Some people spend their time watching sports on their televisions from their sofas, listening to a voice describing the game in fine detail. Dominic Hoscher spends his time watching sports on the other side of the screen, in the booth. He is the voice some hear while watching two teams battle in fierce competition.
Hoscher, 25, a current resident of Carbondale, Illinois, went on to college at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, where he would obtain his Bachelor’s degree. While it may seem like Hoscher started pursuing sports media when he was very young, he only started as a junior in high school at FHN.
“I wanted to figure out what my future was going to be,” Hoscher said. “I landed in journalism class and that’s where I wanted to be.”
Hoscher officially works in the Southern Illinois University Carbondale athletic department as sports information director. SIU Carbondale was where he got his Master’s degree from. He also does sports broadcasting for ESPN+ on the side. His first broadcasting job was at Lindenwood with Prepcast, which covers the marquee high school and low-level college sports. When Hoscher calls games, most of the time he is the play-by-play announcer, and one game specifically stands out as the most memorable.
“I got to broadcast SIU v. SLU (St. Louis University),” Hoscher said. “I got to interview the team that I grew up rooting for. I got to interview a coach that I watched when I was young.”
Preparing for games can be extremely difficult for some broadcasters, but for Hoscher, he has it all in a system. For basketball, he uses two Excel sheets and those house both teams’ rosters, all information and statistics, and all of the teams’ details and stories. The sheets also hold the information of the coaches, conference standings, league statistics, and information from interviews prior to the game. Hoscher recommends that broadcasters should definitely reach out to the other team to learn about them. Hoscher has gotten a great deal of his inspiration for broadcasting from two universally well-known names in the sports world.
“There’s a couple I always wanted to use as inspiration, Kevin Harlan and Joe Buck,” Hoscher said. “I watched how they do it, I appreciate how they do it, and it motivates me more when I watch them.”
FHN coach Will Crawford attended Lindenwood with Hoscher. Crawford originally majored in broadcast journalism, but did not like working a desk job and switched to a career in teaching. The two were first introduced to each other in a sports broadcasting class. Crawford had multiple positive things to say about Hoscher.
“There are not many people who actually do what they originally wanted to do,” Crawford said. “He rode out the storm, got his Master’s and is thriving. It’s really cool to see.”
Hoscher and Crawford both recommend practicing and asking questions to get better at broadcasting. Hoscher also recommends going up in the booth and simply having fun. Having fun is one of the things that Hoscher likes the most about broadcasting, but his favorite thing is not having to worry about anything other than the game.
“It’s the escape from everything else,” Hoscher said. “When I go on the air for two to three hours, my main focus is on the game. I get away from everything else in the world and that makes it fun and enjoyable.”
Hoscher is working the job that he had wanted since he was in high school, but his goal is not fully accomplished. Eventually, he wants to call an NFL or an NBA game, or win an award or accolade, like many people would. However, Hoscher’s main goal is to be around a phenomenal group of people at work.
“I want to work with a group of people that I truly enjoy,” Hoscher said. “If I wake up at 5 a.m., I want to be excited to go to work.”
