Burnham Named Voice of UMass Minutemen Basketball
November 2, 2018 - Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release
FUNNVILLE, (Nov. 2, 2018) - The Richmond Flying Squirrels, Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, along with the University of Massachusetts Athletics and its multimedia rights holder, Learfield, announced today that Jay Burnham has been named new radio play-by-play broadcaster for UMass men's basketball. His first call will be on Tuesday, Nov. 6, when the Minutemen host UMass Lowell at 7 p.m. The Flying Squirrels are currently vetting a short list of qualified candidates to replace Burnham in the both and front office. No applications will be accepted at this time.
"Jay is much more than a broadcaster to the Richmond Flying Squirrels. He is and always will be a huge part of our Squirrels family," said Flying Squirrels VP & COO Todd "Parney" Parnell. "Jay did countless unsung things behind the scenes that helped his teammates and made the Squirrels better not just on the radio, but in many facets. While we will miss he and Cheyenne on a daily basis, we are happy that he is going "home" to the area he grew up in. He is a dear friend to us and we wish him the best in his new endeavor at UMass."
Burnham assumes the Minutemen broadcast duties held for the past decade by Josh Maurer, who will fill the same role for Boston College hoops this season while continuing to serve as lead broadcaster for UMass football the remainder of the regular season. Burnham spent the past six seasons with the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Jay arrived in Richmond in 2013 from the Trenton Thunder and during his tenure worked in The Diamond broadcast booth alongside Jon Laaser (2013-15), Gregg Caserta (2016) and Sam Ravech (2017-18). Burnham also hosted and created over 60 episodes of the TV show "Flying Squirrels Insider" on WCVE.
Massachusetts-native Burnham will handle play-by-play for all Minutemen basketball games. He also will host the weekly radio UMass Insider Show on Mondays from 7-8 p.m. and host the bi-weekly television show, UMass Sports Insider. Burnham joins the UMass Sports Network with more than 15 years of radio and television play-by-play experience. Most recently, he also served for five years as television play-by-play broadcaster for VCU men's and women's basketball and lead play-by-play broadcaster and television host for the Flying Squirrels.
Burnham has also been calling Virginia Tech basketball on the ACC Network Extra, as well as home football games for The College of William & Mary and Longwood University men's basketball. His previous experience also includes handling play-by-play for Dartmouth men's basketball on the Ivy League Digital Network. Burnham, a communications graduate of Elon University in Elon, N.C., is a native of Western Massachusetts who was born and raised in Shelburne Falls. He grew up attending UMass games in the Cage and the Mullins Center.
Maurer joined UMass in July 2008 and has also served as the voice of the Pawtucket Red Sox since 2014. In his time at UMass, Maurer played a pivotal role in the transformation of the Department of Athletics' Creative Services division in radio, television and digital assets. He produced and directed the documentary "100 Years Of UMass Basketball", enhanced the value of the television show and was an integral part in UMass' development of its live and on-demand digital development.
"Jay is incredibly talented and we believe he's the right fit for our broadcast team at UMass, said Tom Boman, vice president, broadcast operations for Learfield. "Our comprehensive search led us to Jay, who is an extremely versatile and reputable broadcaster. We are excited to welcome him to UMass and he will work closely with Andrew Stuebner, who leads the local UMass Sports Properties team for Learfield."
"We are excited about having Jay join us as our lead broadcaster for men's basketball," said John Sinnett, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications. "Jay is a terrific person who knows UMass, knows the Atlantic 10, and knows the New England sport landscape. We think our fans will truly enjoy his insight during broadcasts and what he brings to our overall production of radio, television and digital services. We all sincerely appreciate the dedication Josh Maurer gave the University in his time here, recognize the sizeable contributions he made in elevating our media assets, and are excited for him as he starts a new professional chapter in his life."
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Eastern League Stories from November 2, 2018
- Burnham Named Voice of UMass Minutemen Basketball - Richmond Flying Squirrels
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