Jamestown Tarp Skunks Return to the WRFA Airwaves in 2023, Starting June 1

Norman Rodriguez (left) and Max Pingitore (2022 intern) are a couple of voices fans will hear on WRFA during its coverage of the Jamestown Tarp Skunks 2023 season.

JAMESTOWN, NY – The Jamestown Tarp Skunks will return to the airwaves on WRFA-LP for a third straight season in 2023.

Just like the past two seasons, all Tarp Skunks’ home games are being broadcast on at 107.9 FM, as well as streaming worldwide at the station’s website, WRFALP.com. In addition, the Tarp Skunks will also provide the in-game broadcasts for all home games that are video-stream on the team’s Youtube channel.

“We are extremely proud to continue this partnership with Jamestown Tarp Skunks for a third consecutive season. This will be a great opportunity for community members to keep up with the ball club and its performance on the field,” explained WRFA station manager Jason Sample.

The WRFA broadcast team will again feature Norman Rodriguez providing play-by-play for the majority of the games. He’ll be joined by a variety of broadcast partners including Sample, Collin Wood, and Max Pingitore. In addition, the voice of the Jamestown Red Raiders football team Tom Ames, along with Derek Abbey, will also pitch in for a couple of games this season. Studio engineers will be Gavin Paterniti and Anthony Merchant.

Past intern Collin Wood (WVU) interviews one of the Tarp Skunks during the 2021 season. Collin is back in 2023 to provide color commentary during some WRFA broadcasts.

WRFA’s Tarp Skunks coverage will also once again provide an internship program for qualifying local college students. Interns who participate learn and develop skills related to play-by-play and color commentary, player interviews, creating social media content, and more.

“The past two years we’ve had students from Huntington University, Jamestown Community College, Syracuse University, and West Virginia University participate in our internship program,” Sample explained. “This year, we are pleased to have two interns joining us throughout the season – Will Stahlsmith from St. Bonaventure University and Ethan Tyger from JCC.”

All WRFA Tarp Skunks broadcasts are made possible through funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency, and Shults Auto Group.

All Tarp Skunks home games are played at Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park at 485 Falconer St. in Jamestown, NY. The first game of the 2023 season is an exhibition games against the Olean Oilers on Thursday, June 1.

For a complete schedule, along with ticket information, visit TarpSkunks.com. WRFA’s broadcast schedule can also be found on the Tarp Skunks page of the station website.

WRFA will once again broadcast all Jamestown Tarp Skunks home games during the 2023 season.

ABOUT JAMESTOWN TARP SKUNKS: The Jamestown Tarp Skunks are part of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, a 12-team collegiate summer baseball league founded in 2010 and featuring teams from across New York State. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate.  The team is owned and operated by the Jamestown Community Baseball ownership group.   

ABOUT WRFA: WRFA is a listener supported, non-commercial, low power FM radio station provided as a public service by the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts. It is dedicated to providing access to the arts, cultural and educational programming and a forum for the discourse of both national and local public affairs. Funding for WRFA comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, corporate underwriting, and donations from individuals and groups in the community. It broadcasts at 107.9 FM in Jamestown and also streams worldwide at WRFALP.com.