Dave Barnett, who has enjoyed a broadcasting career in both Texas and nationally, is joining the Texas Rangers radio broadcast team, it was announced Friday.
Barnett has agreed to a multi-year deal to partner with Eric Nadel on all Rangers radio broadcasts on the club’s flagship station, KRLD (1080 AM) and the team’s radio network.
“The Rangers are thrilled to be adding Dave Barnett to our radio broadcasts,” commented Rangers President Nolan Ryan. “Dave is an accomplished announcer with strong Texas ties who will bring passion and knowledge to our broadcasts. He and Eric Nadel will make a great radio team.”
Barnett, 50, has spent the last 13 years with ESPN, serving as a play-by-play voice for baseball, basketball, football, and golf telecasts. He is currently covering major college basketball and football games for ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Radio and has done Major League Baseball for ESPN and ESPN Radio since 1996. Barnett was also a member of ESPN’s College World Series coverage from 2001-2004.
A native and current resident of Denton, Barnett is a familiar voice to fans in Texas. He joined the sports staff at KRLD AM Radio in 1978 before succeeding the late Mark Holtz as the radio voice of the Dallas Mavericks on WBAP Radio in 1981, the NBA’s youngest broadcaster at age 23. Barnett did radio and television games for the Mavericks through the 1987-88 season, winning a pair of Commentator of the Year Awards from UPI. He then spent nine seasons as the television voice of the San Antonio Spurs before joining ESPN in 1996. Barnett returned to the Spurs for the 2006-07 campaign.
He previously broadcast Rangers baseball in 1990 on cable television for Home Sports Entertainment. He has also worked on pre-season National Football League telecasts for the Houston Oilers, Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys, and Chicago Bears and did the Southwest Conference Game of the Week for Raycom Sports from 1989-1996.
Barnett, a 1979 graduate of the University of North Texas, will begin broadcasting games during spring training in Arizona. He teams with Nadel, who enters his 31st year as a Rangers broadcaster in 2009, his 15th as the lead radio voice.
“When I learned that Dave was interested in the position, I was extremely excited,” said Nadel. “As the process unfolded and I realized this was going to work out, I was ecstatic. I have known Dave for more than 30 years, and I am a huge fan of his work.”
Barnett replaces Victor Rojas, who accepted a position with the new MLB Network in December after five seasons in the Rangers radio booth. Barnett is also expected to do a limited number of Rangers television broadcasts when lead television announcer Josh Lewin is away on other assignments.
