A to Z Angels: David Courtney

Since 1994, the fans at Angel Stadium have heard the voice of David Courtney announcing the players, the lineups and promotions throughout each game. He has become a familiar voice to fans who attend regularly and a welcoming voice for fans experiencing a live Angels game for the first time. He is the first and last sound heard over the PA system for all games. Additionally, David works as the PA Announcer for the L.A. Kings and can be heard Monday through Friday on KNX (1070 AM) and KOLA (99.9 FM) radio doing traffic and news. For fans eagerly awaiting the first game of the season, here is a look into the man behind the voice of the stadium.

AngelsWin.com: How did you get the job?

David Courtney: I got the job when I was the PA announcer for the Kings at the time. I started doing the games for the Kings a couple of years earlier and a couple of the executives for the Angels heard me doing the games as they were hockey fans and asked if I would be interested in coming in as the backup announcer for the regular gentleman at the time who was named Dennis Packer. I did the backup games—about 13 or 14 games a season for 4 seasons—and then the team invited me on as the full-time announcer in 1994. And, I’ve been the regular announcer at the stadium ever since.

AngelsWin.com: What is a typical game like for you during a game? I once read that a typical game follows a 30 page script, with details down to quarter minute increments.

David Courtney: The games over the years have progressed now because of the additions of Jumbotrons and fan activities and such that what used to be one page of promotional announcements has turned into what is basically a television production. I get a script of about 30 pages a game. And there is what is called the Run-Down Sheet which goes to the producer, the director, the scoreboard operators, which details what is going to be on the scoreboard each half inning and during the game. I come in and get that as soon as I get to the stadium. Now my day job—obviously I do traffic on the radio—news and traffic—for a company called Metro Networks, and that is from 9:00 to 3:00 during the day Monday to Friday. And then I make my commute to the stadium which usually is an hour, sometimes an hour and a half. I get my script and look over it. If I have the lineups available I do my scorebook and my lineup cards for the game. I usually go down and have dinner with part of the crew about 5:00-5:15. And then we come back up, go over any last minute changes or additions and start the presentation usually about—for a 7:05 game—we usually start announcing about 6:25 and proceed through the pregame and into the game itself.

AngelsWin.com: So, with a 7:05 game, what time are you usually out of the stadium?

David Courtney: If the game ends about 10:00, I’m usually finished by about 10:30. I give the parking lot a little time to clear and then head out and head home about a half hour after the game ends. There’s not really any need for me to stay much later than that.

AngelsWin.com: Who is on your crew and what do they do to assist?

David Courtney: Peter Bull is the Director of Game Entertainment. He is a young man who has moved up in the organization through the years. He started out as a sales intern and now he is in charge of the Jumbotron presentation and all of the game elements. He writes the script for me. He produces the run-down which coordinates all of the information the ads-sales department wants to see on the screens, the video boards and all of the signage. He is assisted by a couple of people in the Jumbotron itself. He has two people who are full-time in the Jumbotron room who actually produce and edit all of the videos that you see—the player highlights, put together the music videos and things. That’s all done in-house. The graphics are pretty much done in-house. Then there are most of the game-time people who are part-time and come in for each event. Dave Tsuruda is the Producer of Video Operations and Danny Pitts is the Associate Producer and they have been there for many years following the team. Peter’s assistant, the Entertainment Supervisor, is Heather Capizzi and she is in charge of the Strike Force and coordinating their appearances and presentations. And then each game we have a crew of 9 or 10 technical directors, video board directors, scoreboard operators, camera persons, audio crew to come in. Bruce McGuire who has been the DJ for probably about 10 years now with us, plays all the music recorded and the prerecorded organist—we don’t have an organist anymore and haven’t had for several years. We’ve all pretty much together. A lot of them have been there before I started working in 1990 and are still working on the crew from back in the old Big A days.