What Mike Keith saw in Adrienne Roberson, who went from Tennessee to Baltimore Orioles PA announcer
Adrienne Roberson was always captivated by the voice that boomed across the stadium whenever she went with her dad to Phillies or Eagles games growing up.
There was just something about the voice behind the curtain that piqued her interest. Like where it came from. And who created it.
Eventually, the Philadelphia native wanted to be the voice in the press box behind that curtain. Eventually, the University of Tennessee graduate became just that.
Roberson has been the public-address announcer for the Baltimore Orioles since April 23, 2021, becoming the first female PA announcer in history of the Major League Baseball franchise.
"I wasn't even thinking about breaking glass ceilings," Roberson said of her career. "I was just thinking about the job that I wanted to do ... it's not stopping me because there's more men in it. I'm going to go for it because it's what I want to do."
Roberson's third season with the Orioles is extending to October. She experienced a game announcers dream about when the Orioles clinched their first trip to the postseason since 2016 with a walk-off win in extra innings. Baltimore, with the best record in the American League, has since clinched the AL East title and home-field advantage.
"The city needed it so badly," Roberson said. "It's very hard to describe, but just the smiles on these people's faces from babies all the way up to 90-year-old people. Strangers just hugging and it was all tears, and you saw the players jumping up and down the field ... the city was electrified."
From Tennessee to Baltimore Orioles P.A. announcer
Roberson fell in love with announcing after working Lady Vols softball games in college.
The feeling she got sitting at the microphone in the press box, the nerves she felt at first when players stepped to the plate – she felt like was part of the game, too.
"You fall in love with it as you're sitting there and it just grows, because every game you go to, you're never going to have the same situation," Roberson said. "You're never going to have the same scenarios go down and it's just entertaining."
Roberson, who graduated in 1997, went to Tennessee because her father graduated from UT Chattanooga and always talked about it. Once she visited campus, she loved it.
Along with softball, Roberson also did soccer and volleyball games and filled in for swimming and diving occasionally. She also worked at WUTK, hosting a sports update in the morning, and with the Tennessee Smokies her sophomore year, getting her first taste of minor league baseball.
When Mike Keith hired interns at WIVK-FM, he looked for people who were serious about wanting to pursue a career in sports. He wanted people who understood it wasn't always glamorous and they had to put in the time and work.
When he met Roberson, it was clear she was serious about her career.
"Giving those opportunities was a big deal to John Wilkerson, Brent Hubbs and me, because we wanted to give people a chance to do what we did, because it’s a lot of fun," said Keith, now the voice of the Tennessee Titans. "But to get to the fun part, you have to be willing to pay your dues, and it was very clear that Adrienne was that kind of person. She had a plan."
Even in the role she had as an intern, Roberson showed she was bright, organized, driven and professional in everything she handled. Keith said she was also kind and knew how to treat people.
"She had it all together," Keith said. "I had lost her for years, and when I saw she got the Orioles opportunity, I'm like, 'Oh my goodness.' Then I sat there and I thought, 'This is the type of thing she could certainly do, because she was willing to do the work.' "
One of four female PA announcers in MLB
Roberson spent 17 years working for the Bowie Baysox before getting the job with the Orioles.
She went for the PA announcing job in 2012 and was hired as the backup. She applied for another major league team and it didn't work out.
"That was hard because at that point I was like, 'I don't always want to be No. 2. I want to be the person,' " Roberson said.
Roberson didn't have any women in her field to look up to when she was younger, or even when she was in college. Even now, she's one of four female PA announcers in MLB, along with Renel Brooks-Moon (Giants), Marysol Castro (Mets) and Amelia Schimmel (Oakland A's), according to ESPN.
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When she got the job, it didn't feel like reality.
As a woman in her field, Roberson never felt like she had to prove people wrong – she was just confident she could do the job.
"She has completely earned it and excelled at it in a way that she's one of the top at her profession, regardless of gender," Keith said. "And she's not the female announcer anymore. She's the Baltimore Orioles announcer – that's it. She's done that. And that to me is really special for her."
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Orioles PA announcer Adrienne Roberson got start with Tennessee softball
