Logo
Previous Next
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Audio Demos
  • Ring Announcer
    • Invicta FC
    • Armfight
    • IFL
    • MMA
  • Olympic Games
    • 2002 – Salt Lake City
      • Salt Lake City Album
    • 2004 – Athens, Greece
      • Athens Album
    • 2008 – Bejing, China
      • Beijing Album
  • Events
  • News
  • Contact

Category: Press

0 NW FightScene

  • July 24, 2012
  • Tim Hughes
  • · Press

NW FightScene
Interview by Michael Angelo

Wondering who that ring announcer was while watching The IFL on Fox Sport Net (FSN) last week?
His name is Tim Hughes and if you’ve been to Sportfight, he’s surely familiar personality. In fact, Tim is so good that I even got chills when he delivered Randy Couture’s retirement tribute at Sportfight back on April 8th, 2006.

Tim began his career in broadcast radio over 20 years ago, ultimately hosting programs for the 50,000 watt KSL News Radio in Salt Lake City where he still hosts 2 Saturday morning shows. Now his voice can be heard anywhere from “NCAA 2K3” football for Playstation, Xbox and GameCube, to “SportfightTV”, The IFL on FSN, and so much more…including The Olympics!!!

Tim delivers the crescendo to an event with perfect timing, just as a composer
conducts his orchestra. The mood an announcer sets for a live event is crucial,
and Tim’s career is in overdrive due to his ability to call an event with the best of ’em.

Let’s get to know the man behind the voice!

(Video)

NWFS: Tim, what inspired you to pursue a career in voice talent?
Tim Hughes: When I was growing up in SE Idaho, a kid I went to high school with
got a job on the radio because his dad was a prominent business man in the community. All the girls thought he was cool and it sounded like a fun job!

NWFS: You still do radio part-time at KSL in Salt Lake City on Saturdays?
Hughes: I still host a couple of shows on Saturday morning for KSL News Radio 1160
in Salt Lake City where I did morning drive fulltime between 1988-1993. One is an outdoors show that concentrates on all of the things to do in the great outdoors and affords me to the opportunity to work with area ski resorts, fishing guides and outfitters along with great manufacturers. The other show, although it’s a real stretch for me is the host of a Greenhouse show that gives advice and solves problems for yard and garden enthusiasts. Let me say right here that I do not have a green thumb!! My co-host is one of the most respected and knowledgeable horticulturists in the country, Larry Sagers. Both shows are the number 1 rated programs for the timeslot in the state!

NWFS: You’ve done radio, voiceovers, video game play-by-play, live and post-production television, ring announcing, and more. What experiences have been the most memorable?
Hughes: Without a doubt, the most memorable to date has been my Olympic experiences in 2002 and again in Athens Greece in 2004 where I was the English stadium voice for all of boxing. I was lucky enough to be hired by both the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and NBC Olympics in 2002. I was the English announcer at Medals Plaza each evening and responsible for announcing all of the medals awarded during the games with the exception of a few that were given at their venues. It was a bit intimidating to be told that we were broadcasting to an estimated 3.2 billion people worldwide each night! An even bigger break came when NBC hired me to do all of the billboard and promo work for their cable networks, CNBC, MSNBC and Bravo. Working along side [Bob] Costas, [Katie] Couric, [Tom] Brokaw and a very special treat, sharing the recording booth with Jim McKay who I grew up listening to on Wide World of Sports as a kid.

NWFS: Tell us about how you earned the nickname “The Voice of The Games”.
Hughes: Along with the work listed above, I also was the voice for the venue messaging at 4 of the other venues including Olympic Stadium on the University of Utah campus and all of the security messaging. I use to apologize to the poor volunteers who had to stand at the “mag & bag” as we called them for hours and listen to my voice run all day on a loop tape. So I’m sure people got tired of hearing the voice everywhere!

NWFS: But what an honor! So how did you get your gigs with Sportfight & The IFL?
Hughes: I have a business relationship with a buddy that had developed the idea for a local MMA show that would be staged in area clubs and recorded for air on local television. His name is Tracy Smith and his company “Black Hawk Entertainment” was born after 20 years in the local television market. He asked me if I wanted to be a part of it so I jumped in with both feet about 4 years ago. I have had been behind a microphone my entire adult life so I was pretty comfortable with it in the ring. He also talked me into doing the play-by-play for the tv show so I got a quick education in MMA. Meantime, another guy that was helping to produce the show moved up to Portland and got involved with Randy Couture and Matt Lindland’s Sportfight organization. He had seen me work in Salt Lake and referred me to SF. It’s amazing the impact that Sportfight has on the rest of the MMA world. You take a look at the principals behind it with Lindland and Couture and all of the respect and relationships that they have and then combine that with their hands on training of some of the best young talent in the world who have gone on to be a part of the TUF [UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter”] series on Spike and fight on every major show in the country! It’s amazing! They gave me a chance and the rest is history. I can’t say enough about the opportunity that Matt has given me to be a part of his team. That connection got me in front of some of the biggest names in MMA and another connection with Shannon Knapp who was Randy’s assistant. She, because of her relationship with Bas Rutten (she’s known as “Bas’ Lil Sis” ), was in the loop on an exciting new innovation in the sport of MMA and gave my name to the IFL! I did my first IFL gig in Atlantic City last June and have done all of their show since. It is, without a doubt going to be the biggest and best thing to happen to MMA in years if not ever! Kurt Otto and Gareb Shamus are the two founders of IFL and have put together an unbelievable concept and yet so simple that new fans to MMA can and will embrace it. Kurt’s ability to get the biggest names in MMA involved and Gareb’s ability to get sponsors and Fox Sports Net on board BEFORE even staging an event are incredible and speak volumes about what the future holds for the IFL! I’m a bit spoiled since I have been involved with SF and the IFL. They are both top notch, professional organizations who have fantastic production, passion and knowledge of the sport. The fact that Matt now coaches the Wolfpack in the IFL makes it seem like I’ve come full circle. You asked earlier about my most memorable experiences, I truly believe that what I’m doing now in MMA will ultimately rank right up there!

NWFS: How long have you been an MMA enthusiast?
Hughes: I have to be honest. Until my involvement with the local show 4 years ago, I was aware of MMA but was only a casual fan. Since getting involved the awareness of the sport and the buzz surrounding it have exploded! I am proud to be a small part in the growth of the sport and be involved at a time when organizations like SF and the IFL are reaching out to a new audience. I hope to be a part of educating a new fan base about what the sport is and more importantly isn’t!

NWFS: What have been some of your favorite bouts to call?
Hughes: I have had 4 very memorable ring experiences. One occurred in Athens during the games of 2004 when I was there to witness and announce the U.S.A. gold medal in boxing and meet Evander Holyfield that same night. My most memorable MMA moments inside the ring include a very special retirement tribute to Randy Couture in Portland, ring announcing Lindland’s IFL superfight with Jeremy Horn and most recently introducing Renzo Gracie and Pat Miletich for the IFL superfight in Moline Illinois. That’s Pat’s home turf and the crowd which was around 6,200 paid attendance and probably more like 8,000 in the stands were all on their feet as I started my announce! The energy was unreal. Just getting the chance to be in the ring for the IFL last June at the famed Trump Taj Mahal was a surreal experience. Someday…..Vegas!

NWFS: What services does your company, On The Spot Voice, provide?
Hughes: I do mostly radio and television voiceover for commercials and tv promos. But I also do post-production audio on smaller tv projects. I also fiddle a bit with video editing although it’s mostly for my own fun since I am not as proficient at it as many other folks in the marketplace.

NWFS: Who are some of your clients you work with?
Hughes: I am the voice for CBS owned and operated KUTV in Salt Lake and use to do all of their daily topical promo voice but more recently have handled all of their radio production during sweeps months. I still on occasion work with NBC. I am the voice of the Children’s Miracle Network in the US and Canada raising money for children’s hospitals. Other clients include the Colorado Toyota dealers, the NEC group with home shows in California and Utah, Sega games, Lucas Oil national and many car dealers around the country.

NWFS: What does the future hold for you?
Hughes: It’s funny, I was heading off to bed last night and went to shut off my Blackberry phone but noticed I had received an email. It was from the head of the Chinese Boxing Association letting me know that he had turned my name over to the Beijing Olympic Committee and was looking forward to having me be a part of the games in 2008! Who knows what the future holds! That’s the fun in doing what I do for a living. My whole outlook on life and certainly my career changed with the opportunities I was given in 2002. We all tend to live our lives in a very small box and get caught up in climbing the corporate career ladder of success, buying and building a home with all the right number of garages, bedrooms and bathrooms and then killing ourselves to keep up with the Jones’s. There is a big world outside that box and it’s waiting to be experienced and explored! I plan on doing that as much as possible without jeopardizing my relationship with my wife and kids or missing any of their high school basketball games, which by the way, I hold down one of the most fun announcing jobs of all, introducing my boys into the starting lineup on the court!!

NWFS: You announce for your boys’ basketball team?!? That is absolutely classic!
Would you tell us about your family & your life outside of work?
Hughes: I have actually produced with sound effects and music NBA style team introduction segments. I got myself in a bit of trouble a couple of years ago when my son was a sophomore though. At the first game, I wanted to play sound effects of glass breaking or slide whistle sound effects when the opposing team missed a free throw. The ref calmly came over to the scorers table and told me that wasn’t allowed in high school sports. OOPS!
We are a merged family with 4 kids of my own, 2 girls, 2 boys and my wife has 2 boys of her own, so a real Brady Bunch! Only two left at home now, both boys, Casey who’s 16 and Cory who will be a senior this year who turns 18 later this month, both are great basketball players. Cory, by the way inherited his grandfathers height, he’s 6′ 5″! And both are huge MMA fans especially when dad’s in the ring!

NWFS: Is there any thing you’d like to say in closing?
Hughes: I just wanted to end on the note of many people have dreams or goals in life and whatever those desires are, they need to pursue them. If you would have told me 4 years ago I would have worked 3 Olympic Games and be traveling the country ring announcing MMA shows and now airing weekly on FSN, I would have told you, you were crazy! You never know!

NWFS: I couldn’t agree more! Thanks so much for the interview!
We wish you all the best & know we’ll see ringside you again soon.
Hughes: Thanks for the exposure and kind words! It looks like the IFL is coming back
to Portland for the semi-finals of the World Team Championship November 2nd,
so I’ll see you then!

NWFS: Dynamite! See you then my friend!

0 Pj Kwong, Wordbroker – Interview

  • December 21, 2011
  • Tim Hughes
  • · Press

From pjkwong.com
If you were to run into Tim Hughes, there are three things that you immediately notice about him: a great voice, a natural curiousity about the world and the people in it and then there?s his warm and friendly smile.

We first worked together at the Salt Lake 2002 Olympics although it wasn?t until Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 (and now Doha) that we got the chance to spend any time together. In Salt Lake, he was the voice behind Olympic Medals Plaza and in the summer Games at the venue for boxing. What I like and respect so much about Tim is his passion for sports in general which comes through in his announcing: ?To me there?s nothing more exciting than a live event. Feeding off the energy of the crowd and working without a net.?

Tim got his start in PA announcing 10 years ago when the biggest event on the planet came to his hometown in 2002. At the time he was doing radio full-time for KSL in Salt Lake and the powers that be had been asked if they could provide some names of people who might be interested in doing some work for NBC which is how he ended up working at the Olympics.

?I mean as an announcer you have the best seat in the house and sometimes you?re right there for historical events. It?s great!?

… Continue Reading

0 Salt Lake Radio Host Tim Hughes Gives Trademark Phrase “Can you feel it?” Before Nuggets Games

  • May 1, 2010
  • Tim Hughes
  • · Clients · Press
VBH-DenverNuggets

Deseret News – Laura Hancock

Tim Hughes was conflicted about which team to root for in Friday night’s Jazz-Nuggets game.

A Jazz win would mean his home team advanced to the next playoff round. A Nuggets win would mean a trip to Denver and a fat payday for saying four words ? “Can you feel it?” ? before a stadium of 19,000 cheering fans.

“Well, it’s kind of an interesting deal,” said Hughes, of South Jordan, during an interview Friday afternoon. “As a Jazz fan, you want them to win it tonight and get it over with, because road teams don’t fare well in Game 7s in the NBA. But from a business standpoint, yeah, it would be great to go back to Denver to do a Game 7.”

“Can you feel it?” is the trademarked expression of Hughes, a professional announcer who also hosts “Outdoors” and co-hosts the “Greenhouse Show” on KSL Radio. It also happens to be the Denver Nuggets’ slogan and can be found on clothing, in music and on billboards promoting the team, and a dispute over usage of the phase led to Hughes getting a deal to say it before Nuggets games.

Hughes began saying “Can you feel it?” at live sporting events shortly after the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics. He has announced for mixed martial arts, boxing, arm wrestling and the United Football League. About three years ago, he hired an attorney and trademarked the phrase with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, hoping to mimic the success of ring announcer Michael Buffer, who coined the phrase, “Let’s get ready to rumble!”

“He turned it into an entire business and franchise,” Hughes and. “So I wanted to come up with something I could deliver at boxing or mixed martial arts events. And then I’ve used it at basketball events. I do the Utah state high school basketball tournament every year.”

About this time last year, Hughes’ children heard his phrase during a Nuggets playoff game. It turns out the Nuggets had been using the phrase for more than a year, but pregame announcing isn’t typically broadcast nationally except during the playoffs.

Hughes said he figured the team would bag the phrase at the end of that season but was surprised to hear it used this year. His attorney contacted the Nuggets’ and NBA management.

A “co-existence” agreement was worked out shortly before the playoffs began. Hughes gets $1,500, plus expenses, for his pregame activity. Thus far, he has announced at one playoff game, Game 5.

In full tux, he walked toward center court and said, “From a sold-out Pepsi Center to millions of NBA basketball fans watching all over the world … Nuggets fans, can you feel it?”

The crowd went wild.

It’s unknown whether the Nuggets will use the expression next season.

0 Rear Naked Choke Radio

  • June 11, 2009
  • Tim Hughes
  • · Press

Longtime host?Joe Rizzo?has gone into retirement, but that?s not stopping him from coming back now and again to bring you RNC Radio. ?Joe?and?Jeremy Fullerton?of?The TOPPS Trading Card Company?(and sometimes Matt Leung) go in depth weekly in one of the longest-running shows in MMA, breaking down everything from the fighters to the betting lines.? You will learn something new and be entertained in the process. The guests range from Cain Velasquez to Kenda Perez, Gina Carano to Randy Couture, and Frankie Edgar to N.O.R.E.

Link:?http://mmadiehards.com/live/radio/rear-naked-choke-radio/

Deseret News | Salt Lake Announcer Will Be Voice In Beijing

  • August 17, 2007
  • Tim Hughes
  • · 2008, Bejing · Olympic Games · Press

Broadcaster Readies For 4th Straight Games Appearance

VBH-RedBowtie

Veteran Salt Lake broadcaster Tim Hughes will be making his fourth straight Olympic Games appearance next summer in Beijing.

Hughes has been in broadcasting for almost three decades, with a near-perfect, deep radio voice. He continues to work on KSL radio’s weekend shows (“The Greenhouse Show” and “Utah Outdoors”), sometimes doing them from wherever he may be in the world. Hughes also does fill-in work from time to time for vacationing KSL radio hosts.

He can also be seen handling the ring-announcing duties for the International Fight League, which airs Fridays on Fox Sports Net at 11 p.m., or Monday nights on MyNetwork TV (KJZZ, Ch. 14 locally), during the two-hour IFL “Battleground” show. (The IFL, a mixed martial-arts team league, stages events every six weeks around the country.)

“The chance to work at Trump’s Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, Sears Center in Chicago or in the ring in Las Vegas is a treasured life experience,” Hughes says.

His Olympic “career” began at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, where he was not only the English announcer for all of the medals ceremonies at the Medals Plaza, but also the voice of NBC Olympics promotions and billboards for their cable stations, and the voice you heard at many of the venues while waiting in security lines.

“I used to apologize to the security workers for having to endure the loop tape of my voice for hours every day of the Games,” Hughes said.

He then went on to Athens in 2004, where he was the English voice for all of the boxing events.

Although he didn’t physically make the trip to Torino in 2006, his home studio provided the perfect place to record scripts and send his voice-over for ceremonies during and after the Games.

Hughes recently got the call to travel to China.

“It’s funny how these things happen once you establish a network of people,” Hughes says. “I will be heading over in November for an Olympic test event and then returning for a second time during the Games to once again handle the announcing for all of the boxing in Beijing.”

DeseretNews-Avatar

Link: Deseret News

0 Tim Hughes: The Voice Of The IFL & Sportfight

  • September 28, 2006
  • Tim Hughes
  • · Press

LOCKFLOW.com

Wondering who that ring announcer was while watching The IFL on Fox Sport Net?(FSN) last week? His name is Tim Hughes and if you’ve been to Sportfight, he’s surely
a familiar personality. In fact, Tim is so good that I even got chills when?he delivered Randy Couture’s retirement tribute at Sportfight back on April 8th, 2006.

Tim began his career in broadcast radio over 20 years ago, ultimately hosting programs for the 50,000 watt KSL News Radio in Salt Lake City where he still hosts 2 Saturday morning shows. Now his voice can be heard anywhere from “NCAA 2K3” football for Playstation, Xbox and GameCube, to “SportfightTV”, The IFL on FSN, and so much more…including The Olympics!!!

Tim delivers the crescendo to an event with perfect timing, just as a composer?conducts his orchestra. The mood an announcer sets for a live event is crucial,?and Tim’s career is in overdrive due to his ability to call an event with the best of ’em.

Let’s get to know the man behind the voice!

NWFS: Tim, what inspired you to pursue a career in voice talent?
Tim Hughes: When I was growing up in SE Idaho, a kid I went to high school with
got a job on the radio because his dad was a prominent business man in the community. All the girls thought he was cool and it sounded like a fun job!

NWFS: You still do radio part-time at KSL in Salt Lake City on Saturdays?
Hughes: I still host a couple of shows on Saturday morning for KSL News Radio 1160?in Salt Lake City where I did morning drive fulltime between 1988-1993. One is an outdoors show that concentrates on all of the things to do in the great outdoors and affords me to the opportunity to work with area ski resorts, fishing guides and outfitters along with great manufacturers. The other show, although it’s a real stretch for me is the host of a Greenhouse show that gives advice and solves problems for yard and garden enthusiasts. Let me say right here that I do not have a green thumb!! My co-host is one of the most respected and knowledgeable horticulturists in the country, Larry Sagers. Both shows are the number 1 rated programs for the timeslot in the state!

NWFS: You’ve done radio, voiceovers, video game play-by-play, live and post-production television, ring announcing, and more. What experiences have been the most memorable?
Hughes: Without a doubt, the most memorable to date has been my Olympic experiences in 2002 and again in Athens Greece in 2004 where I was the English stadium voice for all of boxing. I was lucky enough to be hired by both the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and NBC Olympics in 2002. I was the English announcer at Medals Plaza each evening and responsible for announcing all of the medals awarded during the games with the exception of a few that were given at their venues. It was a bit intimidating to be told that we were broadcasting to an estimated 3.2 billion people worldwide each night! An even bigger break came when NBC hired me to do all of the billboard and promo work for their cable networks, CNBC, MSNBC and Bravo. Working along side [Bob] Costas, [Katie] Couric, [Tom] Brokaw and a very special treat, sharing the recording booth with Jim McKay who I grew up listening to on Wide World of Sports as a kid.

NWFS: Tell us about how you earned the nickname “The Voice of The Games.”
Hughes: ?Along with the work listed above, I also was the voice for the venue messaging at 4 of the other venues including Olympic Stadium on the University of Utah campus and all of the security messaging. I use to apologize to the poor volunteers who had to stand at the “mag & bag” as we called them for hours and listen to my voice run all day on a loop tape. So I’m sure people got tired of hearing the voice everywhere!

NWFS: But what an honor! So how did you get your gigs with Sportfight & The IFL?
Hughes: I have a business relationship with a buddy that had developed the idea for a local MMA show that would be staged in area clubs and recorded for air on local television. His name is Tracy Smith and his company “Black Hawk Entertainment” was born after 20 years in the local television market. He asked me if I wanted to be a part of it so I jumped in with both feet about 4 years ago. I have had been behind a microphone my entire adult life so I was pretty comfortable with it in the ring. He also talked me into doing the play-by-play for the tv show so I got a quick education in MMA. Meantime, another guy that was helping to produce the show moved up to Portland and got involved with Randy Couture and Matt Lindland’s Sportfight organization. He had seen me work in Salt Lake and referred me to SF. It’s amazing the impact that Sportfight has on the rest of the MMA world. You take a look at the principals behind it with Lindland and Couture and all of the respect and relationships that they have and then combine that with their hands on training of some of the best young talent in the world who have gone on to be a part of the TUF [UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter”] series on Spike and fight on every major show in the country! It’s amazing! They gave me a chance and the rest is history. I can’t say enough about the opportunity that Matt has given me to be a part of his team. That connection got me in front of some of the biggest names in MMA and another connection with Shannon Knapp who was Randy’s assistant. She, because of her relationship with Bas Rutten (she’s known as “Bas’ Lil Sis” ), was in the loop on an exciting new innovation in the sport of MMA and gave my name to the IFL! I did my first IFL gig in Atlantic City last June and have done all of their show since. It is, without a doubt going to be the biggest and best thing to happen to MMA in years if not ever! Kurt Otto and Gareb Shamus are the two founders of IFL and have put together an unbelievable concept and yet so simple that new fans to MMA can and will embrace it. Kurt’s ability to get the biggest names in MMA involved and Gareb’s ability to get sponsors and Fox Sports Net on board BEFORE even staging an event are incredible and speak volumes about what the future holds for the IFL! I’m a bit spoiled since I have been involved with SF and the IFL. They are both top notch, professional organizations who have fantastic production, passion and knowledge of the sport. The fact that Matt now coaches the Wolfpack in the IFL makes it seem like I’ve come full circle. You asked earlier about my most memorable experiences, I truly believe that what I’m doing now in MMA will ultimately rank right up there!

NWFS: How long have you been an MMA enthusiast?
Hughes: I have to be honest. Until my involvement with the local show 4 years ago, I was aware of MMA but was only a casual fan. Since getting involved the awareness of the sport and the buzz surrounding it have exploded! I am proud to be a small part in the growth of the sport and be involved at a time when organizations like SF and the IFL are reaching out to a new audience. I hope to be a part of educating a new fan base about what the sport is and more importantly isn’t!

NWFS: What have been some of your favorite bouts to call?
Hughes: I have had 4 very memorable ring experiences. One occurred in Athens during the games of 2004 when I was there to witness and announce the U.S.A. gold medal in boxing and meet Evander Holyfield that same night. My most memorable MMA moments inside the ring include a very special retirement tribute to Randy Couture in Portland, ring announcing Lindland’s IFL superfight with Jeremy Horn and most recently introducing Renzo Gracie and Pat Miletich for the IFL superfight in Moline Illinois. That’s Pat’s home turf and the crowd which was around 6,200 paid attendance and probably more like 8,000 in the stands were all on their feet as I started my announce! The energy was unreal. Just getting the chance to be in the ring for the IFL last June at the famed Trump Taj Mahal was a surreal experience. Someday…..Vegas!

NWFS: What services does your company, On The Spot Voice, provide?
Hughes: I do mostly radio and television voiceover for commercials and tv promos. But I also do post-production audio on smaller tv projects. I also fiddle a bit with video editing although it’s mostly for my own fun since I am not as proficient at it as many other folks in the marketplace.

NWFS: Who are some of your clients you work with?
Hughes: I am the voice for CBS owned and operated KUTV in Salt Lake and use to do all of their daily topical promo voice but more recently have handled all of their radio production during sweeps months. I still on occasion work with NBC. I am the voice of the Children’s Miracle Network in the US and Canada raising money for children’s hospitals. Other clients include the Colorado Toyota dealers, the NEC group with home shows in California and Utah, Sega games, Lucas Oil national and many car dealers around the country.

NWFS: What does the future hold for you?
Hughes: It’s funny, I was heading off to bed last night and went to shut off my Blackberry phone but noticed I had received an email. It was from the head of the Chinese Boxing Association letting me know that he had turned my name over to the Beijing Olympic Committee and was looking forward to having me be a part of the games in 2008! Who knows what the future holds! That’s the fun in doing what I do for a living. My whole outlook on life and certainly my career changed with the opportunities I was given in 2002. We all tend to live our lives in a very small box and get caught up in climbing the corporate career ladder of success, buying and building a home with all the right number of garages, bedrooms and bathrooms and then killing ourselves to keep up with the Jones’s. There is a big world outside that box and it’s waiting to be experienced and explored! I plan on doing that as much as possible without jeopardizing my relationship with my wife and kids or missing any of their high school basketball games, which by the way, I hold down one of the most fun announcing jobs of all, introducing my boys into the starting lineup on the court!!


NWFS: You announce for your boys’ basketball team?!? That is absolutely classic!
Would you tell us about your family & your life outside of work?
Hughes: I have actually produced with sound effects and music NBA style team introduction segments. I got myself in a bit of trouble a couple of years ago when my son was a sophomore though. At the first game, I wanted to play sound effects of glass breaking or slide whistle sound effects when the opposing team missed a free throw. The ref calmly came over to the scorers table and told me that wasn’t allowed in high school sports. OOPS!
We are a merged family with 4 kids of my own, 2 girls, 2 boys and my wife has 2 boys of her own, so a real Brady Bunch! Only two left at home now, both boys, Casey who’s 16 and Cory who will be a senior this year who turns 18 later this month, both are great basketball players. Cory, by the way inherited his grandfathers height, he’s 6′ 5″! And both are huge MMA fans especially when dad’s in the ring!

NWFS: Is there any thing you’d like to say in closing?
Hughes: I just wanted to end on the note of many people have dreams or goals in life and whatever those desires are, they need to pursue them. If you would have told me 4 years ago I would have worked 3 Olympic Games and be traveling the country ring announcing MMA shows and now airing weekly on FSN, I would have told you, you were crazy! You never know!

NWFS: I couldn’t agree more! Thanks so much for the interview!
We wish you all the best & know we’ll see ringside you again soon.
Hughes: Thanks for the exposure and kind words! It looks like the IFL is coming back
to Portland for the semi-finals of the World Team Championship November 2nd,
so I’ll see you then!

NWFS: Dynamite! See you then my friend!

0 Desert News – Local Talent Taking His Voice To Athens For 2004 Games

  • May 24, 2004
  • Tim Hughes
  • · 2004, Athens · Olympic Games · Press

From Desert News – Friday, May 14 2004
Tim Hughes has one of the golden voices of Utah ? and the world. That status has been reaffirmed now that he has been selected to be a voice for the next Olympic Games in Greece.

Hughes, a former daily personality on several stations? and the voice at the Medals Plaza during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City ? will be working with the Athens Olympics Games this summer, plus the NBC Olympic Division, as an English voice for the boxing venues.

He will travel to Greece May 20-31 as part of an Olympic test event at the venue with some of the international boxers participating. “It will give all of us an idea of what to expect during the games in August,” Hughes said.

… Continue Reading

Deseret News | Salt Lake Radio Vet’s Career Has Touch Of Fairy Tale

  • March 1, 2002
  • Tim Hughes
  • · 2002, Salt Lake City · Press

Without being laid off, he wouldn’t have done Oly work

Tim Hughes, a 20-year veteran of the Salt Lake radio market, is a hard-core Disney fan and has a special appreciation for such storybook characters as “Cinderella.” So perhaps it’s no surprise that Hughes has recently experienced a “Cinderella” twist of Olympic proportions in his own topsy-turvy broadcast career.

You didn’t have to go far last month to find him as the English voice at the Olympic Medals Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City, where ? if you factor in NBC’s TV broadcasts ? he was heard by as many as 3.5 billion people. Add to that his voice work for CNBC and MSNBC, and his recorded announcements constantly replaying at three other Winter Olympic sites, and he could have the most listened-to voice on the planet this winter.

Under different circumstances, this talented 42-year-old broadcaster could easily have been another Tom Barberi or “Country Joe” ? a long-standing and well-known fixture at a single station. However, his career has included stints at four different stations, including repeats at two of those.

Following a layoff several years ago from KNRS, AM-570, a Clear Channel station, Hughes cashed in some stocks so he could develop a studio in his home and market his voice talent with his own “On the Spot Voiceovers” company. This gave him some job security, absent in a radio career that included time at KSL, KSOP and KALL.

“I attribute my success to all the experience I’ve had along the way,” Hughes said.

In fact, he credits Clear Channel as perhaps the biggest key to his recent success, because had that station not let him go, he wouldn’t have been available to do the Olympic voice work.

He also has praise for KSL’s managers, who gave NBC his name and put him in the running for that job. NBC was also flexible enough to allow him to take on the Medals Plaza voice job, as well. Even KUTV, for whom Hughes does voice work on its newscasts, was more than willing to work things out with him. “So far it has worked out beautifully,” he said. “It really means something to me.”

Hughes admits the Medals Plaza was a pretty wild place to be. He couldn’t help but marvel at being around some of broadcasting’s biggest names ? Bob Costas and Jim McKay ? plus all the Olympic athletes. “Anyone who knows me knows I’m a pretty emotional person,” Hughes said, explaining perhaps his biggest challenge, not showing it when things get emotional during a broadcast.

In November, once he knew that he’d be doing this work, Hughes developed his own booklet on the pronunciation of athletes’ names and began studying them in earnest. His expertise paid off so well that other networks asked him for pronunciation assistance. “Some of the names still sneak up on you,” he said.

Another highlight of the voice work he’s doing was a chance encounter with a Disney icon. A Los Angeles broadcaster heard Hughes talking one night and thought he sounded just like Bill Rogers, who is the Disney company’s main voice ? and he got Rogers to call Hughes at home.

Hughes said he wondered about the unfamiliar number on his caller ID one night, and when he called back, the man on the other end simply broke into laughter before saying anything. “You really do sound like me,” Rogers finally told Hughes.

“That’s my dream,” Hughes said. “To be standing on Disneyland’s Main Street and hear my voice narrating the fireworks. Then I could die happy.”

A Pocatello native, Hughes has 27 years of broadcast experience. His first big break was at KSL, from 1988-93, when he was a co-host with Maria Shilaos. He also worked at KSOP for nine total years on two occasions and at KALL and KNRS. His current radio show, “Utah Outdoors,” airs on KSL each Saturday from 6-8 a.m. It is an independent program he does in partnership with Utah Outdoors Magazine.

Hughes has gotten a lot of mileage out of his Olympic gig, especially with his family. His mother is a second-grade teacher at Pocatello’s Edahow Elementary School and her entire class has adopted Hughes as an Olympic penpal through e-mail. Hughes said his children are proud of his accomplishments, but were most impressed that their father would be meeting the boys of ‘NSync after their Medals Plaza concert.

Will Hughes ever step into a new, regular Salt Lake radio job? “Radio is a tough thing to get out of your blood,” he admits.

Hughes will also be the main announcer at the Closing Ceremonies of the Paralympics on March 16.

© 2021 2013 - Voice by Hughes

  • SoundCloud
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube
  • Flickr

Designed by Luke McDonald & Powered by WordPress