Matt Pinto Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Education, WWLS-FM

I grew up in Boston. I honestly decided when I was 6 years old that I would either player major-league sports or broadcast. I was really drawn in by the Major League Baseball “Game of the Week.” I would either listen to the “Game of the Week” and then go back and rebroadcast it in my bathroom at the house. Pretty hilarious. Thankfully, my parents didn’t institutionalize me. They encouraged me along those lines.

I love the Bruins, follow the Red Sox and grew up a Celtics fan. The Red Sox had gone so long without winning when they broke through in ’04, I actually flew up from Dallas for Games 3, 4 and 5 at Fenway, when they came back from 0-3 to beat the Yankees. Once they won the whole thing in ’04, I’m thinking, ‘I’m good, God. Whatever happens from here.’ I have friends and relatives that had never seen the Red Sox win, and to witness that and for them to win it twice since is really icing on the cake.

I moved to California from Massachusetts my senior year in high school. I played middle infield, primarily shortstop, and I pitched. I didn’t throw all that hard, mid 80s, but found ways to get guys out. Baseball was my first love. I still love the sport a lot and really thought for a long time that I would broadcast Major League Baseball. But it wound up a different direction and I wound up being in the NBA.

I was recruited to play major college baseball in high school, but I wound up taking a different path. Graduated early from high school. I was on the air in Los Angeles at 18 while I was still going to broadcasting school. Just kind of followed it from there. I kind of relentlessly pursued the play-by-play side of things and got my first break doing NBA basketball with Charlotte like two years into their existence.

My career path took on a lot of different phases. I broadcast Triple A baseball in Hawaii for a while, did some sports anchoring for the CBS affiliate. Broadcast University of Hawaii games. I did Boston College basketball for a short time, Brown University football for a short time. There was a lot of moving around that went on. I was very career driven.

My agent indicated he been having a different time getting in touch with the Hornets and I asked him, ‘Do you mind if I call?’ and I called the contact there. He said, “I’m putting your tape in right now. This is ironic.” I have no idea if that was truthful or not. It was rather coincidental and incredible. Two hours later, my agent called me and said the Hornets called and they want to hire you. Initially they were looking for a TV play-by-play guy. They wound up moving their radio guy to TV and hired me to do radio.

The Hornets’ first playoff series was against ironically Boston. That was the series that Reggie Lewis collapsed and a year later perished. They had Alonzo Mourning, Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, Dell Curry, Kendall Gill, a really, really talented team. And they beat the Celtics 3-1 in that miniseries in Round 1. Zo won it on a top-of-the-key, buzzer-beating jumper in Game 4. After the game, the Celtics eliminated, Kevin McHale retired there on the floor at Charlotte Coliseum.

I moved to Dallas with the Mavericks right before Mark Cuban bought them. Don Nelson was their head coach. That was fun, incredibly educational to learn more about the game in watching him operate day to day. He was, to me, a basketball genius. Very, very kind to me as a person, so I think the world of Nellie. I was there at the time when they acquired Steve Nash from Phoenix and drafted Dirk Nowitzki. It’s when things really began to turn for their organization after a lot of really dark years. It was a fun time. I did four years of radio and four years of TV there. Radio is the purer form of the medium so I really enjoy having the chance to paint the picture. On the TV side, there are so many components that really have to work well together for the telecast to be all that it can be.

I went from doing a three-man TV booth with the Mavs to going solo on radio with the Clippers. That was quite an adjustment. And then after two years, I went to Seattle where my family is. I have a brother and two sisters that live in Seattle. I covered the Sonics for one season before they moved to Oklahoma City.

I don’t know if it’s my preference to work alone. The pace of the game in the NBA provides the opportunity for it to be done. I truly love what I get to do, whether it’s with an analyst or not. I take what I do seriously and prepare myself for any eventual possibility on the air. I think I’ve gained an understanding for the game over the years and from the coaches I’ve had a chance to be around where I can provide analysis along with the play-by-play.

I try in an economical way to describe as best as I can what’s going on. There are some things I do that I don’t hear other guys do, but I don’t keep a list of them. It’s more of in the flow of things going. I don’t contrive things. The money ball thing has stuck.

Celtics announcer Johnny Most was an idol of mine growing up. I think the biggest thing I learned from him was that it’s about entertainment, first and foremost. He would describe the opposition in villainous terms and the referees similarly. You always had the sense listening to him what was going on was almost bigger than life. He was not descriptive broadcaster, but maybe the most colorful the way he approached things. Anything anti-Green was almost like anti-Christ.

The other one was Lakers announcer Chick Hearn, and he was just the opposite. He was very descriptive in how he laid the game out, really was excellent painting a word picture. The other guy when I was young was Bob Costas, who I developed a relationship with. Bob is such an amazing reporter and took the time to help in some areas with me. Charlie Jones lived in San Diego when I graduated high school. I had the gall to reach out to him just out of the phone book and struck up a relationship with him. He listened to some tapes early in my career and kind of helped me move in the right direction.

Source: oklahoman.com