NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 25, 2023) – Nashville Soccer Club and 104.5 The Zone (WGFX-FM), Cumulus Media’s premier live and local Sports Talk radio station serving Nashville and Middle Tennessee, announced today their official partnership ahead of the 2023 Major League Soccer season. 104.5 The Zone will complement and enhance the MLS Season Pass television broadcast, which is now available on the Apple TV app in more than 100 countries and regions. As part of the deal, fans will have the option to select the Nashville SC radio broadcast for audio on the Apple TV app where available.
Starting on Wednesday, March 1, Nashville SC fans will be able to listen to the \NSC Backstage \show which will feature interviews with coaching staff, players, executives and more on 104.5 The Zone every Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT. Listeners will be able to gain insight into the Boys in Gold and their competitors all season. Lucas Panzica and Will Boling of 104.5 The Zone will serve as radio hosts and take on play-by-play duties with former Nashville SC defender and official club ambassador Jalil Anibaba as the color analyst when the team returns to action at 3:30 p.m. CT today, Feb. 25 at GEODIS Park.
For roughly a decade, Boling has worked as a play-by-play broadcaster and multimedia journalist covering soccer, football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and track-and-field. Boling has done the play-by-play for The Zone’s high school football coverage for the last 10 years, and last season he stepped in to call Nashville SC’s match against CF Montréal and the Colorado Rapids at GEODIS Park on iHeartRadio. In 2017 he was hired as the public address announcer for the University of Tennessee Track and Field program where he called multiple world leading times from World Champions Christian Coleman, Justin Gatlin and Sydney McLaughlin. He began working at The Zone in 2019, where he now serves as co-host on the “Ramon, Kayla and Will” morning show weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. CT.
Panzica joins Nashville SC with ample experience as a play-by-play broadcaster. Similar to Boling, he has done the play-by-play for The Zone’s high school football and basketball coverage since 2021 and served as the co-host of the “Nashville Soccer Show” on the Zone Podcast Network. He also did play-by-play for Trevecca Nazarene University athletics and was the lead broadcaster for Chattanooga Football Club for nearly five years. Panzica currently works as the executive producer for The Zone’s “The Buck Reising Show” weekdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and “Blaine and Mickey” weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
In addition to his responsibilities of serving in an influential role in Nashville SC’s community efforts in Middle Tennessee, Jalil Anibaba will support the club in a creative content role and work as the club’s radio color commentator alongside Panzica and Boling this season. During his playing career over 12 MLS seasons, Anibaba spent two in Music City and was a foundational piece for Nashville SC’s early MLS success. He was on the inaugural roster and helped the Boys in Gold advance to back-to-back Eastern Conference Semifinal appearances in 2020 and 2021. He made 245 MLS regular season appearances and is a two-time Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup winner and a Supporters Shield winner.
For the first time in Nashville SC’s history, Spanish-speakers and fans of the club will be able to access a dedicated Spanish-language television broadcast for each match via the MLS Season Pass, which will feature every live MLS regular-season match in English and Spanish, the entire Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, and Leagues Cup* all in one place, with consistent match times and no blackouts — a first in live sports broadcasting. In addition to the match broadcast, fans will be able to enjoy pregame shows and the postgame wrap-up in both English and Spanish.
Paul Mason, Program Director, 104.5 The Zone, said: “Our goal at 104-5 The Zone is to be wherever sports is, and given soccer’s growing popularity, Nashville SC is a perfect fit for our vibrant multi-platform Sports ecosystem. With talented broadcasters Will Boling and Lucas Panzica calling every match, we are excited to take Tennessee pro soccer fans along with us for all the action on-air, streaming, and on platforms like Apple TV."
For more information on Nashville SC, visit www.NashvilleSC.com and follow the club on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
To stream 104.5 The Zone, download the 104-5 The Zone App
