List of WHA broadcasters
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After CBS lost the American television rights of the National Hockey League to NBC following the 1971-72 season (CBS was paying less than $2 million a year and NBC jumped to $5.3 million{{cite news |last=Craig|first=Jack|title=NHL finds NBC coverage more to its liking |url=http://i.imgur.com/e1O9Sj9.png}}), the network covered{{cite news |last=Duncan|first=Stephen|date=April 7, 1973|title=The Financial Post - Page 11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HmY_AAAAIBAJ&dq=World+Hockey+Association+CBS+1973&pg=PA11&article_id=2544,64955|work=The Financial Post|location= |access-date=June 2, 2024}} the inaugural season of the World Hockey Association.{{cite book|title=First, Fourth and Last|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3y7_6s4CnQYC&q=NHL+on+CBS&pg=PA60 |author=Jonathan Lucas|page=60|publisher=Trafford Publishing|isbn= 9781425111311|year=2007}} The WHA's TV deal{{cite news |last=Eskenazi|first=Gerald|date=October 27, 1972|title=Raiders Win, 7-6|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/27/archives/raiders-win-76-wha-gets-tv-pact.html|work=The New York Times}}{{cite news |last= |first= |date=October 27, 1972|title=Cbs Will Televise Wha. - Page 22|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hn4xAAAAIBAJ&dq=World+Hockey+Association+CBS&pg=PA22&article_id=2046,3379265|work=The Montreal Gazette|location= |access-date=June 14, 2024}} permitted it to sell week‐night games to other networks (CBS meanwhile, would show games on Sunday afternoons in addition the all-star game and playoffs{{cite web |url=https://www.nhl.com/sharks/news/looking-back-at-the-wha/c-472963|title=Looking Back At The WHA|date=November 21, 2005|website=NHL.com}}). In addition, the WHA also sold a $3‐million package to Canada.
On January 7, 1973, CBS aired its first WHA game between the Minnesota Fighting Saints and Winnipeg Jets live from the new St. Paul Civic Center with Ron Oakes, Gerry Cheevers and Dick Stockton announcing. Don Chevrier would also provide play-by-play for CBS{{cite news |last=McDonald|first=L. Ian|date=April 23, 1973|title=Networks Desert Usual Easter Fare. With A Five Part ... - Page 20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAwyAAAAIBAJ&dq=World+Hockey+Association+CBS+playoffs&pg=PA20&article_id=1063,6291535|work=The Montreal Gazette|location= |access-date=June 14, 2024}} come the 1973 playoffs. CBS' contract{{cite news |last=Duncan|first=Stephen|date=April 7, 1973|title=The Financial Post - Page 11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HmY_AAAAIBAJ&dq=World+Hockey+Association+CBS+playoffs&pg=PA11&article_id=2544,64955|work=The Financial Post|location= |access-date=June 14, 2024}} with the WHA overall, called for the network to broadcast a maximum of 10 games during the 1972–73 and 1973–74 seasons and a bigger slate of games for the 1974–75 and 1975–76 seasons.
Local broadcasters
{{see also|Historical NHL over-the-air television broadcasters}}
=Notes=
- Chicago Bulls basketball began airing on channel 44 in 1973; WSNS-TV broadcast the Bulls' full 41-game road schedule, making the Bulls the only NBA team at the time with every road game broadcast on television.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106074652/ringmaster-in-the-bulls-eye/|date=October 14, 1973|page=TV Week 5|first=Bob|last=Logan|title=Ringmaster in the Bulls-eye|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 23, 2022|archive-date=July 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723211337/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106074652/ringmaster-in-the-bulls-eye/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106074738/bulls-tv-contract-canceled/|date=May 18, 1976|page=4:1|first=Bob|last=Logan|title=Bulls' TV contract canceled|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 23, 2022|archive-date=July 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723211337/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106074738/bulls-tv-contract-canceled/|url-status=live}} That same year, channel 44 began airing World Hockey Association hockey with the Chicago Cougars{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106074664/owen-marshall-degenerates-to-record-low/|date=February 1, 1974|page=1:13|first=Gary|last=Deeb|title=Owen Marshall degenerates to record low|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 23, 2022|archive-date=July 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723211337/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106074664/owen-marshall-degenerates-to-record-low/|url-status=live}}.{{cite news|title=Bob Luce: 1928 - 2007 A promoter extraordinaire: Staging pro wrestling shows was a labor of love for Bob Luce|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2007/02/13/bob-luce-1928-2007/|first=Michael|last=Hirsley|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=February 13, 2007|access-date=September 10, 2015|archive-date=October 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018070533/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007-02-13/news/0702130157_1_wrestling-gorgeous-george-person|url-status=live}} The Cougars and Bulls were called by Lorn Brown.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106169345/more-to-new-voices-than-meets-the-ear/|date=April 4, 1982|page=Baseball 10|first=Stan|last=Isaacs|title=More to New Voices Than Meets the Ear|newspaper=Newsday|location=Melville, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 23, 2022|archive-date=July 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723211339/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106169345/more-to-new-voices-than-meets-the-ear/|url-status=live}}
- The Michigan Stags' radio station was WWJ 950. Gary Morrel was play-by-play announcer while Norm Plummer handled color commentary. (At least one broadcast had only two sponsors mentioned: Nolwood Chemical, a company owned by the Stags' owners, and the Stags themselves.) Michigan played just one game on local television: the season opener against the Indianapolis Racers, broadcast live from Indianapolis on WXON Channel 20. Detroit radio icon Vince Doyle called play-by-play and former Red Wing Marty Pavelich was the color commentator. The Stags won the game, 4-2, but few saw it; the Stags were up against game five of the 1974 World Series. Eight other games were scheduled to be televised but money became a problem by mid-November, especially after Michigan lost 11 of their next 12 following their season-opening win.
- Games of the original Minnesota Fighting Saints were heard on WLOL Radio (1330 AM) from 1972 to 1976, with Frank Buetel as play-by-play announcer. Buetel was the original TV voice of the NHL's Minnesota North Stars from 1967 to 1970 on WTCN-TV (now KARE-TV). Buetel's color commentators included Roger Buxton and Bob Halvorson, the Saints' first-season public relations director (1972–73), and Bill Allard (1973–76). Al Hirt's version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" was used as the theme song for WLOL's Fighting Saints broadcasts. No local radio station carried games of the New Fighting Saints (1976–77). Fighting Saints games were televised sporadically on WTCN from 1973 to 1975. The first WTCN game was a home contest versus Cleveland on December 23, 1973, with Buetel and Allard simulcasting. Buxton called subsequent games on WTCN. In the 1973–74 season, one Saints home game was carried on KTCA-TV (PBS). No local TV station aired games of the New Fighting Saints.
- WLOL carried University of Minnesota sports for many years. Ray Christensen announced Gopher football until the mid-1960s, when he moved to WCCO and continued as the Gophers' announcer. Frank Buetel announced Gopher football, hockey and basketball games in the 1970s. From 1972 to 1976, WLOL aired games of the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the World Hockey Association, with Buetel announcing.
- In 1974, Bill Rasmussen moved south to Hartford, Connecticut, to join the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association as their communications director. At the conclusion of the 1977–78 season, Rasmussen was fired by the Whalers. Thus began the pursuit of ESPN, incorporating the fledgling network on July 14, 1978.{{cite web|url=http://www.espnfounder.com/about_bill.htm|title=ESPN Founder - About Bill Rasmussen|access-date=5 November 2016|archive-date=June 8, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608123733/http://espnfounder.com/about_bill.htm|url-status=dead}}
- Bob Neumeier's first job in broadcasting began in 1975 on WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut, where he called play-by-play of the Whalers, working with Bill Rasmussen and Larry Pleau; among their calls was the famous "Brawl at the Mall" in April 1975 during a playoff series with the Minnesota Fighting Saints.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsEz1BtBICc April 11, 1975 Whalers-Fighting Saints brawl] from YouTube In 1979, Neumeier left the Whalers to become the sports anchor at WFSB in Hartford.
See also
References
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{{WHA}}
{{Hockey Night in Canada}}
{{NHL on CBS}}
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