georgia.
Jim Alred, Communications Specialist for Rome City Schools, handles play-by-play duties on broadcasts while David Boyd, Associate Rector at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Rome, provides the color commentary for the broadcasts. Both Alred and Boyd have wives who teach at Elm Street Elementary.
"We are both humbled and honored to receive this award. I’m lucky to not only have a phenomenal color commentator in David but also an amazing studio crew at WRGA that helps make the broadcasts even better,” Alred says. “But honestly, this award isn’t about us, because we couldn’t win it if we didn’t have an amazing team to call every week.”
The awards, affectionately known as the GABBY’s, are given out yearly to honor the best in radio and television in Georgia. Rome Radio Partners, which owns and operates WRGA, submitted the call from last season’s Rome vs. Langston Hughes State Playoff game for the contest. The 2024 GABBY Awards were presented during the GAB’s annual convention, GABCON on Saturday, Sept. 7. The awards focus on content produced in the 2023 calendar year. The GABBY Awards are awarded to entries that stand above all in their categories.
“I think it’s special for us. A lot of teams just gather up a group and ask them to do the broadcast. We’re lucky to have professionals on our side. Our play-by-play guy Jim Alred has a great voice. Our coaches are excited to hear his call. The other day they were teasing him just to get him to do a call off the air,” Rome High Football Coach John Reid says. “We are super excited. Any time you can add an accolade to your program it makes it even better. As many times as we’ve been awarded, it’s nice to have a radio award. We’re thrilled to have them (Jim and David) do it every game. We have people who listen from out of state and it’s huge to them.”
Alred took over play-by-play duties for the Wolves in 2022.
“When Coach Reid called me and asked me if I wanted to call games a couple of years ago, I couldn’t say yes fast enough,” Alred says. “I hope that when you listen to us, we help you visualize the action on the field without getting in the way. This isn’t about us. It’s about the great players and coaches that take the field each week for Rome High.”
Boyd joined Alred on air for the 2023 season and the duo continues to bring all the action every Friday night during the football season.
“It’s a little surreal to really on a whim to have hopped in the booth with Jim and now to have a beautiful award for honoring what we did over the course of a season,” Boyd says. “Calling Rome football is the best. Whether it’s explosive offense or hard-hitting defense, Rome gives us the action that is fun to call.”
You can catch Rome High Football radio broadcasts for every game during the season. The broadcasts start at 7 p.m. with the pregame show with quotes from Coach Reid and analysis from the crew. The games are broadcast on WRGA which can be found on the FM dial at 98.7, the AM dial at 1470, or can be streamed online by going to wrganews.com.