The Houston Rockets have hired Jonathan Sanford as their new public address (PA) announcer, he confirmed Monday via Twitter. Sanford previously worked in the same role with the San Antonio Spurs from 2013 until 2018, when he stepped away for family reasons.
Sanford replaces Matt Thomas, who is leaving the PA gig to take over full-time duty as Houston’s radio play-by-play broadcaster. In past seasons, Craig Ackerman generally worked home games for the team’s radio network and road games for TV, with Thomas sliding over to radio when Ackerman made that switch. With legendary voice Bill Worrell still on television duty for home games, that freed up Thomas for PA work.
But with Worrell retiring, that prompted Ackerman and Thomas to move into full-time TV and radio roles, respectively. In turn, that opened up the PA role to a newcomer, and Sanford is ready to step in.
Sanford’s work with the Rockets will officially begin with Tuesday’s home preseason opener. Tipoff between Houston and Washington is set for 7:00 p.m. Central from Toyota Center.
Today was my first official day as public address announcer for the Houston Rockets! I’m so grateful to have an opportunity to be back behind the microphone! Tomorrow night, game number one… #LightTheFuse #HoustonRockets pic.twitter.com/cZmlCHG7Kj
— Jonathan Sanford (@TheJSanford) October 4, 2021
