The End of Play by Play on Radio?

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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 --- Dick 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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.