The End of Play by Play on Radio?

[ChrisLong]

I rarely listened to Scully work a local broadcast because I lived was out of range but he worked alone on Dodger broadcasts. When I did listen it seemed to me that he basically did a radio broadcast on television. And he was talented enough to excel.

He simulcast the first couple of innings, then the radio guys took over and he did TV by himself. In his latter years when he stopped traveling east, they had two crews.

 

[MileHigh]

The Lakers for many years did simulcasts with Chick Hearn.

 

[LanceyHoward]

The Lakers for many years did simulcasts with Chick Hearn.

The NBA pressured teams to get rid of simulcasts about 20 years ago. I think Hearn was the last doing simulcasts. I used to watch Kevin Calabro do simulcasts for Seattle and really enjoyed them. I never listened to George Blaha that much but he also did simulcasts for a long time.

I actually enjoyed the simulcasts of basketball more than most television only broadcasts. I generally do not recognize most of the players on court, especially on the opposing team. So I did not mind the announcer following the ball. And when something exciting happened the play by play guy could react to it.

Today I normally turn down the sound on a basketball broadcast. Bill Walton appears to be the 21st century model of color commentators. They just talk and talk about any damn thing.

 

[wicked]

One of the best things MLB did was gather up all the teams' radio rights and fold them into a streaming audio package.

Twenty years ago I screamed bloody murder over it, especially as clear-channel AMs were dumping baseball and teams were moving rights to FM, and I didn't want to pay for streams. Now I see that it was a genius stroke. I might use the At Bat app to stream 20 times a year, but they'll always get me for that $20.

There still is something pretty neat about pulling in the Yankees on WFAN or the Tigers on WJR (when they were there) or the Red Sox on WTIC or the Nats on 1500, though, even if the skywave is weak and every power pole known to man makes listening a chore.

 

[lakefront]

Do you listen with a cell phone or a transistor radio? One reason for the eventual demise of over the air play by paly on radio is that people listen on a cell phones rather than transistors. It might be cheaper and easier to just distribute a game on the internet rather than building a network of radio stations.

I started with a portable radio and now I use my phone for weei or wfan.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Years ago growing up in Tulsa, KOTV, the local CBS affiliate, simulcast the audio of its broadcast on the radio. Not just the news, but pretty much everything. It was weird, but you could get your nightly local news while driving around town, and you could listen to the NFL game on Sundays -- which I often did driving home from church with the family. But those game broadcasts weren't the same. Even as a kid, I could tell they weren't meant for radio. Good radio play-by-play guys make you see with your ears. TV broadcasters assume you see what they're talking about.

That wasn't by design. KOTV is Channel 6, which in analog format broadcasted its audio on 87.7 MHz. Every Channel 6 in the country could be heard on that frequency if in broadcast range.

 

[Matt Stephens]

That wasn't by design. KOTV is Channel 6, which in analog format broadcasted its audio on 87.7 MHz. Every Channel 6 in the country could be heard on that frequency if in broadcast range.

That makes sense. I didn't realize the Channel 6 part factoring in.

 

[Liut]

The NBA pressured teams to get rid of simulcasts about 20 years ago. I think Hearn was the last doing simulcasts. I used to watch Kevin Calabro do simulcasts for Seattle and really enjoyed them. I never listened to George Blaha that much but he also did simulcasts for a long time.

I actually enjoyed the simulcasts of basketball more than most television only broadcasts. I generally do not recognize most of the players on court, especially on the opposing team. So I did not mind the announcer following the ball. And when something exciting happened the play by play guy could react to it.

Today I normally turn down the sound on a basketball broadcast. Bill Walton appears to be the 21st century model of color commentators. They just talk and talk about any damn thing.

Loved those Calabro simulcasts, especially back in the K.C. Jones/George Karl days.

Pre-Seattle, Calabro worked in Kansas City and briefly did Missouri games. Rumor (legend) has it he was a goner from the get-go after referring to Faurot Field as Ferret Field.

 

[HanSenSE]

Not just Hearn and Callabaro, but Bill King did them for years with the Warriors, as did Al McCoy with the Suns. Was always an adventure when the Warriors would play weekday games in the Eastern and Central time zones, since they'd often be tape-delayed on TV, but live on radio.

 

[Liut]

Neil Funk did Kansas City Kings games in the mid-to-late 1970s and was a blast.

I don't remember who was before the other, but Kevin Harlan and Calabro did Kings games early in their careers.

 

[Songbird]

I wish I was in Tiajuana
eating Vin Scully's iguana​

 

[Dan Omlor]

I can't speak for those who live in cities with pro franchises. But down here in college country --- the South --- radio play by play rules. The announcers are local celebrities, earning extra for guest appearances at store openings, team banquets and promotional events. Everyone turns off the sound on TVs --- **** Vitale, Bill Walton, etc., are ridiculous --- and listens to their local radio guy. Everyone buys those special devices that let you speed up or slow down the radio to synch it with the action on TV. Fans take their headsets with them and listen to the radio guy even while actually attending the game, because he gives them background and analysis they otherwise would not have. Ads on those play by play broadcasts are costly and there's a waiting list of companies wanting to purchase their 15 or 30 seconds. The pregame and postgame analysis, coaches interviews and call in shows are just as heavily listened to as the game broadcasts. All this is true for football, basketball and baseball, and even women's basketball has become big on the radio.

 

[maumann]

Woody Durham, Wes Durham, Larry Munson, Eli Gold, Gene Deckerhoff, just to name a handful that have been, as Dan said, legends with fanatical followings.

Funny you should mention synching the audio. When the much-beloved Otis Boggs was nearing the end of his PBP career at Florida, his eyesight was so bad he couldn't actually see anything going on on the field (or the basketball court). The only way he could call the play was having the spotter point to the plays and numbers on Otis' handmade wooden pegboards. Otis had the players' names memorized, so he concentrated on the board. For example, the spotter would point to run or pass, then the player with the ball and number of yards gained or lost.

So you'd hear the roar of the crowd before Otis even had the ball snapped to the quarterback. He was his own seven-second delay. But the kindest man I've ever met, and I learned a ton about how to conduct myself in the booth.

 

[dixiehack]

I enjoy hearing Eli Gold (less universally loved in Alabama than you’d think), but age has dulled his accuracy, which was never his strong suit. Watching the SEC Network simulcast of the two playoff games it was painful to watch him stumble around trying to find the correct yard line where the play ended at and never arriving there, like Andy Capp stumbling around the porch stairs after coming back from the bar.

 

[wicked]

I'm surprised a Yankee has lasted that long in that job. Never heard his football calls, only know of his MRN work. He had a colorful way of describing the action. (Also: Barney Hall had the smoothest voice ever.)

 

[Robert Carter]

I'm surprised a Yankee has lasted that long in that job. Never heard his football calls, only know of his MRN work. He had a colorful way of describing the action. (Also: Barney Hall had the smoothest voice ever.)

Eli came to Birmingham to call hockey for the old Birmingham Bulls (WHA) and then became even better known for being sports anchor for the local ABC affiliate, as well as hosting the very first sports talk call-in show on Birmingham radio. He was a pretty big deal before his NASCAR and Crimson Tide gigs. Sadly he's not as sharp as he once was (like the rest of us sooner or later), but he's still a big deal in the state. The ones who don't like him are typically Auburn fans.

 

[HanSenSE]

Eli came to Birmingham to call hockey for the old Birmingham Bulls (WHA) and then became even better known for being sports anchor for the local ABC affiliate, as well as hosting the very first sports talk call-in show on Birmingham radio. He was a pretty big deal before his NASCAR and Crimson Tide gigs. Sadly he's not as sharp as he once was (like the rest of us sooner or later), but he's still a big deal in the state. The ones who don't like him are typically Auburn fans.

I've seen replays of the Kick Six synched with both radio broadcasts. On the Auburn network, Bramblet was on top of it all, even as his partner was totally losing it (as one would expect). Gold never identified the ballcarrier

 

[Robert Carter]

I've seen replays of the Kick Six synched with both radio broadcasts. On the Auburn network, Bramblet was on top of it all, even as his partner was totally losing it (as one would expect). Gold never identified the ballcarrier

Rod Bramblett's call of the Pick Six will live forever. Sadly, Rod left us way too soon.

 

[JackS]

I'm more likely to listen to a random game than watch a random game. Maybe it's a flashback to my youth, but if I'm struck in a car, I'll listen to Jets-Colts, but once I get home, where I have a ton of TV options, I'm done with it. Same thing on a walk, I'll listen the Cardinals-Reds on the MLB app but not follow the game once I get home.

Ditto. I've been road tripping a lot this past year, and I've listened to games in the car that I never would have watched at home. SEC basketball games driving through Alabama and Tennessee just last week.

There already are enough radio PBP guys who don't give the score often enough

As a former radio PBP guy, there's nothing more annoying. True for all sports, but especially for (my beloved) basketball, you literally cannot give score (and time) too much.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Growing up a Showtime fan in Minnesota in the '80s it wasn't always easy to keep track of the team, especially before we got cable. Newspapers in the morning would have the dreaded (late) by their games. There were the CBS games but of course during playoffs sometimes we wouldn't get their game. I might only see them play a few times a year. And would then wait for highlight tapes like Return to Glory or The Drive for Five, months after the season.

But there was radio play by play from faraway lands. In southern MN we could get the Dallas, Denver and San Antonio stations, for whatever reason. The reception actually usually came in better in my parents' room so I'd tune in on their clock radio until dad had to come to bed, then try and get it on the one in my room. But that would be, what, like 10 to 12 games a year I'd get access to that I wouldn't normally. Those games were gold. Never got to listen to Chick call a game but I at least got to hear some of Magic's exploits. And when the Wolves came into existence would have Harlan on their radio games so a few more Laker contests could be heard. The two games I still vividly remember listening to: Magic hitting a game-winning 3-pointer during the 1989 season in Denver; Byron Scott hitting a buzzer-beater at San Antonio. As the announcing crews signed off with sadness on both of those games, I went to bed a very happy kid.