Mastering rodeo's unpredictable chaos demands wit, personality, and a voice that connects. Discover the secrets to captivating crowds from a seasoned pro.
There’s a voice at every rodeo that becomes the audience's best friend. They are the guiding presence, helping you decipher what your eyes are seeing and interpret the tone of the moment. They share inside jokes with you and facilitate a feeling of community that unites the crowd for a few hours, making them feel welcome and at home.
These are rodeo announcers. The good ones help you enjoy the show. The great ones leave a lasting impression.
Rodeo announcers share similarities with other sports announcers and commentators, but they have to deal with far more unpredictable variables and be able to truly think on their feet and then relay those thoughts into cohesive, witty ideas.
The pace of rodeo means things can change before the sentence leaves their mouth, and the nature of livestock means both triumph and tragedy are bundled together in a beautiful mess.
And as Garth Brooks would say “they call the thing a rodeo.”
One of these trusted voices is rodeo announcer Charlie McKellips. Charlie McKellips is a seasoned professional rodeo announcer and social media personality based out of Missouri. His positive spirit and willingness to help educate those outside of the rodeo world has helped him gain a large following on mediums such as TikTok. But he’s been successful in the arena as well. Charlie is no stranger to rodeo life, having grown up helping his stock contractor father and continuing to assist him with his company. Charlie is also a fourth-generation rodeo competitor.
Because of his dedication to lifting those up around him, Charlie has some thoughtful advice for up and coming announcers about the skill set that will make them successful.
To start with, he points out the difference between being confident and being arrogant. Confidence is necessary, and confidence will lead to success, as will the ability to handle criticism and self-evaluate. Arrogance won't take you anywhere.
There’s also the need to recognize your role as an announcer. As he says, “We’re color commentators, play by play, and salespeople all wrapped up in one. We have to call it, help people understand it, and sell it so the crowd can leave happy. So that brings in personality. You’ve got to have some personality to yourself so that people remember you.”
For people who have never done it before, Charlie recommends that they spend all the time they can behind a microphone, watch lots of rodeos on the Cowboy Channel, and attend a seminar like the one Scott Grover puts on. He also found the pro wrestling announcers insightful to listen to as well when it came to building hype and inviting the crowd into the energy.
Charlie has engaged with the changing times and blazed his own trail through his presence on social media. This kind of creativity and adaptability is what leads to lasting success in a world that is increasingly connected via technology.
It’s an exciting industry to be a part of and rodeo announcers get to be the storytellers that shape the moment. Whether it’s a local community rodeo or the National Finals Rodeo in Vegas, the announcers are just as important. It’s their voice that carries the show.