For 33 years he was a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, the longest such tenure in the team's history.

He started his career in his home town as a radio disk jockey at the city's top rated station, WBBF (AM).

[citation needed] He moved to Pittsburgh and joined the Pirates major league broadcasting crew on radio (KDKA) and cable television in 1976.

He began sharing primary announcing duty with Greg Brown, as the Pirates evolved toward a transition that came with Frattare's retirement on October 1, 2008.

[3] In 2010, he hosted the inaugural Sports Announcing Camp at Waynesburg University, with a week of programs and instruction for high school students interested in broadcasting.