He had spent the previous five years working for the Quad Cities River Bandits and made frequent visits to the area for games.

That familiarity certainly has helped Chiswick get accustomed to his new job as play-by-play voice for the Whitecaps.

"I've been here before so I knew a lot of people and the park well," Chiswick said while making the drive to Bowling Green, Ky., for a three-game series with the new Hot Rods franchise.

"But the way this franchise is run from top to bottom is not typical of Class A. It's typical of a higher minor-league franchise."

Chiswick was hired in early February from a field of about 80 applicants.

Initially, he was looking for a job that would place him to a larger radio market. But when Quad Cities made the financial decision to discontinue its radio broadcasts, Chiswick knew it was time to make a change.

"Quad Cities was good to me about it, I knew it was coming and they offered me the opportunity to stay on," Chiswick said. "But I would rather move to stay in radio. And I knew West Michigan was a good operation and the market size was a step up."

Chiswick is the third radio announcer the Whitecaps have had in the past three years, following Steve Lloyd-Jones and Dave Skoczen.

Chiswick hopes he can give the team a little more stability in the years to come.

"I would like to, but you never know how things are going to go and I never like to predict the future," he said. "But I could see myself here for a few years, and I hope I am."

The Whitecaps will air on the following stations this season: WBBL-FM (107.3), WJRW-AM (1340), WHTC-AM (1450) and WDEE-FM (97.3).

Chiswick will be joined in the booth by color commentator Dan Elve, who is in his sixth year with the team.

Chiswick said he has enjoyed working with Elve, and the initial response he has received from listeners and the Whitecaps has been good.

"So far, all of the feedback has been pretty positive," Chiswick said. "But it's easy to give someone good criticism when you're new. It's harder to give constructive criticism, even when you ask for it."