Within a generation, radio-exclusive hockey broadcasts could become relics alongside rotary phones and Lincoln pennies. This is reason for sadness. Also reason to appreciate what Seattle Kraken fans have now, in the radio team of Everett Fitzhugh, Al Kinisky, and Mike Benton.
Dreaded Words For Radio Sports: Simulcasts, Remotes
In 1993, the Dallas Stars were first to eliminate a separate radio feed, instead simulcasting TV audio. The Buffalo Sabres followed suit in 1997. Both teams waved goodbye to great play-by-play men.
Likewise for the Hurricanes, when Carolina went the simulcast route in 2018. After 39 years behind the franchise mic, radio voice Chuck Kaiton was jettisoned. Another beloved hometown pro, Blues TV’s John Kelly, was dismissed this season in favor of less costly replacements doing a St. Louis simulcast.
Limiting radio crew travel was a medical necessity during the pandemic, and for some teams, a financial windfall ever since. The Toronto Maple Leafs thought enough of legendary radio voice Joe Bowen to honor him with a ceremony in December – but not enough to let him travel with the team. Bowen, who will retire at the end of the season, announces road games from a Toronto studio.
Why It Matters
Before social media and ubiquitous live video, on-site broadcasters were a lifeline for generations of fans. Voices through the transistor not only brought games alive, they bonded fans to their teams. An announcer’s quirky catch phrases, much like your favorite uncle’s, became embraceable signatures.
Such bonding continues today for listeners in their cars, on a hike, or anywhere else video and the internet aren’t handy. Live sports on the radio is as intimate an experience as ever. Intimacy is why the medium matters.
What’s changed is the medium’s loss of exclusivity.
Forget that a TV broadcast, much as it tries, can’t properly serve a listener-only audience. Neither can a game called off a monitor a thousand miles from the rink. If the economics no longer pencil out, tradition be damned. Intimacy be damned. For that matter, ditto for fans with limited sight or disposable income.
Kraken Audio Network Blankets Northwest, Alaska
Happily, none of these issues currently affect Kraken fans. The franchise has committed to a robust audio network anchored by flagship station KJR-FM in Seattle. The network includes a dozen more stations across Washington, plus seven in Alaska, four in Oregon and one each in Idaho and Montana.
Everett Fitzhugh X screengrab
Fans who tuned in for the Jan. 15 Kraken game at TD Garden in Boston were rewarded with a first-rate production.
Fast Start For Broadcast, Slow Start For Kraken
The half-hour plus pregame show set up storylines. Host Mike Benton, onetime voice of the WHL Everett Silvertips, mentioned an unwelcome Kraken trend. “Four games in a row, giving up the first goal of the game.” Play-by play voice Everett Fitzhugh added a reporter’s insight. “(Coach) Lane Lambert told us this morning the team needs better starts.”
Color analyst Al Kinisky, formerly a WHL Seattle Thunderbird and Philadelphia Flyers draft pick, reinforced the point with folksy charm. “This isn’t the night to ease into it like a slow-pour Sunday. Boston feeds off slow starts the way seagulls feed off fries at the waterfront. Give them one, and they’re everywhere.”
That setup proved depressingly spot-on, as the Kraken metaphorically asked the Bruins, “Do you want fries with that?” (No wonder McDonald’s was an intermission advertiser.) Boston scored on its first two shots.
Eagle-eyed Fitzhugh spotted the culprit on the 2nd Bruins goal; Viktor Arvidsson’s pass unluckily deflected off the stick of Seattle’s Jaden Schwartz and past goalie Joey Daccord.
Spotlighting Boston-Area Kraken
Benton scored by featuring interview clips from two Boston-area Kraken, goalie Daccord and center Matty Beniers. Pregame, Beniers made timely reflections about Bruins legend Zdeno Chara, whose #33 was retired before puck drop. During the 1st intermission, Daccord shared that to maximize performance, he actually tracks his sleep patterns.
It’s not Benton’s fault that both Kraken had unhappy homecomings. On the third – and eventual game-winning – Boston goal, Mark Kastelic stripped Beniers at center ice, waltzed in and scored on Daccord while Seattle was on a power play.
Oh Say, Did You Hear?
Bonus fun facts weren’t limited to players. Here’s Fitzhugh’s anecdote about Bruins anthem singer Todd Angilly, who hurried to his second job after the final notes. “He’s a bartender on the suite level. He’s up the elevator, going back to his post, slinging drinks.”
During the 2nd intermission, Fitzhugh and Kinisky got a remarkably candid live response from defenseman Brandon Montour, on his first game back from rehab. “Could be better. You don’t want to have a season, missing training camp, family stuff (the death of his brother), and another tough injury. Just over half (a season), and two surgeries.”
When Montour took a 3rd period penalty, Fitzhugh offered a more reasoned take than many of his play-by-play colleagues. “It looked like he finished his check, but I’m paid to broadcast, not officiate.”
Kinisky made a keen observation involving gamesmanship by Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman. “Hockey’s all about read-and-react. When the puck is dumped into the Bruins end, you often see (Swayman) put his hand up in the air to indicate icing. Whether he thinks that’s icing or not, he wants Kraken players to pull up, not go in as hard.”
Nitpicks
- Commercials and live-ad reads choke the pregame, postgame, and intermissions. This isn’t a Kraken broadcast problem; it infects every sporting event on radio. For instance, the time between Kraken Audio Network sign-on and puck drop was 38 minutes, 42 seconds. Commercials and ad reads totaled 15:57, or 41% of that time.
- This is a Kraken radio problem: figuring out when the broadcasts begin. The KJR-FM home page, for example, didn’t mention the Kraken. If you did find KJR’s Kraken Audio Network page, it inexplicably lists “Viewing Options” – but no information about their own station’s broadcast. Give Everett, Al, and Mike a little more online love. They deserve it.
