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WNIO’s Potesta trades minors for sports talk
By Greg Gulas
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
After 12 seasons of announcing minor league baseball games, Ron Potesta is hosting a sports weekday talk show for IHeart Media station Sports Animal (WNIO-AM 1390).
In 2011, Potesta returned to the Mahoning Valley after his minor league journey. His “Sports Rap” talk show began in September 2014.
Monday, Potesta told the Curbstone Coaches that his play-by-play duties more than prepared him for his current assignment. He said sports fans of the Mahoning Valley arguably the most passionate of any stop he’s made.
“I’ve lived in eight states and traveled through most of this country and I will tell you two things without hesitation,” he said. “There isn’t a better place out there that captures the complete environment of high school football like we do.
“The sports media of the Mahoning Valley covers high school sports better than any area I have ever seen.”
Potesta added that the value of local sports is far reaching.
“I encourage our youth to follow their dreams and participate in as many sports possible, but they must also have a back-up plan,” Potesta said. “I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up at a very early age.
“I was 9 or 10 years old when I decided that sports broadcasting was going to be my career and looking back, I’m convinced that deciding anything that significant, especially at such a young age is both a blessing and a curse,” Potesta said.
“The blessing is the fact that I didn’t have to be concerned with trying to figure out who or what I wanted to be when I grew up. Unfortunately, the curse is two-fold and I fell into both traps.”
Becoming well-rounded is an added plus, he said.
“I made the mistake of not expanding my mind or broadening my horizons. I was so intent on getting into sports that it consumed me and was the only thing that I ever talked about,” Potesta said. “Looking back, I wish that I had taken the time to be more rounded.
“The second trap was not having a backup plan in life,” the broadcaster said. “I don’t want to call it arrogance on my part, because it wasn’t. However, I didn’t get to the place I wanted in my career and I wish I would’ve taken the time to develop a back-up plan.
“That’s something that I tell every kid wanting to break into broadcasting — make sure you have a back-up plan.”
Minor League Baseball was a great learning experience for the Leetonia High School graduate, which he said had some of the best and unique promotions for fans.
“The funniest experience that I ever had in Minor League Baseball turned into a four-year ordeal for me,” Potesta said. “I was with the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx, the Chicago Cubs’ Class AA affiliate, and it was early in the 2003 season.
“We were struggling with attendance and had several meetings to figure out what we could do to bring more people out to the park,” Potesta said. “During one meeting, things were starting to get a little heated and I wanted to lighten the mood, so I let the general manager know that I have an idea.
“Everyone looked at me as I cleared my throat and went into my Harry Caray impersonation,” Potesta said. “I said that I can grab a microphone and lead the crowd into singing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ during the seventh-inning stretch.
“The mood was lightened, the general manager took me up on it and the rest as they say, is history.”