The official release of the announcement for the coming season’s new Canadians broadcaster/media liaison has been posted on the C’s website.

Vancouver, BC - In further preparation for the June 19th season opener, the Vancouver Canadians baseball club have added sports anchor, Rob Fai to their roster as Team Broadcaster and Media Relations Manager.

According to owner Jake Kerr, Fai’s passion for baseball and sports broadcasting coupled with his relationships in the Vancouver media market were strengths that catapulted his resume to the top of the pile of qualified candidates.

"We had applicants from across the country with many of the right credentials," Kerr says. "Rob stood clearly above the rest as someone who could hit the ground running and help our organization deliver on its promise to deliver the best summer family entertainment value in Vancouver."

Fai’s new job, which begins May 14th will include broadcasting a total of 26 games throughout the baseball season on TEAM 1040, as well as media and community outreach, game day media relations and media training support for the baseball team.

A former member of the National Baseball Program, Fai began his sports broadcasting career in 1997 with Shaw TV and worked in radio in Vancouver and Powell River before being hired at News 1130. Rob is also a Broadcast Arts Instructor at the Columbia Academy in Vancouver.

Let it be known again, I have no beef with this decision at all. Fai knows the job of radio, he’s spent time at the C’s a few years back, he’s a professional, well-liked, and good luck to him on his appointment.

I will reiterate, however, I think it’s an error to have one person do what, in reality, should be two dedicated full time jobs. I’ve watched good people at the Canadians press office over the last few seasons put a ridiculous amount of time into just the Media Liaison side of things and struggle to get the job done to the level of quality they aspire to, and to lump broadcasting duties into that role as well is something that, to me, will make it far harder to achieve the team’s goals.

That said, Jeremy pointed out to me that it’s interesting that the press release talks of Fai broadcasting the Team 1040 radio games, but nothing of webcasts… is the C’s broadcast booth going dark on non-radio days? Could Matt Baker still be in the running for some broadcast time?

So many questions, so little time. Maybe one of the C’s honchos can drop us a note to let us know what’s happening.

ADDENDUM: Though I know Rob’s a solid pro, I’ve done a little additional Googling on ‘the new guy’ and found plenty that supports the notion that the C’s have upgraded in the broadcast booth this season. Fai has done play-by-play for the C’s before, so it’s not new ground for him, and as this story describes, it wasn’t too long ago he was in the running for the Toronto Blue Jays broadcasting gig.

I’ve encountered him upstairs in the booth a few times and he knows his ball. Not only did he play the game to a decent level, but apparently he also named his first born after Nolan Ryan. That’s what you call a baseball guy, right there.

We can just thank the lord that his favorite player wasn’t Coco Crisp…