WRAL-TV is featuring stories about local connections to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on the nightly half-hour Olympic Zone. A story on Monday, July 26, 2021, hits particularly close to home for Capitol Broadcasting: an interview with Patrick Kinas, play-by-play announcer and the voice of the Durham Bulls, who is calling swimming at the 2020 Olympic games:
As the radio voice for the Durham Bulls, Patrick Kinas makes a living with his words, and he summed up the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic last year succinctly: It was awful.
Rather than the hustle and bustle of a minor league baseball season and his other radio gigs, Kinas was left with nothing to do as sports shut down for months.
Literally, I had zero on my schedule, he said recently. The Tokyo Olympics for Westwood One, the Bulls, college football in the fall everything was wiped off.
But the pandemic helped change his outlook on life and also led to an unprecedented opportunity.
A trip to a Panda Express restaurant in Raleigh and an interaction with a homeless man at the Wake Forest Road interchange for Interstate 440 led Kinas to buy the man lunch and listen to his story. That, in turn, led to routine food deliveries to the needy and a change of perspective.
I felt like my heart was always in a good spot before, but I think I've really grown to understand that there's so much more that I can do, Kinas said. As an adult in the community with a bit of a voice, [I had] to figure out what I can do to service my community, and that's something I really never thought about. I was more worried about who's starting tomorrow night for the Bulls.
Such humanity is the strength of his broadcasting, he said.
I've always been somebody whose broadcasting style was more about stories, less about stats, more about cool human anecdotes and less about batting average with runners in scoring position, he said, adding that the pandemic only reinforced that.
Now, getting through the pandemic, the stories are much more magnified, and we all have gone through this together, he said.
When the Olympics shifted to 2021, Kinas figured he wouldn't be involved. Westwood One had decided not cover the postponed Games on the radio.
That changed while waiting at a McDonald's drive-thru on his way to Greenville in April to cover an East Carolina University baseball game.
I will never screen a call from a New York area code again, he said of deciding not to answer the call.
The caller, an NBC executive, wanted to know if Kinas was interested in broadcasting the U.S. Olympic swimming trials and preliminary swimming heats in Tokyo.
I was just stunned, he said. I had to listen to [the voicemail] a second time. One, to just affirm I heard what I thought I heard, and then, two, to make sure I had her name right because I wasn't going to call her back and then misidentify her and then have the offer rescinded.
Kinas is no stranger to Olympic coverage. He covered the 2016 Games in Brazil on radio, highlighted by calling the finish of swimming legend Michael Phelps' final gold medal. But he said he cannot believe his good fortune this time, working on television at an event like no other.
Last summer, had the games taken place, [NBC] had their portfolio of broadcasters set, and I wasn't on it, nor did I expect to be, he said. Parents and some coaches and teammates of these athletes, they can't go. So, all of these athletes, all of these family members, all these fans, are going to be watching this us.
The opportunity created a new set of challenges, however. Instead of finding stories on a handful of swimmers who were likely to medal, Kinas has had to research hundreds of swimmers from around the world.
I've been spending probably eight or 10 hours a day for the last month working through these athletes and working through some of these stories, he said. A fair number of these athletes aren't your well-known household names, like Katy Ledecky and Caeleb Dressell and others. They will be from countries that we may or may not have necessarily heard of.
While the pandemic separated people for months, Kinas said he hopes the experience can also bring everyone together during the Games.
You start talking about how this player got through the pandemic or how this swimmer trained to get ready for the Tokyo Olympics when they didn't have access to gyms and pools. We all can understand that, he said. My job is to be that voice, find those stories and package them in a way that's makes the people watching and listening root for them a little bit more.
Kinas said he understands how the athletes feel, living out their Olympic dreams,
This is something I've been hoping for and dreaming about for years and years and years, he said.
WATCH: WRAL.com Video Durham broadcaster working to tell unheralded athletes' stories at Olympics
Thanks to WRALSportsFan and WRAL-TV's Cullen Browder for this Capcom story & video.
Tune in to WRAL-TV's Olympic Zone nightly for more stories like this one about Kinas. The live half-hour special will air Monday Saturday at 7:30pm ET during the Tokyo Olympics.
Capcom: Tune in to WRAL-TV for 2020 Tokyo Olympics Coverage, The Olympic Zone Returns
Find WRAL coverage, a schedule of events and more:
WRAL.com Olympics Coverage
WRALSportsFan.com Olympics Coverage
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
WRAL-TV is featuring stories about local connections to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on the nightly half-hour Olympic Zone. A story on Monday, July 26, 2021, hits particularly close to home for Capitol Broadcasting: an interview with Patrick Kinas, play-by-play announcer and the voice of the Durham Bulls, who is calling swimming at the 2020 Olympic games:
