Sports fans have more ways than ever to follow their teams — from linear TV and streaming services to subscription apps and social platforms. Yet despite all those choices, audio play-by-play is having a moment — and a big reason is the enduring power of the hometown voice.

Fans aren’t necessarily listening because they can’t watch. They’re listening because they want their announcer. The hometown voice remains uniquely powerful: a familiar, trusted voice that knows the team, the players, the history, the rivalries and the personalities. They don’t just describe what happens on the field; they know what it means to the people who care about the team.

Technology is making that voice more accessible than ever. According to Edison Research, the share of sports radio listening on mobile devices has grown by 3X since 2022¹.

And on National Radio Day, it’s worth remembering that radio’s role in sports has never been just about delivering the game. It’s about the voices that make fans feel connected to it, wherever they are.

The biggest change may have less to do with sports than with the way people live. Ten years ago, “watching the game” generally meant finding a television and sitting down. Today, fans are more likely to consume media while commuting, walking, exercising, cooking, working around the house or simply relaxing outside. They may not have the time — or desire — to devote two or three uninterrupted hours to a screen, but they still want to follow their team.

The rise of podcasts has reinforced this behavior, teaching people to think of audio as something that travels with them through the “in-between” moments of their day.

That same behavior is increasingly shaping how fans follow live sports. Smartphones and wireless headphones allow them to stay connected to every play without putting the rest of their lives on hold.

TV asks you to stop and watch the game. Audio lets you take the game with you.

Fans don’t necessarily see audio and video as competing experiences. Increasingly, they want both.

Audacy research found that 36% of MLB fans have paired play-by-play audio with live TV, choosing the local broadcast to add context, personality and emotion to the visual experience².

Apple TV+ has embraced this behavior by allowing viewers during live baseball telecasts to choose the local radio broadcast while watching the television feed. It’s a simple idea with a powerful implication: fans can get the video experience while keeping the local voice they already know and trust.

The same idea is now making its way into the ballpark. In a growing number of stadiums, fans can use their phones and earbuds to listen to the synchronized local radio call while watching the action unfold in front of them — without the audio delay that has traditionally made in-stadium listening difficult.

At Citi Field, for example, Mets fans can listen to the synchronized New York Mets Radio play-by-play through a partnership between Audacy and SportsBug. The service is catching on: through the first 50 games of the season, Mets fans have started more than 17,000 streams and consumed more than 3,800 hours of in-stadium content³.

The appeal is simple: fans get the energy of being there and the perspective of the announcer who knows the team.

Ultimately, fans are taking more control over how they experience the game – and the hometown voice is at the center of it.

Baseball has always had something television can’t completely replicate: imagination.

The game unfolds in a natural rhythm — the pitcher sets, the announcer describes the situation, the crowd reacts, and the pitch comes. That space gives a great announcer room to build anticipation, provide context and create a picture with words.

That is one reason baseball remains so well suited to audio, even as television has become more sophisticated.

But the power of baseball audio isn’t just the sport. It’s the voice.

“Our fans are passionate and loyal,” Hughes says. “They say, ‘Your voice is always with me. You’re in the car with me, on the patio when we’re having dinner or doing chores.’”

Then he captures that relationship in five words: “We’re part of people’s lives.”

Hughes has called more than 7,000 MLB games, including nearly 5,000 Cubs games and the club’s historic 2016 World Series championship. When the Cubs finally won it all, his call rose above the roar of the crowd:

“The Cubs come pouring out of the dugout, jumping up and down like a bunch of delirious 10-year-olds!”

For fans who heard it, Hughes’ voice is forever connected to that moment.

Television shows you what happened. The hometown voice helps you feel what it means.

The hometown voice is no longer confined to the hometown. Fans can listen almost anywhere — even when home is hundreds or thousands of miles away. Streaming allows them to follow their team’s radio broadcast whether they’re traveling for work, on vacation or simply living in another city while still rooting for the team they grew up with. They can hear the local call in the car, on a walk, in the kitchen, through a smart speaker — or even inside the stadium.

And while sports audio has never been more ubiquitous, finding the game on television has never been more complicated. Cord-cutting, the disruption of regional sports networks and the migration of games to streaming services have fragmented the viewing experience. A fan needs to keep up with the schedule to know which network, app or subscription has the game that night.

Audio offers a simpler proposition: Find the game where it is all season long. Press play. Listen.

Taken together, these developments point to something bigger. Sports audio is showing up in places where it traditionally wasn’t.

At home: fans can watch the television feed while listening to their local announcers.

On the road: fans can follow every play while going about their day or even when they are on vacation or have moved elsewhere.

In the stadium: fans can watch the game live while listening to the synchronized radio call.

The common thread is that audio is no longer defined by where the fan is. It is defined by how the fan wants to experience the game.