The Norfolk Tides announced Monday that Tony Mercurio will be joining the Tides broadcasting team in 2010. Mercurio will join Pete Michaud and Bob Socci in the radio booth as all 144 Tides games will be carried live on ESPN Radio 94.1 and online at norfolktides.com.

The 2010 season will be Mercurio’s third broadcasting the Tides, and his first since the 1988 season. He originally came to Hampton Roads to broadcast the Tidewater Tides in 1977 and later served as the Assistant General Manager of the club from 1981-1987. He is currently the program director at ESPN Radio 94.1 and has hosted the Tony Mercurio Show for the past 24 years.

Mercurio has won 14 “Sportscaster of the Year” awards since 1986. He has broadcast high school football for 16 years and has been the radio voice of the nationally-ranked Old Dominion Lady Monarchs basketball team for the past 18 seasons.

Mercurio will join Michaud for the home broadcasts, while Socci will handle the play-by-play duties for the majority of road games. Michaud, who was the 2010 recipient of the Abe Goldblatt Memorial Award, is in his fourth season with the Tides while Socci is entering his fifth year calling the action for Norfolk.

This season will be the first year for the Tides on ESPN Radio 94.1 FM, a 40,000-watt station that can be heard from Virginia Beach to Richmond and from the Eastern Shore of Virginia to northeast North Carolina.

The Tides open their 2010 season on Thursday, April 10 with a 7:15 p.m. contest at Harbor Park against the Durham Bulls. Tickets are currently on sale at the Harbor Park box office, through Ticketmaster or online at norfolktides.com.