The Voice of the Rams: Bailey Angle
Bailey Angle always wanted to be a sports broadcaster.
“I played all the sports video games, like Madden, growing up, and I always commentated my games,” Angle said. He also spoke about his first experience at an NFL football game for the Pittsburgh Steelers game, Angle’s favorite team.
“I remember going to the game and watching this guy call the games and thinking, man, this guy gets paid to sit and talk about games,” Angle said. Needless to say, he was hooked.
The Quinton, Virginia native went to college at Virginia Tech, where he learned the trade under Andrew Allegretta. Before 2019, Virginia Tech did not have a sports communication program, so Angle earned his bachelor’s degree in multimedia journalism.
After college in the summer of 2016, Angle got a job with the Bluefield Blue Jays minor league baseball team as the broadcaster and head of media relations. After working for the Blue Jays, he was asked to serve as assistant sports information director for Bluefield College and broadcaster for the Rams Digital Sports Network.
As the Voice of the Rams, Angle does not just call the games. He prepares for the broadcast, which includes finding information on the athletes and teams overall. He also produces the broadcast, such as setting up and making the graphics for each show. Angle also runs the Rams Instagram page and creates hype videos for the teams.
As part of his work with the Rams, Bluefield College athletics director Tonia Walker asked Bailey to find a way to bring the athletic program, the players and the coaches closer to the community, so the Bluefield College Coaches Show was born. Every week, Angle hosts a coach and athletes live on the internet show at Applebee’s in Bluefield, Virginia. His very first show featured coach Dewey Lusk and football player DaMarcus Wimbush. Sadly, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show has been placed on hold until it is deemed safe.
“I am not only thankful for (Bluefield College) giving me a great start,” Angle said, “but also that I can keep a job during such an unstable time.”
In addition to the BC Coaches Show, Angle has a podcast that he does on his own time called “You Wanna Split that with Bailey Angle.” The show consists of Angle and his guest buying an item on the menu and eating it together, talking about the food and the guest. One of his more popular episodes was one with Ty Walz, a Virginia Tech wrestler who devoured a 3,000-calorie burrito. No need to explain the episode’s popularity further.
Angle says his favorite memory at Bluefield College was during his second year on staff. When the football team played Cumberland University, the Rams scored a 60-yard touchdown reception to win the game. He also said that if he were able to advise young people looking into sports information or sports broadcasting, he would encourage them to never turn down a job because you are never too good for one. He also said that a person needs to sound natural and prepared and not be scared of failing because it’s okay to fail to get better.