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Syracuse University.
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Carter Blackburn
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He currently works for Columbia Broadcasting System Sports Network and has been with Entertainment and Sports Programming Network and ESPNU as play-by-play announcer on various telecasts. By age thirty-one, Blackburn had called the NFL on Fox, National Collegiate Athletic Association Basketball Tournaments on Columbia Broadcasting System, and college football on American Broadcasting Company. Blackburn made his national broadcast television debut on Columbia Broadcasting System Sports with a Big Ten women"s basketball game between Penn State and Michigan State in January, 2008. He later called two 2008 National Collegiate Athletic Association Men"s Division I Basketball Tournament games, working afternoon session games at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
He reprised that role in 2009.
Blackburn was born in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in Kerrville, in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio. Blackburn began his broadcasting career at KERV/KRVL radio during his sophomore year at Tivy High School.
By his junior year in high school, he was sports director for the radio station, doing morning drive-time reports on area high school sports and Texas college and pro teams as well as providing play-by-play for radio and television for football, basketball, softball, and baseball. He then graduated from Syracuse University in 2001 with a degree in broadcast journalism (SI Newhouse School of Public Communications) and political science.
He worked for International Sports Properties (Internet service provider) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Fox Sports Net South from 2001 to 2003.
Among his assignments were games in what became the National Basketball Association Development League. He joined Columbia Broadcasting System College Sports (then known as CSTV) in 2003 when the channel launched. In September 2009 he began broadcasting for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network and ESPNU. He provides play-by-play for television broadcasts of National Collegiate Athletic Association football, men"s and women"s basketball, baseball, softball, and lacrosse.
In 2011, Blackburn broadcast the 2008 Reebok Grand Prix where Usain Bolt set a new world record in the 100 meters with a time of 9.71.
In 2011 Blackburn provided play-by-play for the World Series of Softball tournament in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 2012, he replaced Joe Tessitore for the Friday Night Football package for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network and ESPN2. According to an article in the Long Beach Press-Telegram (see below), Blackburn is the second-youngest announcer of an National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament game, at least in Columbia Broadcasting System"s run as the telecaster.
Jim Nantz was the only one younger (26 years old in 1985). He also called Little League Baseball games for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. In August 2014, Blackburn was named by Columbia Broadcasting System as its lead play-by-play announcer for its sports network.
Blackburn will call college basketball, football, and baseball games.
On December 27,2014 Blackburn filled in for Verne Lundquist during the 2014 Sun Bowl. Blackburn was a part of the Columbia Broadcasting System Sports team doing feature group coverage for the 2015 Masters Golf Tournament.
