Interview - Rob Snoek & Steve Rea

We had the opportunity for an exclusive interview with the play-by-play announcer and the colour commentator for the Peterborough Petes.  Rob Snoek and Steve Rea honored our request after the Petes loss to the Kingston Frontenacs on Thursday.  Interesting fact, the Peterborough Petes are the only team in the OHL that have a radio team and newspaper reporter that travel with the team on their bus.

Education and Experiences

Mr. Snoek is the veteran and has quite the resume. He began by getting his education from Seneca College and started at the bottom doing background research and writing copy , working his way up to radio stations in Toronto and Oshawa, then covering the last 5 Olympics with CBC, and now teaches Radio Broadcasting at Loyalist College while calling the Petes games.  

Mr. Rea is the rookie.  He is the one that may give the listeners an interesting story about a player, or tell the listeners what the Pete's need to do in the 3rd period to win the game.  He plays an equally vital role in the tandem as Mr. Snoek does.  He also is a vice principal for his day job.

Left to right: Steve Rea, Rob Snoek, Jeff Francis

Game Day Preparation


Mr Snoek described what his game day preparation includes and its quite bit of planning.  In fact, it stretches out to beyond just game days.  He talks about entrenching himself into everything about the Ontario Hockey League, from stats, to player profiles, and including the history of the "O".

Mr Snoek develops roster cards for the opposing teams, filled with notes of things he may want to say, their big stars, and stats.   He also compiles stats about the opposing team, their recent tendencies, and how the Petes have stacked up against the team the last while.


Here is Episode 002 of The Francis Report from Thursday Feb 16th's game Peterborough Vs Kingston.