{"id":922088,"date":"2026-10-09T17:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T17:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922088\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T17:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T17:30:10","slug":"noah-reeds-journey-to-the-nuggets-broadcast-booth-on-altitude-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922088\/","title":{"rendered":"Noah Reed’s journey to the Nuggets’ broadcast booth on Altitude TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Noah Reed almost forgot to speak. This was his \u201cwelcome to the league\u201d moment, a highlight destined to break containment and reach the entire basketball community. Soon, Nikola Jokic\u2019s mind-bending pass<\/a> was circulating across the internet, and with it, Reed\u2019s voice. The new voice of the Nuggets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So much for their preseason opener being a low-stakes warm-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you hear it, you don\u2019t hear my voice immediately, the second the pass happens,\u201d he recounted three days later. \u201cBecause my jaw dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n

After picking it up off the floor, Reed stuck the landing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a pass,\u201d he said as Cam Johnson unleashed a 3-pointer on the receiving end of it. \u201cOh, yeah! Jokic, cross-court, behind-the-back. Come on!\u201d<\/p>\n

Chasing a childhood dream<\/p>\n

Reed\u2019s favorite memories on the microphone are the ones with sentimental value. He called his first game at the Rose Bowl last year for FOX and was struck by the lineage of great play-by-play voices that had chronicled the historic venue before him as he entered the press box.<\/p>\n

His first Indiana University basketball assignment was especially poignant. When Reed was a young boy in the northeast part of the state, his family would gather to watch IU games together. Reed would inevitably get tired of sitting still, and he would start to reenact both the game and the broadcast on his Little Tikes basketball hoop, doing play-by-play for his own buckets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to watch you call an IU game,\u201d his grandfather would say. He died about eight months before Reed fulfilled that prophecy. As he called the game, Reed felt like he was speaking to his grandpa over the cosmic airwaves.<\/p>\n

Add Nuggets vs. Jazz (preseason) to the list of all-time favorite work days. The game didn\u2019 count for anything and won\u2019t be remembered for anything except Jokic\u2019s brilliant experiment of a pass. But Reed will remember it for the surreal feeling that overcame him in CU\u2019s gymnasium.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I was sitting there and the game tipped off,\u201d he said, \u201cI was thinking to myself, \u2018I\u2019m living in the moment of my dream coming true.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed has wanted this since was his mom alerted him to the fact that he could make a career out of his DIY broadcasts on the Little Tikes hoop. He\u2019s wanted to live this exact life \u2014 along for the ride with an NBA team \u2014 since college. He has that chance now in Denver, where Altitude TV chose him to succeed Chris Marlowe in calling Nuggets games<\/a> for the local broadcast alongside Katy Winge.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I\u2019ve done from choosing which college I went to, to every job that I\u2019ve taken and some jobs that I haven\u2019t taken,\u201d Reed said, \u201cit was with the end goal that I want to be the voice of an NBA team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basketball was religion of the heartland where Reed grew up. He was raised on the Hoosiers and Reggie Miller\u2019s Pacers. He crossed paths with future Nugget Gary Harris on the Indiana high school hoops circuit. He played one year of NCAA ball at Division III Defiance College in Ohio. He was the sharpshooting sixth man on a conference championship-winning team \u2014 \u201cyou weren\u2019t getting a lot of defense out of me\u201d \u2014 but he reconsidered his priorities after that freshman season. Broadcasting was the long-term goal. He transferred to Ball State for it.<\/p>\n

During his junior and senior years there, he served as the traveling play-by-play announcer for the women\u2019s basketball team. He fell in love with the idea of being ingrained in one team and the community that surrounds it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I had earned the trust of our coach, he was welcoming me into film sessions and every practice and shootaround that I wanted to go to,\u201d Reed said. \u201cOf course, it takes a lot of time to earn the trust, but then you get to the point where you know these people at a deeper level. \u2026 That has been the thing that I\u2019ve craved \u2014 getting to be a part of a team and getting to be around the same people all the time and interact with a fan base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Versatility leads to opportunity<\/p>\n

It\u2019s taken a decade since Ball State for Reed to rediscover that feeling in Denver. His first full-time job out of college was in Bismarck, North Dakota, where hockey was the lifeblood, not basketball. At Ball State, he had learned how to skillfully stumble his way through sports that weren\u2019t familiar to him. His television debut had been calling a field hockey game. Now, he was able to teach himself to enjoy ice hockey.<\/p>\n

And soccer. And wrestling. The versatility helped him get the attention of ESPN\u2019s college football hiring manager. Even after he got in the door there, he had to be malleable enough to stray from the most popular sports. For two summers, he called the American Cornhole League championships, which were televised on ESPN8: The Ocho.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a thrill,\u201d Reed said. \u201cThey have names for every shot possible and every strategy possible, so it was a lot of homework figuring out what everything was called. And I loved it. It\u2019s the best players in the world who are almost never missing the hole. It\u2019s just one after another, and yet they have a bag in their right hand, a beer in their left hand, and it\u2019s just the most relaxed and chill atmosphere that you can imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed\u2019s mission always remained the same. He moved back to the Indianapolis area in 2022, spent three years with ESPN, then started calling college sports for FOX full-time, while freelancing some Big Ten basketball for NBC on the side. NBA League Pass was usually on his television during his nights off \u2014 including plenty of Nuggets games.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll continue to do college football occasionally for FOX when he has time, such as last Saturday when he already happened to be in Boulder for Nuggets training camp. The day before his dream-come-true moment in the gym, he was calling CU\u2019s homecoming loss to Texas Tech on the gridiron. It included a lesson in humility for Reed, who isn\u2019t afraid to admit that mistakes happen sometimes when he\u2019s speaking to a live TV audience for two or three consecutive hours, as much as he might aim for perfection.<\/p>\n

\"Noah<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Noah Reed<\/p>\n

Noah Reed (left) calls CU football’s homecoming game against Texas Tech for FOX Sports while in Boulder for Nuggets training camp. Reed was named the new Nuggets play-by-play broadcaster for Altitude Sports this summer.<\/p>\n

In the fourth quarter, CU allowed a punt to bounce all the way down to 2-yard line, where it was downed by Texas Tech. The broadcast went back through the sequence after a commercial break.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a cut to Coach Prime, and if you read his lips, he says, \u2018You need to catch that ball,’\u201d Reed said. \u201cWe show that, and I set up our analyst with something along the lines of, \u2018If a Hall of Famer and one of the best to ever play this game says you need to catch that ball, you should probably catch that ball.\u2019 Well, the punt return man\u2019s last name was Carter. So I had probably said the name Carter three or four times in that 30-second clip right before the first play of the drive for Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next play was a pick-six, caught in the end zone by Texas Tech\u2019s John Curry. Reed misspoke, identifying the scorer as \u201cJohn Carter\u201d at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second it comes out of my mouth, I\u2019m like, oh my goodness, you\u2019ve gotta be kidding me,\u201d Reed said. \u201cCan\u2019t believe I screwed that up. So I wait four or five seconds to let the moment breathe, then I quickly correct it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His primary goals on the microphone are authenticity and individuality. Nothing forced, nothing too derivative, as much as he\u2019s become a loving historian of the profession. His biggest mentor in the industry is Jason Benetti, the Detroit Tigers play-by-play man who also calls Sunday Night Baseball for NBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always been willing to help me, to listen to my work, to give me feedback and criticism in how I can improve,\u201d Reed said. \u201cHe\u2019s been fantastic for me as a person and as a broadcaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding a new home in Denver<\/p>\n

No amount of coaching could have prepared Reed for the shock of Jokic\u2019s pass last weekend, though. David Adelman described it Thursday as \u201cone of the best passes ever\u201d after rewatching the tape. Rockets center Alperen Sengun was filmed trying to recreate it on an empty court this week, without three defenders in his way.<\/p>\n

Part of Denver\u2019s appeal, to Reed, was knowing he would be the voice behind countless remarkable Jokic moments, for however many years the big man keeps slinging it. Reed came to terms with leaving his home state for the opportunity, moving farther away from his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took an incredible dream job situation for me to want to leave Indianapolis,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 This is home for me now, and I hope it\u2019s home for me for the rest of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he never expected to be served an instant classic pass so soon. Behind the back? Come on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was genuinely how I felt watching that moment,\u201d he said. \u201cLike, come on, how can somebody do that? That\u2019s unbelievable. \u2026 Every time you turn on the TV to watch him, you\u2019re thinking there\u2019s nothing he can possibly do to surprise me, to shock me anymore. I\u2019ve seen it all. And then within a few minutes, something happens that makes you go, \u2018This guy is unbelievable.\u2019 And that happened for me in-person.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust in general, that\u2019s how I call games. What is coming to my mind is what comes out of my mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Noah Reed almost forgot to speak. This was his \u201cwelcome to the league\u201d moment, a highlight destined to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[489858,64,63,726,25266,3893,594,3912,3896,3897,1662,794,3913,71094,489859,3914,3905,590,6333,3907,120244,85],"class_list":["post-922088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-altitude-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-boulder","tag-cam-johnson","tag-college-football","tag-colorado","tag-david-adelman","tag-denver","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-espn","tag-front-range","tag-gary-harris","tag-katy-winge","tag-latest-headlines","tag-more-nuggets-news","tag-nba","tag-nbc","tag-nuggets","tag-nuggets-training-camp","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}