By Loyd McIntosh Photo by Jordan Wald
The press box at Waldrop Stadium is the place to be, as Homewood High School’s new broadcast team hits the air in 2025. Featuring some of Birmingham’s most experienced voices, the Patriots are broadcasting all home varsity football games on various digital platforms throughout the season.
The crew is anchored by play-by-play announcer Curt Bloom, a local broadcasting legend with more than 30 years of experience, including a 32-year stretch with the Birmingham Barons (1992-2024), the longest tenure in the team’s history.
Throughout his career, Bloom has been the play-by-play announcer for college and professional football, baseball and basketball for UAB, the University of Alabama, Samford University, SEC baseball and NCAA Division I football coverage for ESPN. He even got a shot at the Major Leagues, announcing a Chicago White Sox Cleveland Guardians game in 2022.
An inductee into the Southern League Hall of Fame, the Birmingham Barons Hall of Fame and the University of North Carolina Greensboro Hall of Fame (his alma mater), Bloom has also imparted his knowledge on a new generation of broadcasters as an assistant professor at Birmingham-Southern College and Miles College.
Now, after three decades in college and professional sports broadcasting, Bloom was drawn to Homewood by Athletic Director Rick Baguley and Assistant Athletic Director John Lunceford, who are laying the groundwork for a dynamic future for Homewood Athletics. “What I love the most about them is their vision. That’s something that I have learned in my career; you have to have vision,” Bloom says.
Additionally, Bloom says he was impressed with Homewood’s tight, family oriented community, which was evident from the first game of the season—the Battle for Lakeshore against John Carroll. “It was a very easy transition,” Bloom says. “You hear this a lot, but this community is definitely a family. To me, what was so comforting was, almost instantly, I recognized three or four people that I’ve either broadcast with or I had a business relationship with over the years.”
The plan for 2025 is to broadcast home games and possibly an away game late in the season, most likely a playoff game. The game broadcasts are just part of a comprehensive multimedia plan for Homewood athletics, putting the school on par with many of the state’s top 7A schools and even some colleges. “I’m extremely lucky to be included, because many of the 7A schools are setting high standards. Lucky for me, a guy like Rick wants to challenge them,” says Bloom. “They’ve got the vision and the competitiveness to put us in our broadcast, eventually up with the other guys.”
Joining Bloom in the booth are head freshman team coach Chet Walker; legendary Homewood player Glenn Brasher; and Lunceford, a 2005 graduate of Homewood High School, broadcast veteran and a sports digital media strategist with an impressive resumé, including a stint as a host on 94.5 FM WJOX Sports Radio.
As Homewood High School’s Assistant Athletic Director for Communications & Social Media, Lunceford oversees branding, media and community engagement for all of the school’s athletic programs. In addition to game broadcasts, Lunceford is focused on improving the athletic department’s social media footprint, cooperating with local media outlets and developing broadcast plans for additional sports.
“The plan is to eventually do as much as humanly possible,” says Lunceford. “Of course, we’re starting with football—that’s where everything starts—but then move into basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball.
Lunceford continues, “It’s baby steps. We have home football set, now let’s work on road football, now let’s work on home basketball, home baseball. We’re figuring out where we have the right people to then plug them in to be able to do as much as we can without burning us all out.”
Additionally, Homewood High School’s new sports media class is providing hands-on educational opportunities for students with an interest in broadcasting and communications. “We wanted to get the kids involved running cameras, helping with the Jumbotron all that kind of stuff,” Lunceford says.
Before returning to his alma mater, Lunceford was the color analyst for the Thompson Warriors on the Warrior Nation Network. Over the last decade, Thompson High School has set a high standard as one of the most successful and largest 7A schools with a gameday atmosphere rivaling many universities. Lunceford believes the resources and passion for excellence in Homewood will enable the Patriots to rival any school’s media footprint. “We think there’s no reason for us not to be right where they are,” Lunceford says.
“We won three championships last year, and we can compete with the Thompsons and Hoovers of the world,” Lunceford adds. “The way teams look at Thompson, we want teams to look at Homewood that way, too. It’s going to take some time to get there, but that’s definitely the plan.”
Fans can catch broadcasts on the Homewood Athletics YouTube channel, the NFHS Network, the Homewood Athletics app and audio on Mixlr.com.
