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Portnoy Picks Up Metro Market NMBA Broadcasting Award

Portnoy Picks Up Metro Market NMBA Broadcasting AwardPortnoy Picks Up Metro Market NMBA Broadcasting Award

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — That season opening 7-6 home win over Northern Colorado on baseball diamond on Friday, February 21 at the time meant a season-opening home win for the New Mexico Lobos.  Now, after the announcement of the 2020 New Mexico Broadcasters Association “2020 Excellence in Broadcasting Awards”, we can make that two wins.

Robert Portnoy, the Voice of the Lobos, was honored for his work during that wild game, earning the Metro Market Award for best play-by-play broadcast.  He earned the award along with engineer Kelly Watson for KTQM 101.7 The Team, which is the home station for Lobo Baseball.

“It’s really exciting for UNM Sports Properties to win such a prestigious NMBA Award in its first season at UNM, and ESPN Radio 101.7 The Team is a tremendous partner for Lobo baseball broadcasts,” said Portnoy. “Thanks to producer Kelly Watson for her outstanding work and to engineer Scott Galetti who went above and beyond to make the home opening broadcast a huge success.”

The game featured a monster home run over the center field batter’s eye by Lobo Harry Fullerton and then a furious comeback attempt by Northern Colorado, which scored three in the ninth before Isaiah Campa came in.  UNM won the game 7-6, the first win in an opening home-weekend sweep of Northern Colorado.

That the award was won for this particular game for Portnoy is noteworthy.  The game, which was on Friday, February 23, was sandwiched between a home basketball game with Nevada and a road basketball game at Boise State.  Despite the hectic travel and the other two events surrounding this game, Portnoy’s expert calling of a game, and his in-depth research on the teams, coaches and storylines helped him to excel in the broadcast.

A former broadcaster for the Albuquerque Isotopes, Portnoy’s baseball calls have gained legions of fans for Lobo baseball throughout the state as his calls are simulcast on the Lobo TV broadcasts of the games as well.  He has served as the Voice of the Lobos since 2013 and he has been a familiar voice in the Albuquerque market since 2006.  The award isn’t the first for Portnoy, who earned a similar honor from the NMBA for his work with the Isotopes in 2008.  He also was named the 2004 “Radio Broadcaster of the Year” in the Southern League.