Fans: Bring back Mike!
Pittsburgh: We missed this, but apparently there's a grassroots movement afoot to bring back Mike Lange to Penguins' TV broadcasts for the 2008-09 season.
A veteran of 30 seasons in the Pens' radio booth, Lange was bumped from TV coverage by Fox Sports Pittsburgh in 2006, when executives at the network decided the games needed a "fresh set of eyes."
Known for his colorful calls and gruff, rapid-fire play-by-play, Lange is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and is known around the country as "the unmistakable voice of the Penguins."
More than a few people (including this PBRTV correspondent) already turn down the TV sound and turn up Lange on WBGG (970) and WXDX-FM (105.9), but the different broadcast delays between the video and audio make the two difficult to sync.
Ross Township resident Bill Soles has started a website called "Bring Back Mike" and is urging fans to call FSN and complain.
"There are tons of new Pens fans tuning in to see [Sidney] Crosby and [Evgeni] Malkin, and they deserve to listen and learn from Mike Lange, like I did growing up," Soles tells Pittsburgh City Paper.
Get into the fast lane, FSN --- the bingo game is ready to roll!
Readers’ Forum
I recall years ago when WFAN 660 (NYC) played all of Mike Lange’s famous calls during an overnight call in show. A lot of sports broadcasters today in any sport do not have the level of passion Mike Lange has behind the mic. There was a radio commercial I heard when I was visiting Pittsburgh years ago. It was an ad for Iron City Beer with Mike Lange & Myron Cope going back & forth at each other. Now talk about a pair of icons.
Tom Lavery (URL) - May 30, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I use a free program for windows called radio delay to sync up the audio from the radio. It can be downloaded from http://www.daansystems.com/freestuff/
Jason (URL) - May 30, 2008 at 8:21 pm
If Mike had been the TV play-by-play announcer he would not have been heard doing the Stanley Cup Final since FSN does not hold the broadcast rights beyond the first round. Actually I prefer Mike on the radio, he describes the perfect picture of the game. I can put up with the delay to have him call the game for me.
Bill - June 02, 2008 at 10:47 am
Seems I brought this subject up a few months ago.
Funny how they use Mike’s game calls on commercials during the TV games to promote the team and put out a pitch for season tickets, yet he’s not good enough to call the games on TV.
I understand the brain that axed Mike from FSN isn’t there anymore, so why not buy out Steigerwald’s contract? It’s a no-brainer. Only problem as I see it is that with the Pens riding so high, ratings will be good no matter who is the game caller. Mike would be the icing on the cake.
Mike Smalley - June 21, 2008 at 09:49 am
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