Media in Minutes

Josh Maurer: Milwaukee Brewer's Play by Play Broadcaster

• Angela Tuell • Season 4 • Episode 20

Share episode

Send us a text

In today’s episode, Josh Maurer, Milwaukee Brewers play-by-play broadcaster, discusses his career journey, starting at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and progressing through minor league baseball and college sports. He highlights his experience with the Boston Red Sox AAA affiliate and his transition to the Brewers in 2022. Maurer emphasizes the importance of preparation, teamwork and staying updated on sports news. He shares his proudest moments, including broadcasting a national championship game and working with legendary broadcaster Bob Uecker. 

Follow Josh’s life and work here:
X: https://www.x.com/joshmaurerpxp  

 

University of Maryland Journalism: https://merrill.umd.edu/  

Salisbury, MD: https://salisbury.md/ 

Maryland Eastern Shore: https://umeshawksports.com/ 

Yankees Single A Team (Charleston):  https://www.milb.com/charleston 

Charleston Southern University: https://csusports.com/splash.aspx?id=splash_3 

University of Massachusetts: https://umassathletics.com/ 

Boston College: https://bceagles.com/ 

Red Sox AAA: https://www.milb.com/worcester 

Milwaukee Brewers: https://www.mlb.com/brewers 

Josh at the Brewers: https://www.mlb.com/news/josh-maurer-joins-brewers-radio-team 

Bob Uecker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Uecker 

Milwaukee Bucks: https://www.nba.com/bucks/ 

Jim Nantz: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Nantz 

Billy Packer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Packer 

 

Thank you for listening!  Please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe to the Media in Minutes podcast here or anywhere you get your podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/media-in-minutes/id1555710662  

Angela Tuell:

Welcome to Media in Minutes. This is your host Angela Tuell. This podcast features in-depth interviews with those who report on the world around us. They share everything from their favorite stories to what happened behind the lens and give us a glimpse into their world. From our studio here at Communications Redefined, this is Media in Minutes. In today's episode, we are talking with Milwaukee Brewers play by play broadcaster Josh Maurer. Josh joined the Brewers broadcast team in February 2022 after an extensive career broadcasting collegiate sports on television and radio, and most recently, eight seasons with the AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Mauer was selected to call play by play for the AAA All Star game in 2017 and has won a regional Associated Press radio broadcast Award For best college sports play by play in Massachusetts and Rhode Island on five occasions. Hi, Josh.

Josh Maurer:

Hello.

Angela Tuell:

I am so excited to have you on our podcast today.

Josh Maurer:

Well, thanks for having me. We go so far back. It's fun to just kind of catch up a little bit and hear your voice, because it's been too long.

Angela Tuell:

It has been way too long. Isn't that sad how we we have great friends and lose touch over time and but Oh, I'm so glad, so glad to be talking to you today. For those who don't know, Josh and I went to the University of Maryland together, and both graduated from the journalism school. And Josh, I remember you always being interested in sports journalism, right? That was always the path.

Josh Maurer:

That was always the goal. And really, from the day that I stepped onto campus at Maryland, I had a very tunnel visioned idea of my future, which was going to be calling play by play of professional or college sports, and that was what I wanted to do from really the time I was 13 years old.

Angela Tuell:

Wow, thirteen.

Josh Maurer:

I dedicated myself to it, probably more than many and probably maybe more than most people should. That was my vision for my career. And so I've been very, very fortunate to kind of follow that and see that vision come to fruition.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, it was worth it. This is worth it.

Josh Maurer:

I guess, yeah, there are. There are some days that you would say that to me and I'd be like, Nope, no, it wasn't. But yes, it is. You know, on the whole it's working in sports. It's like this. It's like a magical career to have, and it almost feels a little Pollyannish. But you know, we're doing things for our jobs. When we work in sports that other people pay to be a part of, we get paid to do it. So I try to remind myself every time you have a frustrating day, yeah, that you're doing something that is pretty special.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, yes, because it's just like real life, that it's not all perfect every day.

Josh Maurer:

Of course. Yeah.

Angela Tuell:

Would you walk us through your career a little bit? I know you for your first play by play position was at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, right?

Josh Maurer:

That's correct. That was my first full time play by play job. Yeah, we were hanging out in Salisbury, Maryland.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, yes. That was a great place to be, you know, near the beach. And...

Josh Maurer:

It was, it was. You know, it's funny, like nobody

Angela Tuell:

Yes - it was fun. really knows outside of the eastern shore of Maryland, nobody knows much about Salisbury, but we, you know, when we were there for a couple of years, we all had a great time.

Josh Maurer:

But yeah, I so when I graduated college, I followed the path that was the most available to someone who wanted to get into play by play broadcasting, which was pursue minor league baseball, that's where the most jobs were, and also to pursue broadcasting college sports during the baseball off season, which encompasses the fall and the winter. And that was so there were always, and there still are, actually, two decades later, those two tracks of my career, which is the baseball work in the spring and the summer, and then the college sports work, which goes on in the baseball off season.

Angela Tuell:

Okay.

Josh Maurer:

And so I have been fortunate enough to always have jobs in both of those tracks. I went from Maryland Eastern Shore, where I worked for three seasons broadcasting their their basketball games and wearing some other hats within the athletic department there. And I moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where I did minor league baseball for the Yankees single a team, which was in Charleston, and a wonderful place to be.

Angela Tuell:

A nice place to be too.

Josh Maurer:

Really, was, yeah, I was very fortunate with that One, and that brought me to my next college job, which is a char Charleston Southern University. Division One athletic department, where I did

Angela Tuell:

Okay. football and basketball. Okay.

Josh Maurer:

And then at the time, this was back in 2008 I got what I thought was my big break. I got hired to be the head of broadcasting at the University of Massachusetts.

Angela Tuell:

Wow.

Josh Maurer:

So I moved up from South Carolina to New England.

Angela Tuell:

Okay.

Josh Maurer:

And I ended up spending the next almost 15 years of my life in the New England area, but for the most part, doing broadcasting at UMass. And then also I ended up moving from there to Boston College, which was a bigger athletic department. Bigger Scope.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah.

Josh Maurer:

Level, and I'm still actually calling basketball games at Boston College. But my baseball track took me to Trenton, New Jersey, to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which was the Red Sox AAA affiliate. They moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, and I spent eight years as the AAA broadcaster for the Boston Red Sox. And there was one year and during the pandemic, in 2020 where there was no minor league baseball.

Angela Tuell:

Uh huh.

Josh Maurer:

We can get into this a little bit later, if you're interested. But that was the year I really faced a crossroads in my life, in my career. I was the team that I worked for to make money, since there were no games, they turned the outfield during the pandemic into a restaurant. And I was a waiter.

Angela Tuell:

Really? Are you serious?

Josh Maurer:

Yeah, summer 2020. And that's what I did. And and I would walk up to

Angela Tuell:

Wow! each table. This was per the instructions of my boss, and I had to introduce myself to whoever my my customers were, and I had to say, Hi, I'm Josh. I'll be your waiter tonight. Normally, I'm one of the broadcasters for the team, but if you know now, I'm just going to take your order. Oh, my goodness.

Josh Maurer:

Yeah. So that was the pandemic, and it wasn't very fun.

Angela Tuell:

No, no, most of us started our career, or not even our career, but, you know, started working in restaurants, not did it later in life, you know,

Josh Maurer:

Right, right? I know, yeah, I have a new found back then, I formed a newly found appreciation for the service industry.

Angela Tuell:

Right?

Josh Maurer:

I was very close to trying to change direction and pivoting doing something else in in the world of broadcasting, but not play by play, which had been my only pursuit. I just didn't want to be the 40 year old guy who then became a 65 year old guy still climbing through minor league press boxes and riding busses.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, yeah.

Josh Maurer:

And I saw that on the horizon. It just ended up looking like it wasn't going to happen for me, where I would get the big break to go to the major leagues. But you know what the thing that pandemic also did was it, it took away opportunities, even to pivot. I mean, I just felt I looked at what else I could possibly do, and there wasn't really anything there. So I said, I'll stick it out. And I stuck it out. I did one more

Angela Tuell:

Yes to the major league. year with the Red Sox triple A team, and then I ended up getting hired in Milwaukee as one of the radio broadcasters for the Brewers.

Josh Maurer:

Yeah to the major leagues, which was the thrill of a lifetime, and still is.

Angela Tuell:

How does that happen? Are you just constantly applying sending out? I guess it's not tapes anymore, you know, but digital like how, how did you get there?

Josh Maurer:

You apply when you when you want to do play by play. You apply to every opening that ever exists. If it's a job that you could even see yourself wanting, it's it's so ultra competitive because there are so few jobs and there are so many people that want to do it for all the reasons that I already mentioned. You know, you're working right? So you're sitting there getting paid to call games, and you have a great seat. You get free food sometimes, you know all the perks that come with being a sports broadcaster.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah.

Josh Maurer:

And so there's so many people, and every year coming out of college, there are more and more people that want to do it, and they're all so talented, so many of them, so it's just this bottleneck for jobs. And I felt, once I got into my late 30s, that it was really probably swimming upstream, that the odds were against me because I was getting older, and even though I thought I was a better broadcaster at that point than I had ever been, and I was, it's just I, the more you're an also ran, the less likely it is for you to get that that yes, yeah. And so I just, I kept applying. The Brewers job in particular came open, and I applied for it in the fall of 2021.

Angela Tuell:

Okay.

Josh Maurer:

The way that I had applied to many jobs and never really gotten a sniff. But this one was different. They, to the credit of the organization, they really were open to listening to any and all candidates.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah.

Josh Maurer:

And fortunately, they liked my stuff, so I moved I moved along in the process.

Angela Tuell:

That's awesome.

Josh Maurer:

Had several interviews. I got to meet Bob Uecker for the first time as the final step of my interview process. And for those who don't know, Bob is the long time, long time radio broadcaster for the Brewers, in addition to his work as an actor and a comedian. And I work with Bob now, but anyway, I met him.

Angela Tuell:

That's so cool.

Josh Maurer:

The final step of my interview process was to have breakfast with Bob and sit there.

Angela Tuell:

Were you nervous?

Josh Maurer:

So nervous. Oh God, yeah. So nervous. I mean, you'd be nervous anyways -

Angela Tuell:

Close. To, you know, you're so close to getting

Josh Maurer:

You're so close. And then also you would be the job. nervous just to meet Bob if you weren't interviewing.

Angela Tuell:

Right, right.

Josh Maurer:

And the way that the interview went, it's just Bob sitting there with you, as I found out, this is the way he is. He's just such a great storyteller. And he's telling stories to me, and they're just amazing stories. And this goes on for about 90 minutes.

Angela Tuell:

Wow.

Josh Maurer:

And it's not like he was asking me questions, you know.

Angela Tuell:

Right. He was talking mostly.

Josh Maurer:

He was talking. And finally, the guy from the Brewers taps me on the shoulder, says, Alright, it's time to go. Bob said, Oh, okay. And I said, All right, I guess that was it. And sure enough, the next week, I got offered the job.

Angela Tuell:

That's awesome. So what is, what is it - I'm sure there's not a typical day, but you know, what is your life like? Your job as a play by play broadcaster for the MLB?

Josh Maurer:

it's a lot of preparation. You have to, I always think, for every nugget that you use in the course of a broadcast fact or stat or story, you're going to prepare probably five to 10 others that don't get used.

Angela Tuell:

Right.

Josh Maurer:

So I think a lot of the day to day during the baseball season, and it's a very long season, it's education. It's staying up to date on everything that's going on within the world of baseball. You don't just want to know everything about your team that you cover. You want to know everything about the other teams, because you don't know what's going to become pertinent to the discussion that you're having in the broadcast that night.

Angela Tuell:

Right.

Josh Maurer:

I I'm a pretty voracious reader. I'll spend mornings reading any kind of articles, news coverage that I can get my hands on. And then there's, you know, we're fortunate. We're in an age where digital media, and I'm sure so many people listening to this are aware how much coverage there is of sports.

Angela Tuell:

Right.

Josh Maurer:

There's a proliferation of of of stuff out there. So you're never, never sure.

Angela Tuell:

Can't not find things, right?

Josh Maurer:

That's exactly right. There's plenty to read. There's plenty to learn. I'll spend mornings doing that. I will go to the ballpark. I'm an early arriver compared to some. I like to get to the ballpark, usually about five hours before the game, at least. Yeah, and you'd spend time talking to people. You talk to players, coaches, other broadcasters, scouts, anybody. Those conversations, they're so valuable. I mean, not just for forming the relationships, but just getting the information, the background that they you can get from having that access. And I fill out sealed to this day, I'm I'm becoming somewhat, I think of a dinosaur in this, but I still fill out an old, old school baseball score book.

Angela Tuell:

Okay.

Josh Maurer:

That it's uh, kind of like my version of The Da Vinci Code, but I fill it out the way that I'm comfortable with it, and I put all the the research that I've done in there in a certain way, and I have a list of topics that I can bring up during the broadcast that I put in a certain spot and and, you know, it's like creating my opus for the day is putting my score books together, and that usually takes a couple of hours.

Angela Tuell:

I bet. I was going to ask, you know, how you keep all of that in your head or on paper? You know, how you how you absorb it all? And remember,

Josh Maurer:

I think writing it for me is the way that I do.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah.

Josh Maurer:

A lot of broadcasters who I work with, who are contemporaries of mine, don't do that anymore. A lot of it's just digital. And I may, I've actually talked about, I'm so sad about this, my mother, my mother, I think, shed a tear when I told her I was considering this. But I'm considering going to an all digital version of what that manual has been.

Angela Tuell:

Oh, wow.

Josh Maurer:

Yeah. Just it seems, some of it seems a little bit overkill.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, yeah. I'm a little, I'm a little bit like that too. It must, it must be our, you know, generation or age. I have an online, you know, to do, to do lists with, with clients and things. But then I do have a notebook that I write and put together where, you know, top priorities and that sort of thing.

Josh Maurer:

I like it that way. I still have a planner, planner that I keep, and that's how I organize my life. And, yeah, I don't want to use the calendar on my phone or I want to hammer it, but maybe we're becoming dinosaurs.

Angela Tuell:

Right? I guess so. So, you know, calling a game is, Is it always a team effort? Or, obviously, in the the MLB now it's a team effort, and how do you work together best when you're calling it with another person?

Josh Maurer:

That's a great question. I find baseball, particularly to be the most conversational sport to broadcast. It's almost like the way I approach it. It's a three hour running conversation with my listener. Now the listener can't talk back to me.

Angela Tuell:

Right.

Josh Maurer:

I'm picturing one or two people sitting in their living room or driving in their car who are listening to every word, and I'm talking to them. I'm not talking to an audience of a few 1000 people. I'm talking to one person. And so that's kind of that's my approach to a baseball broadcast, which is very different than when I do a football game or a basketball game, for example. But we, you know, we're fortunate enough at this level, unlike at the lower levels of minor league baseball, where I worked forever, you used to do it by yourself, and so much harder to have that conversation when you didn't have somebody else to bounce the topics.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah.

Josh Maurer:

So I do I work with a partner that can be a different partner, depending on how our broadcast setup is that day, but it's mostly the same guy who I'm paired with. And you form basically you have to get in sync with that person so that you know almost before you say it what the other person's gonna say to you.

Angela Tuell:

Right.

Josh Maurer:

And I think I've been doing this three years with Lane Grindel, who's my, my main partner, and we'll end up calling about 90 games together this year.

Angela Tuell:

Wow, that's a lot.

Josh Maurer:

Yeah, and it's a lot, but it's spread out over the course of over six months, and so we know each other well. He's got his style, and when he's whoever the person is that's calling the play by play at that any given moment. So we switched the responsibilities of that. As the game goes, we go back and forth.

Angela Tuell:

Okay.

Josh Maurer:

The play by play broadcaster at that time is driving the ship, and the other person is kind of the passenger, and is there to listen and provide feedback to whatever stories that the other one is saying. It is teamwork. We work with, as I mentioned, Bob Uecker. Bob is one of the all time best ever, that ever has existed. He's 90 years old.

Angela Tuell:

Is he really?

Josh Maurer:

He's still the greatest storyteller baseball's ever had. Yep, I sit in I sit in the booth, and I watch him work, and I marvel.

Angela Tuell:

That's amazing to learn from him, too, right there with him.

Josh Maurer:

It is, it is. Bob. Bob is a unicorn. He's one of a kind, and I think people mostly know him. I'm assuming this because this was the case for me personally. People across the country know Bob from being Harry Doyle in the movie Major League, or from Mr. Belvedere, or for being Mr. Baseball on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Bob had the most appearances of any guest in the history of the Johnny Carson Show.

Angela Tuell:

Really?

Josh Maurer:

Yep, and he's done so many things in in and around the Hollywood genre, but as a baseball play by play broadcaster, which has been his number one job for 54 years now, he's as good as it gets. He's just a, he's a magician. So learning from him has been the thrill of my career. And he, he cares so much about our broadcast that even when he's not working, he'll sit at home and listen, and then you'll get back. Let's say it's from a road trip where Bob wasn't there, and you'll get back and he can, he can pull you aside and give you pointers. Hey, I heard this. So getting, getting to go to Bob Uecker broadcasting school these last three years has been unbelievable experience for me.

Angela Tuell:

That's amazing, something I'm in awe of. You mentioned calling play by plays for other sports. I know you've done football, basketball, hockey, lacrosse. How do you do multiple sports like that? I feel like you would get into a niche, and that's almost the only sport you can call but how have you done all of them?

Josh Maurer:

I think it's well, you're right. First of all, it is. It's different to do them all, so you have to. You can't just pick up a microphone and do it without practicing. But

Angela Tuell:

Yeah.

Josh Maurer:

The answer I always give is, I'm a sports fan, first and foremost. So I just like watching sports. So when it's basketball season, I love watching basketball games, so I want to call basketball games. The most games I've ever I've done in my career, is baseball, but the second most is basketball.

Angela Tuell:

Okay.

Josh Maurer:

I was fortunate enough I got to do my first NBA games this past year.

Angela Tuell:

Wow.

Josh Maurer:

And so I've called, yeah, I've been lucky.

Angela Tuell:

That's awesome. Which ones?

Josh Maurer:

For the Milwaukee Bucks?

Angela Tuell:

Okay, wow.

Josh Maurer:

I've done Milwaukee Bucks games now. I've been fortunate. I've filled in on some NHL broadcasts. So I've done some hockey at the highest level. So the NFL is actually the only sport that I haven't called of the four major.

Angela Tuell:

Okay, that's impressive.

Josh Maurer:

How do you do? Yeah, I know. I'm like, when I say that out loud, I'm like, wow, I really have done a lot.

Angela Tuell:

Right.

Josh Maurer:

I would, I would tell you that you just have to work to form a style for each of those sports, and you can't have the way your style is for baseball be the same for a football broadcast. It's just very different.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, yeah.

Josh Maurer:

And you learn by doing. You learn by getting reps. I was, I thought I knew what I was doing when I graduated college and when I was living in Salisbury, calling the Maryland Eastern Shore basketball games. I thought I was really good. I was not, you know, I can go back and listen to those tapes.

Angela Tuell:

We all thought that when we were younger.

Josh Maurer:

Of course, yeah, we thought we were we thought we were the best. We were ready to be the voice of the Super Bowl on Fox. But right? I go back and listen to the tapes of me back then, and I'm like, Oh, I was horrible. So you get better with reps and doing it. One thing that I always tell young broadcasters, the best way to get better is to listen to yourself. Record your broadcasts, and go back. And it's so valuable to get the feedback from listening with your own ears. You're going to hear first what you don't like more than anybody else is going to tell you it. You're going to hear it. You'll notice it. And I promise you, if you go back and listen and you hear something that you're not happy about, you're gonna not do it anymore. So yeah.

Angela Tuell:

That's great advice.

Josh Maurer:

Yeah, over the years, I think the best way I've gotten better at doing whatever sport it is that I call self evaluation and and figuring out what works and what doesn't work.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, that's great. What are some of your proudest moments in your career so far, besides landing the job with the Brewers?

Josh Maurer:

That's gotta be up. That's gotta be the top. You know? What was wild was in 2001 I was broadcasting Maryland basketball as a student winning a national championship at the Georgia that's so cool. And I was sitting at the second row of courtside behind the CBS broadcasters Jim Nantz and Billy Packer. I remember doing those games on WMUC, our student radio station. I thought, you know, I was 20 years old, I couldn't even buy a beer yet, but I was thinking, well, this is the way that sports work. You just go to the Final Four and you broadcast the championship games. And it's not been that way. I've worked in college basketball for 23 years, and I've never been back to anything close to that. So actually, some of my fondest memories are doing those games in the NCAA tournament with Maryland, or when they went to the Orange Bowl. Yes, yes. Great, great teams that I was just very lucky to be a part of because of the timing of when I was in college.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, yes.

Josh Maurer:

Great, great teams that I was just very lucky to be a part of because of the timing of when I was in college.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah. We were really lucky to be there then I

Josh Maurer:

What great times. Yeah, and it's, it's, it's sad remember going to the Orange Bowl and and being there at the basketball. to think how long ago that was.

Angela Tuell:

I know I don't want when I bring it up, because, you know, I live in IU territory, so when I bring it up, some don't even remember that at this point. And I'm like, wait, I mean, we won the championship.

Josh Maurer:

That's right. 2002 I think I said 2001 that was -

Angela Tuell:

I think it was 2000 - No, yeah, it was 2002.

Josh Maurer:

It was the 2001 2002 season.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, yeah.

Josh Maurer:

That they won the national championship. I mean,

Angela Tuell:

That's a lot. That's a one every couple days, some of my other highlights, a lot of them are things that people wouldn't nationally have ever been paying attention to or would recognize. But championship games called in the minor leagues, really fun games called college basketball games or college football games that were called when I was either at UMass or at Boston College. I've been lucky enough to be employed two to three days. year round between the college work and the baseball work that I do. So for these 20 years that I've been doing this professionally, I've, I've called a couple 100 games almost

Josh Maurer:

Yeah, yeah, it is. And baseball takes up so much of every year, but there's a lot of them, and - that, because even in the minor leagues, we were doing 140 games this season. So yeah, yeah, that that's, that's the majority of your schedule, but, yeah, close to 200 games a year, I would guess, is what I've averaged over the course of my career.

Angela Tuell:

That's amazing. What is the most challenging part of your job?

Josh Maurer:

I mean, I think challenging is relative, because, again, we're not doing something that's impacting important parts of society. We're not, we're not curing cancer, we're not coming up with fiscal policy for the economy. We're doing something that's a diversion for people.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, that's important too, though, you know, we all need that today, especially.

Josh Maurer:

It is. But I think it's also important as a broadcaster for myself, to keep in the front of my mind that what I'm doing is fun and it's not that important. Yeah. I think that makes you I think that perspective actually helps you as you're broadcasting, yeah. So again, challenges are relative, but I think in the in the world of now, social media proliferation with everything living a longer shelf life that it would have otherwise. My biggest fear, I guess I'll put this in the category of a challenge, but my biggest fear is making a mistake and saying something that goes viral and you can get in a lot of trouble very quickly.

Angela Tuell:

I was just wanting to ask you is to keep you humble sort of thing. Have you had any embarrassing moments?

Josh Maurer:

Yeah, but nothing. I'm knocking on wood very loudly.

Angela Tuell:

I'll do it for you too.

Josh Maurer:

Nothing, nothing that's that's jeopardized my career, or anything like that. I mean, you say stupid things from time to time, or, you know, you get tongue tied and you slip up on a word. But -

Angela Tuell:

I mean it's live, and it's quick, and, you know, it would take a lot. I mean, it takes a lot of talent and skill to choose your words carefully, you know?

Josh Maurer:

That's right. And we say so many words. And when, when I call a baseball game, I mean, for we're on the air for over three hours, you say 1000s of words. I do try to keep in mind when I do mess up, just keep going. Don't worry about it. Yeah, there are times where you'll have a big moment and a call that you didn't do the way that you would have liked to, and that that annoys you at the time, but you just have to keep moving. There's so many calls, there's so many words, there's so many games that you have plenty of time to make up for whatever mistakes you make, but the biggest mistakes are the ones that can really get you in trouble from from saying something that could offend somebody. Something that's offensive, something that's inappropriate.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah.

Josh Maurer:

You just have to always, you can't have a headset on. We wear headsets usually holding microphones. So when I say wear a headset, that's our version of of holding a microphone. But if you're wearing a headset, you have to always assume that every word you say can be heard by people. Yeah, and just be super, super careful what words come out of your mouth.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, yeah. That's, that's gotta be a little, a little stressful too, to think about that all of the time.

Josh Maurer:

And I could get away with it more in the minor leagues, you know, smaller levels of college sports. But now, if I, if I said something that I shouldn't, I wouldn't get away with it. It would likely be career ending.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah. Oh, wow. We'll keep knocking on that wood. Do you have any other I mean, you've made it to the MLB, so it's not you can't go any higher than that. But do you have any other career goals, or what you hope the future holds?

Josh Maurer:

I do. I've always said that my goal, my next goal, is always the next step on the ladder, and so I still am striving. I'd like to call more games. You know, I with the Brewers now we have so many broadcasters. I don't call every game. Well, I'd like to someday call every game, or maybe someday I'd like to call a game on a national outlet.

Angela Tuell:

Right?

Josh Maurer:

Baseball, for sure, on a national outlet. I think my basketball broadcasting has gotten to the point where I could aspire to do some more high profile work. I told you I did some stuff in the NBA, and I'd like to explore that too. The highest amount of exposure you get is by doing games for a national television or radio outlet.

Angela Tuell:

Right.

Josh Maurer:

I think that's certainly one of the big goals that I'll have moving forward in my career, is to take that step onto a national stage. Because pretty much everything I've done outside of some of the College Sports TV work, pretty much everything I've done has been working for a team or working for right and doing it at the local level, where you're speaking to a fan base. I would like to, at some point, experience doing that for the national audience and see what that's like.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, well, I don't have any doubt that we won't see you there. I'm very confident. So I do have to ask some of our listeners find this question pretty interesting. You know, what else do you like to do in your free time? Or do you literally live, eat and breathe, sports?

Josh Maurer:

No, I don't. And

Angela Tuell:

Okay.

Josh Maurer:

I, I think it's very healthy to do other things. It's, in fact, it's important for your health, yeah, not just be so tunnel vision that it's all that you have in your life. So for me, a lot of it revolves around pop culture, music. I mean, I'm a big music guy, I promise you, if we played a game and named that tune, I could beat you.

Angela Tuell:

Oh, that's awesome, really?

Josh Maurer:

Yeah. So that's, that's

Angela Tuell:

What music is your favorite? What kind of music?

Josh Maurer:

I mean, I would say, if I'm categorizing, it'd be classic rock or even, like 90s alternative, but I'm well versed in all of them. If you wanted to go to toe for toe on country music, I could hold my own.

Angela Tuell:

I would assume you're very good at trivia.

Josh Maurer:

Yeah, I'm pretty good. Yeah, I'm not the best. I if you get a category. That's math or science, then you probably want somebody else on your team.

Angela Tuell:

But the other ones you can handle the sports ones, the culture and music.

Josh Maurer:

Yeah, pop culture, music, movies, that's I do a lot

Angela Tuell:

Oh that's nice. of just to unwind. I try to stay very active. I run most days. I'm fortunate. Here in Milwaukee, I live right by the lakefront of Lake Michigan.

Josh Maurer:

And there's rivers that connect to that that literally right outside where I live. So I go kayaking. Yeah, bike riding, staying active is very important to me, even in the winter, I'll try to work out indoors most days.

Angela Tuell:

I was going to say not outside, maybe in the winter, it gets pretty cold there. Lake effect snow.

Josh Maurer:

I'll tell you what, though, what a great summer city. It's just gorgeous. There's always happening here in the summer, festivals, music, food, all that we have breweries like you wouldn't believe. There's every other block there's a brewery. And yes, I think that's the reason the team's called the Brewers. But they, they, it is not a misnomer there. There's a ton of it here. But anyway, yeah.

Angela Tuell:

Do you love Spotted Cow?

Josh Maurer:

I do.

Angela Tuell:

That's one of our favorites. Every time we go to Wisconsin we have to grab it because you can't buy it anywhere else.

Josh Maurer:

That's right. That's right. And of course, as a Brewers employee, I'm obligated to say that Miller Lite is the terrific,

Angela Tuell:

Oh, okay, okay,

Josh Maurer:

Otherwise, I might get in trouble. Making a call on our sponsorship.

Angela Tuell:

That's what you drink the most, right?

Josh Maurer:

Of course, of course. Yep. Bob Uecker has done Miller Lite commercials for ever. I mean, for Wow, 40 years, he's been one of the faces of the Miller Lite ad campaigns. Awesome. We have plenty of access to the Miller products in our broadcasting booth.

Angela Tuell:

Do you drink it while you're while you're broadcasting?

Josh Maurer:

Not as far as you guys know.

Angela Tuell:

Okay, okay.

Josh Maurer:

No.

Angela Tuell:

I didn't see it there on your on your desk.

Josh Maurer:

We can have it saved on ice for post game once, once we sign off the air.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, once you've had a successful calling, right?

Josh Maurer:

That's correct, right. And, you know, you, you bring up, like a successful broadcast, I think the other, the other thing I always keep in mind, a broadcaster of a team never wins or loses. We have no impact over the game.

Angela Tuell:

Right.

Josh Maurer:

We can't control it, even if we wanted to. So as long as we do our job and get on the air and don't say something offensive, we've won every day, and there's always good, good cause to celebrate after a broadcast. That's the way that I look at it, if you let a game's result impact the way that you feel about things in general, you're going to drive yourself crazy, especially

Angela Tuell:

Something to think about a really good point, yeah, because so many of us, our feelings after a game are how our team did.

Josh Maurer:

And it's natural, yeah, it's totally natural that it would be that way and it and of course, when you work for a team. It's been this way for me, even in the years working in independent league baseball and single A baseball, you get attached to that team because you're around them and you're at every game, so you want them to do well. But I've always tried to remind myself, and sometimes it's easier than others to do this, but remind yourself, even if they lose, it wasn't you if you did your job good.

Angela Tuell:

Right, yeah. That's a great point, Josh, I think I know the answer to this, but I wanted to ask, can our listeners connect with you online, or you're not really on social, right?

Josh Maurer:

I'm not a big social media guy. Again, I'm sounding like a dinosaur.

Angela Tuell:

Right?

Josh Maurer:

I do. I have a X account. It's Josh Maurer Radio.

Angela Tuell:

Okay. Okay, great. Well, we will link to that.

Josh Maurer:

M-A-U-R-E-R. And, yeah, that, I mean, I guess that's about the extent of it. I've been having people tearing at my arms to get me on Instagram. So we'll see if that happens.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, okay, we'll be watching, and we'll put it in the in the show notes, for sure, the X and if you do get instagram. And everyone can always go to a Brewers game and hope to catch you calling it.

Josh Maurer:

Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, check us out. It's a really fun broadcast. Even if I'm not on it, you get to listen to Bob Uecker so...

Angela Tuell:

Right. So you get, you'll, you'll have a great experience either way.

Josh Maurer:

We will. Last night- It's, it's perfect timing for us to be taping this today, because last night, as we record this here, towards the end of September, the Brewers clinched their division championship.

Angela Tuell:

Really? Congratulate. Congratulations to the Brewers.

Josh Maurer:

Congratulations to the Brewers. That's right, it was a big deal that they clinched it at home, and the celebration after the game was was very memorable for me, in particular, because I was down there doing interviews, and Bob Uecker, at age 90, got to come down and be recognized by the team and celebrated by all the players and the coaches and the fans. And you just never know how many more of those there'll be. So it's such a special moment. So I'm still kind of on a high as we speak today, after that great moment that we had last night.

Angela Tuell:

That's awesome. Well, we'll be watching. And is it considered postseason now after this?

Josh Maurer:

Yeah, postseason starts, yep, right at the beginning of October, MLB playoffs.

Angela Tuell:

All right, we'll be watching. Thank you so much, Josh.

Josh Maurer:

Angie, it was so great to be on. Thank you for having me. It was great to catch up with you.

Angela Tuell:

That's all for this episode of Media in Minutes, a podcast by Communications Redefined. Please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe to our show. We'd love to hear what you think. You can find more at CommunicationsRedefine.com/podcast. I'm your host Angela Tuell. Talk to you next time.