The Phantom of the Stadium

by Matt Dowell

As I sat in the press box of NBT Bank Stadium, "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore began to play over the speakers. I awkwardly started dancing by myself in a corner when I thought to myself, "Who's the mysterious DJ that plays the music for every game?"

I internalized my inner Sherlock Holmes and started asking around about the person in charge of the music.

I was then led to one of the rooms where I found Kevin Weinheimer, the audio producer for the Syracuse Chiefs. Immediately, the energy and personality of Weinheimer was felt.

A happy, positive, and overall excited feeling was in the room as he sat at his sound booth preparing for each cue and playing songs and sound effects before the second game against the Scranton Railriders began.

For a job that feels like it goes unnoticed by the majority of the public, Weinheimer says he is extremely passionate about what he does and is excited to come to every game, especially considering where he started with the Chiefs.

"It's my first season, actually," he said. "I worked in the cleaning crew previous years and I've done other things with the team but it's my first year doing the audio producing."

Weinheimer also says it's important to change up the music during the season so loyal fans don't get tired of hearing the same things over and over again.

"I like to change it up and give it a variety because you get season ticket holders that are hearing the same thing every day so you wanna give them something different," he said. "And then also if you're sitting there watching the game on TV, like a MLB game... I like to try and keep it pretty fresh."

Weinheimer says he even gets inspiration from going to other baseball games.

"I went to a Buffalo Bisons game earlier this year and you hear things that you wanna get ideas from and maybe bring it in to enhance the atmosphere," he said."

He also says he likes to include "oldies" during a particular part of the week.

"We actually have had a thing going on this season where every Thursday is 'Throwback Thursday' where the Chiefs wear a different uniform, I think from 1992-2000," he said. "So I'll play a lot of 90's music, maybe some late 80s music. Other than that I play a lot of country, rock, modern hip-hop, and pop. I try and give something for everybody."

Despite loving his job, there's another booth down the hall that Weinheimer has his eye on.

"I kind of wanna be the guys down the hall that do the play-by-play for radio," he said. "That'd be fun!"

With all the things that happen at a baseball game, Weinheimer says he doesn't mind going unnoticed by fans, even if the music is something that everyone experiences when they come to a Chiefs game.

Much like the phantom in the hit Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera, Kevin Weinheimer controls a huge part of the atmosphere in this arena. However, while the phantom that lurks in the opera house brings terror to its inhabitants, Weinheimer brings the opposite. A fun, positive, and passionate energy that translates to his music and ultimately the players and the fans.

Talking with Weinheimer reminded me that the little things that largely go unnoticed at sporting events such as the music, or operating the scoreboard, or even the cleaning of the stadium are all done by someone who has a story.