Canio Costanzo is the main play-by-play announcer for WNCSN. Born and raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania, he knew at an early age he wanted to be involved in sports broadcasting.
After graduating from Ashland (OH) University in Ohio, he became a sports reporter for WYLN-TV in Hazleton PA. Eighteen months later, he became the Sports Director for that station. During his time at WYLN-TV, he was the play-by-play announcer for local high school football, basketball, baseball, soccer and volleyball as well as local college games. Following a stint as a General Assignment Reporter for Blue Ridge Cable TV-13, he moved to North Carolina to take a position with the Hickory Crawdads baseball team.
As the Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations for the Crawdads, Canio was named the South Atlantic League Media Director of the Year in 2001. He is the only Hickory Crawdads announcer to ever win this award.
He moved back to Pennsylvania in 2004 and created the Dunmore Bucks Radio Network- a live audio streaming website that broadcast his alma maters football and basketball games. During his time there, he announced games involving Washington Redskins Wide Receiver Terrelle Pryor and Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback Matt McGloin.
After relocating to Asheville, he started the Rockets Sports Network-- live audio streaming AC Reynolds football, basketball, baseball and softball games. He has worked as a freelance announcer for ESPN3 and UNC Asheville.
Canio resides in Old Fort with his wife Shawn, his two children Emily and Abby and their dogs Lola and Carson.
Jesse Boeckermann was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota and grew up in Roseville, the first suburb north of Minneapolis/Saint Paul. Jesse attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor's degree in journalism, majoring in broadcasting, from UNL's College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Go Huskers!
Jesse worked as a production assistant at KDLT-TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and then spent three years at KHAS-TV News 5 in Hastings, Nebraska. Jesse left Nebraska for Bluefield, West Virginia in 2007. He joined ESPN Radio 1050 WAMN as a producer and was then promoted after three months to Sports Director/Program Director. Jesse hosted his own two-hour sports talk show Monday-Friday afternoons talking Virginia Tech, West Virginia, high school, and pro sports.
After two years in sports talk radio in West Virginia, Jesse joined WVIR-TV NBC 29 in Charlottesville, Virginia and served as a sports anchor/reporter/producer/photojournalist for three years, covering the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, high school, and pro sports.
In western North Carolina, Jesse has also done freelance sports broadcasting of high school and college football and basketball for WLOS-TV as well as UNC Asheville men's and women's basketball and baseball for the Big South Network. Jesse also serves as one of the public address announcers for girls and boys basketball and baseball at Asheville Christian Academy.
Jesse and his wife, Stacia, moved to Asheville in 2015 after six years in Charlottesville VA.
Derwin Jackson Williams caught the sports broadcasting bug when he was a student at Mars Hill University. He was the "Voice of the Mountain Lions" for two seasons of football and basketball. During a career in college admissions and high school counseling, he has maintained that interest by filling in as a color analyst at high school football games as well as taking care of public address responsibilities for many high school football and basketball games.
One of the highlights of his announcing career has been his involvement as the public address announcer for the annual "Coaches versus Cancer Shootout" at UNC Asheville. This event, founded by Enka High School athletic director Brian Carver, is a Thanksgiving high school basketball tourney now entering its fifth year that has raised nearly one hundred thousand dollars for cancer research.
Derwin joined the Rockets Sports Network in the fall of 2016 as the color analyst for football games. He had both color and play-by-play roles during basketball season. Derwin is a counselor at Enka High School.
Bill Ballew is a life-long sports fan who has turned his passion for competitive games into full-time pursuits for more than a quarter-century. A native of Hickory, North Carolina, he has resided in the Asheville area for more than 20 years with his wife, Hope, and sons, Brad and Bryce, while focusing his efforts on sports at all levels.
Bill’s first job came just prior to graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady School of Journalism when he served as the assistant general manager of the Greenwood Pirates in the South Atlantic League in 1983. From there he worked as a copywriter for an advertising agency for three-and-a-half years and as a marketing director of a large hospital in Marietta, Georgia, for two years, two months and two weeks (but who’s counting, right?).
Since leaving the world of health care in 1990, Bill has served as editor and lead writer for a variety of publications, including Tomahawk (Atlanta Braves), The Sting (Georgia Tech), Baseball The Magazine and Softball Magazine. He has also written for numerous magazines, including Baseball America. In addition to his freelance writing, Bill has designed and written the Asheville Tourists game program since 2002.
Bill’s foray into broadcasting began as the public address announcer for the collegiate summer league Asheville Redbirds. He was a long-time guest on the Wise Guys radio program in Asheville, and has handled the PA responsibilities for T.C. Roberson High School football and baseball and Erwin High School football. He is currently hosting a podcast, College Baseball Now, that features in-depth interviews with Division 1 college baseball coaches that can be heard on iTunes and on the CollegeBaseballNow.com website.
