As busy as things have been around the coaching ranks in the Western Hockey League the past two seasons with 13 coaching changes, it appears a few teams are busy this summer as well looking for new play-by-play voices.
As of right now, there are four teams looking for new radio announcers heading into the new season this coming fall. Regina is searching for a replacement for Rod Pedersen, Vancouver has been looking for another play-by-play broadcaster, this time to replace Morley Scott. Edmonton will have to fill the vacancy left by A.J. Jakubec, and now after more than a decade behind the mic in Kamloops, Kirk Fraser is calling it quits and moving on to a job with SHAW TV. I can tell you this, play-by-play gigs in the dub are far and few to say the least in our fraternity anyway. They are very difficult to get and once you have one, it's not something a guy really wants to part with. Some guys, like Bob Ridley in Medicine Hat have been with their teams for literally decades. Rod Pedersen in Regina was with the Pats for several years before announcing a few months ago that he would be calling games with the Riders exclusively and no longer the Pats and Bruce Luebke has been calling games in Brandon since 1993. These are just a few examples. A lot of the other radio announcers in the WHL have been with their teams for a number of years too like Regan Bartel in Kelowna, Les Lazaruk in Saskatoon, and Jeff Hollick in Kootenay. It's a fun job, I can say that and there isn't a lot of turnover either. That is why a lot of play-by-play guys in this league stick with their jobs as long as they can. It's not only fun, but it gives us a chance to do something we really love.
I know for a fact that when a play-by-play job comes available in the Western Hockey League, it attracts a lot of interest. For instance, the job I was so fortunate enough to get, broadcasting for the Hurricanes in 2007 had more than 60 people apply. I would assume these four radio jobs will attract just as many or even more.
Thanks,
Pat
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Glad you took this job Pat. After dealing with the betrayal by Brad Curl it's nice to see somebody who cares about the fans and the game. I will never forgive him for screwing over the canes bus fans a few years back. I encourage all canes fans to give it to him every time he comes to town. I don't care he left for a different job but the lack of respect and class he showed displayed a lot about what kind of person he is. Pat, you are a much better play by play man. Brad is exciting but it's hard to tell what is more exciting to him, a goal or an offside. WWE is your calling if you want to fabricate excitement. If he knew how to call a game like a story is told rather than yelling 95% of the time his ego would be justified. Boo Curl, the hitmen, and anything medicine hat.
ReplyDeletethanks Pat for your commitement to the team by doing things like this blog and the canes this week. It's nice to have someone who gunuinely cares about Lethbridge hockey and the fans. We have not had somebody like you since Foggy!
I'm not sure how fair it is to compare between the previous guys, but Pat does a great job for us here in Southern Alberta and we will very much enjoy listening to him until the NHL calls him up!
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