Announcer Lends His Voice To MDC Sports To Expand Program’s Reach
When Daniel Torres attended volleyball media day at Miami Dade College in September, he saw an opportunity to expand his thriving sports career.
Torres, the creator of Plug Talk Sports—a podcast that airs on YouTube—approached Alysia Dyer, the school’s athletic director, about serving as the program’s on-air commentator.
A month later, Torres became the College’s sports announcer, the athletic department’s first in five years.
Torres, 24, is expected to call his first game in early November when basketball season starts.
He will cover all MDC athletic home games. Streaming will be available on the MDC athletics YouTube page.
“I saw he was very professional and organized, so I wanted to bring him on board,” Dyer said.
Torres received his associate’s degree in journalism from Kendall Campus in 2018 and a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Florida International University in 2021.
In 2018, he began his sports media career as the founder of Plug Talk Sports. The podcast features Torres and various panelists opining about South Florida sports teams such as Inter Miami CF and the University of Miami and Florida International University football teams.
A year later, he joined the staff of Panther Now, FIU’s student newspaper. He wrote and edited football, basketball and soccer articles. Eventually, he started announcing FIU softball, baseball, basketball, football and soccer games as an intern in the athletic department from June of 2019 until February of 2021.
He also served as a part-time play-by-play commentator for Inter Miami CF for eight months in 2021.
“It’s those long hours that he puts in, not just on game day, but leading up to game day that really gives him, not just the talent, but the edge over [other] commentators,” said Isaac Gomez, who has worked with Torres at Plug Talk Sports and at FIU.
Torres, a 2016 graduate of Christopher Columbus High School in Westchester, is also a mentor to budding journalists at the Christopher Columbus News Network, the school’s student-run broadcast show.
He meets with the program’s talent three to four times a week, helping them prepare for interviews, organizing their notes, and helping them with the Thursday pregame show before Friday’s live broadcast.
The program won first place in general commentary and sports commentary at the Student Television Network Awards held in Long Beach, California in February.
“He’s been a very valuable asset to our team,” said Omar Delgado, who oversees the CCNN program. “I trust him and the kids love him.”
In the future, Torres wants to continue announcing Major League Soccer games and expanding the reach of Plug Talk Sports.
At MDC, he looks forward to projecting his voice from the skybox at the Theodore R. Gibson Health Center at Kendall Campus.
“We really just want to encourage everyone, from our students [to] everyone who works at the institution and alumni to come out and support,” Torres said.
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