NASHVILLE, TN – Nashville SC announced Saturday that 104.5 The Zone will join as their radio partner for the 2023 season. Recently-announced brand ambassador Jalil Anibaba will provide color commentary, while Lucas Panzica and Will Boling will handle play-by-play.
From the press release:
Starting on Wednesday, March 1, Nashville SC fans will be able to listen to the NSC Backstage show which will feature interviews with coaching staff, players, executives and more on 104.5 The Zone every Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT. Listeners will be able to gain insight into the Boys in Gold and their competitors all season. Lucas Panzica and Will Boling of 104.5 The Zone will serve as radio hosts and take on play-by-play duties with former Nashville SC defender and official club ambassador Jalil Anibaba as the color analyst when the team returns to action at 3:30 p.m. CT today, Feb. 25 at GEODIS Park.
For roughly a decade, Boling has worked as a play-by-play broadcaster and multimedia journalist covering soccer, football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and track-and-field. Boling has done the play-by-play for The Zone’s high school football coverage for the last 10 years, and last season he stepped in to call Nashville SC’s match against CF Montréal and the Colorado Rapids at GEODIS Park on iHeartRadio. In 2017 he was hired as the public address announcer for the University of Tennessee Track and Field program where he called multiple world leading times from World Champions Christian Coleman, Justin Gatlin and Sydney McLaughlin. He began working at The Zone in 2019, where he now serves as co-host on the “Ramon, Kayla and Will” morning show weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. CT.
Panzica joins Nashville SC with ample experience as a play-by-play broadcaster. Similar to Boling, he has done the play-by-play for The Zone’s high school football and basketball coverage since 2021 and served as the co-host of the “Nashville Soccer Show” on the Zone Podcast Network. He also did play-by-play for Trevecca Nazarene University athletics and was the lead broadcaster for Chattanooga Football Club for nearly five years. Panzica currently works as the executive producer for The Zone’s “The Buck Reising Show” weekdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and “Blaine and Mickey” weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
In addition to his responsibilities of serving in an influential role in Nashville SC’s community efforts in Middle Tennessee, Jalil Anibaba will support the club in a creative content role and work as the club’s radio color commentator alongside Panzica and Boling this season. During his playing career over 12 MLS seasons, Anibaba spent two in Music City and was a foundational piece for Nashville SC’s early MLS success. He was on the inaugural roster and helped the Boys in Gold advance to back-to-back Eastern Conference Semifinal appearances in 2020 and 2021. He made 245 MLS regular season appearances and is a two-time Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup winner and a Supporters Shield winner.
Lucas Panzica has been a part of Speedway Soccer since 2019, while both he and Will Boling hosted the Nashville Soccer Show. The pair, alongside Davey Shepherd, started the show in August 2020, covering Nashville SC on 104.5 and The Zone Podcast Network through the 2022 MLS season.
As part of the new MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, fans can select to listen to the local radio audio while watching home games. Additionally, 104.5 will host a mid-week radio show, featuring regular guests from the club’s coaching and playing staff.
Nashville SC begin their 2023 season at Geodis Park on Saturday, taking on New York City FC at 3:30 pm CT. The match will be broadcast on both FOX and Apple TV, while Panzica and Anibaba will call the game for radio.
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