John Leahy is an award winning broadcaster, podcaster, narrator, and musician with experience on the air since 1995. He is the play by play voice of Merrimack College men’s and women’s hockey. His story began with play by play coverage on local cable access in the town of Stoughton, MA, for the Stoughton Cable 9 Sports Network, broadcasting high school hockey, basketball and football for the network, from 1995-2005. In 2003 and 2004 he was the lead play by play announcer on the Comcast Television Network, broadcasting a multitude of sports including Yawkey League Baseball and professional wrestling, along with North Shore Spirit baseball.
In 2005 John was hired by the North Shore Spirit baseball club of the Can-Am League to be their lead play by play announcer for their radio broadcasts. He remained in that role for three years until the franchise folded in September of 2007. He then provided play by play for the Kalamazoo Kings baseball club of the Frontier League in Kalamazoo, MI, in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, followed by a stint in Florence, KY, as the voice of the Florence Freedom of the Frontier League in 2010. In 2011 John joined the broadcasts of the Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn League, working part time in 2011 and 2012. He also served as the public address announcer of the Can-Am League’s Worcester Tornadoes in 2011 while simultaneously working in his part time role with the Spinners. In 2013 John was named the full time voice of the club and has called 2 Spinners games from historic Fenway Park. He was also featured in multiple issues of the Gil Thorp Comic Strip, presented by the Chicago Tribune, as himself during his time in Kalamazoo. In the summer of 2017 John surpassed the 1000 game mark for baseball broadcasts in his career, with the historic 1000th broadcast occurring on August 16, 2017, in Burlington, Vermont.
John served as the radio play by play voice of Merrimack College men’s hockey, a member of Hockey East, from 2005-2022. In 2023, he transitioned to become the television voice of Merrimack men’s and women’s college hockey on ESPN+, covering every home game for the teams. Check out his Wiki Ice Hockey page here. During the course of his play by play work there he also appeared on ESPNU as a rinkside reporter in a game against Maine, on February 25, 2006. He also called an outdoor game against Providence on January 4, 2014 from Fenway Park, Merrimack’s first appearance at the historic ballpark, and has called four games from TD Garden in Boston, home of the Bruins. He has also been involved in various projects to provide support and promotion of Hockey East, including a book entitled “Breakaway Wisdom” involving interviews with the coaches of Hockey East related to success concepts, a blog entitled “Hockey On the Radio“, promoting awareness of hockey play by play broadcasters, and a weekly Hockey East Week in Review segment on WTPL and WKXL radio in Concord NH which commenced in October of 2017. He also provided play by play work for the South Shore Kings franchises and also currently the Northeast Generals franchise of the USPHL and EHL; while also maintaining the website for the Stoughton High school hockey teams, and has been a strong advocate for Mitochondrial Disease (MITO) on his broadcasts. John also has started his own Internet radio station, the Harborlight Sessions Radio Network, which has supported and enhanced his play by play work. You can learn more about the station here.
He has also provided play by play support for Division 1 basketball on the Maine Black Bear radio network and has done semi professional football for the Lowell Noreaster franchise on WCAP radio in Lowell, with games emanating from Historic Cawley Stadium in Lowell.
John has also provided television play by play for the Boston Neighborhood Network (BNN), covering youth hockey, basketball, and football for the network.
His resume, spanning his broadcasting career to date, and several sports play by play demo reels, can be viewed here. For more information please visit John’s LinkedIn page, which can be viewed here.
A member of the National Sports Media Association, John was inducted into the Wall of Fame at Connecticut School of Broadcasting’s Needham campus in 2014.
In October of 2016 he received the Warner Fusselle Award from the New York Penn League, a broadcast award given annually to a radio personality who demonstrates broadcast excellence in the coverage of a team’s games. John received this award for his work with the Lowell Spinners in their postseason run in the 2016 season. He received the award for a second time in January of 2019 for his work with the Lowell Spinners in 2018, becoming the first individual to win the award multiple times.
John also launched a new podcast in 2020, ” Airing It Out, Files From Leahy’s Broadcast Booth” which is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, PocketCasts, and Radio Public, with more to come. Click here to explore the podcast.
An active musician, John also entered the world of audiobook narration in 2020. Follow his work with audiobooks here.