{"id":789384,"date":"2026-07-18T01:38:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/789384\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T01:38:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:38:04","slug":"orlando-magic-broadcaster-david-steele-retires-after-37-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/789384\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic broadcaster David Steele retires after 37 seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 37 seasons as the play-by-play voice of the Magic<\/a>, both on television and radio, David Steele<\/a> announced his retirement Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t thank the DeVos family and the Orlando<\/a> Magic organization enough for what they have provided to me and my family,\u201d Steele said in a statement. \u201cWhen I interviewed with Pat Williams back in 1988, I never dreamed it would play out this way. Now it is time for me to put the microphone down and spend time with my family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an honor to represent the Orlando Magic, and I am forever grateful,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

After handling radio play-by-play duties for the team\u2019s first nine seasons (1989-98), Steele was then named the television play-by-play voice for the Magic in March 1998 and spent the next 28 seasons in that role.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t have a memory of Orlando Magic basketball without David Steele\u2019s voice being a part of it,\u201d Magic chairman Dan DeVos<\/a> said in a statement. \u201cDavid handled everything with professionalism and class, and he will forever be entrenched in this franchise\u2019s history. \u2026 We wish him and his family nothing but the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Replacing Steele, 72, as Orlando\u2019s new play-by-play television announcer will be Dante Marchitelli<\/a>, the team said.<\/p>\n

Marchitelli, 50, enters his 28th season with the organization and has served as studio host\/sideline reporter since 2008. He\u2019s also performed play-by-play duties for select games for the last three seasons (2023-26).<\/p>\n

Marchitelli began his career with the Magic in 1998 as a radio intern. He was hired full time in January 2000 as radio producer, working behind the scenes on every broadcast for the Magic Radio Network. Marchitelli was promoted in 2005 to radio manager and also served as radio sideline reporter. He was named assistant director of broadcasting in July 2017, then promoted to director of broadcasting and alumni relations in July 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am beyond grateful to the DeVos family and the Orlando Magic organization for this wonderful opportunity,\u201d Marchitelli said in a statement. \u201cWorking with David Steele for the past 20 years has been the highlight of my career. He is an absolute legend, and I can\u2019t thank him enough for everything he has taught me along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a dream come true and I\u2019m looking forward to continuing my connection with Orlando Magic fans everywhere,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The former voice of the University of Florida, Steele arrived in Orlando in 1989 after serving as network coordinator and football\/basketball play-by-play announcer for the Gators for seven seasons.<\/p>\n

He was named Florida Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association twice, winning the honor in both 2009 and 2021. In 1980, Steele earned the Ray Reeve Award as TV Sportscaster of the Year in North Carolina. He also won the Best Play-By-Play in Florida award from the Florida Sportscasters Association in 1984. In February 2019, Steele became the eighth person inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A native of Jacksonville, Steele\u2019s professional broadcasting career began in 1975, as sports director at WJHG-TV in Panama City. He also served as sports director at WLOS-TV in Asheville, NC, and was the football\/basketball play-by-play announcer at Western Carolina University.<\/p>\n

He and his wife, Sally, live in Orlando. They have three children, Luke, Emily and Betsy, and eight grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Marchitelli earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in public relations\/advertising from Liberty University in 1998. A native of Woburn, Mass., he and his wife, Lana, live in Windermere and have two daughters, Olivia and Allison.<\/p>\n

Following the closure of FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/a>, the Magic will announce their broadcast plans for the 2026-27 season in the near future, the team said.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 37 seasons as the play-by-play voice of the Magic, both on television and radio, David Steele announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,165,48,6,47,76,3883,1412,80939,66],"class_list":["post-789384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando-magic","tag-basketball","tag-latest-headlines","tag-magic","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlandomagic","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116938428451701439","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}