Austin Mattes is the new voice of the Battlefords North Stars. (Submitted photo/Austin Mattes.)

By Nick Nielsen

New voice

Battlefords welcoming new voice of the North Stars

Aug 17, 2024 | 8:00 AM

The Battlefords North Stars will have a new, hungry broadcaster taking over the reins on 1050 CJNB radio.

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Austin Mattes has called games at the Junior A level before, but this will be his first time as the lead announcer for a team throughout the whole season. Originally going to school for a political sciences degree, Mattes pivoted to the world of broadcasting after his first year of college and has never looked back.

“My entire life revolved around sports and I just thought, ‘you know what? Why wouldn’t I just try and do this for my career?’ So that’s when I decided to enroll in broadcasting school, did that, loved it, and then I also started getting into video editing, doing graphics and everything like that. Just as a hobby because it’s something I like to do from even making YouTube videos to playing video games, listening to podcasts. My whole life basically since I’ve been like 16 has been sports and broadcasting, and I don’t even think I knew it back then. But now that I look back, it’s kind of all I’ve surrounded myself with.”

The start of Mattes’ broadcast career was not an easy one. Graduating from Herzing College in Winnipeg after attending their Broadcast and Media Communications program, Mattes was stuck dealing with the COVID pandemic while trying to break into the broadcast world. Soon he was hired in Flin Flon at 102.9 CFAR as a copywriter, and it’s there where Mattes hustled to get on the broadcast as much as he possibly could.

From there, Mattes would run the switch board at the radio station during Flin Flon Bombers broadcasts, jump on Bombers radio as a colour commentator, and in his second year with the radio station he finally got into a full time broadcast spot in Junior B with the PBCN Selects of the Keystone Junior Hockey League. Even putting in extra time as the social media manager for the Bombers where he’d host post game interviews, Mattes created as many opportunities he could to get on the call.

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“I called about 20-30 games the first season, I did that the past two years and once I kind of got more comfortable doing that, I would usually split games doing colour for the Bombers and last year I ended up going on the road with the Bombers, called about five or six games for the Bombers and then the season prior to that I did all the playoffs for the OCN Blizzard. So I just kind of got really thrown into the whirlwind of doing play by play, but I’ve loved it so much.”

When it comes to broadcasters that serve as inspiration for Mattes, he got to learn the craft from one of the local legends in the SJHL. Bombers broadcaster Rob Hart has been the voice of the team for nearly 40 years, and Mattes got to learn from Rob not only by talking and getting advice from him, but also from listening to Rob on the call while Mattes ran the board back at the radio station.

“Just being able to listen to him for that first year, just clicking buttons on the board, I’d even say some of my broadcast style is pretty similar to his because he’s really who I listen to every single weekend for a full season. Me and him, we go out for lunch, we’ve gone out for breakfast and stuff, even to just us back and forth talking about sports, talking about the broadcast world, the SJHL He’s really just given me an insight to what junior hockey is all about and how to be a good broadcaster, and he’s had such a great career with the Flin Flon Bombers. I don’t even think he realizes how much of a mentor he’s been.”

Mattes has been a sports fan all his life, and while he never played hockey growing up, it’s one of his favourite sports. When it comes to other broadcast influences, Mattes takes inspiration from a number of names like Stephen A. Smith, Doris Burke, Shannon Sharpe, and Max Kellerman to name a few, but the one that inspires Mattes the most is the NBA’s lead announcer Mike Breen.

“Honestly, too many to name, but I kind of pick and choose from certain people trying to emulate their style without copying, but there there’s so many out there. I think one that I’ve really kind of resonated to is Mike Breen from the NBA. He always puts on an exciting show, his calls are unreal and I dream to be in his position one day.”

Mattes is taking over from Marty Martinson, who was the voice of the North Stars for the last six seasons.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com