The St. Louis Blues recently announced a big change to their game broadcasts that shook their fan base to the core. How you heard the news likely shaped your initial reaction, but the bottom line is that the Blues are making a big mistake.
Some people saw the social media posts thanking John Kelly for his 20-plus seasons of bringing fans the coverage on television. If that was how you found out about the news, it was confusing as to whether Kelly was retiring, leaving for health reasons, being fired, or leaving for a different opportunity.
If you saw the initial announcement from the team, things were a little more clear, but no more comforting. While there are a few extra nuts and bolts, the bottom line is that the Blues will be doing a radio-television simulcast. As someone in the broadcasting business, that is a nightmare scenario.
Just to make it clear, a lot of people likely won't notice a huge difference since many only take in the game via one or the other. Barring any further changes, Alex Ferrario will continue to do his pre- and post-game duties on 101 ESPN. The hosts of the Blues pre- and post-game on FanDuel will remain the same. Bernie Federko will continue to be an in-studio analyst, but will be joined by Jamie Rivers and, at times, Chris Pronger.
The confusion was initially about who would be announcing on the television side. The answer is simple - Chris Kerber and Joey Vitale will do both the television and radio broadcasts. This is a mistake.
Radio and television are very different styles of broadcasting. Radio is supposed to be much more descriptive so that you can paint the picture for the person who is not there and cannot see the action. Television is more about hitting the highlights and, often, allowing your analyst much more time to describe what's going on while the play-by-play announcer directs the flow of the discussion.
As broadcasters, I have no doubts that Kerber and Vitale will find a balance. As a hockey broadcaster myself, I just hate the idea.
When I'm too busy to make it home, I listen to the games on the radio, and I enjoy the banter between Kerbs and Joey. However, I don't want to hear that same goofiness on the TV side.
Conversely, radio-style broadcasting can grate on the ears of some TV viewers. As much as many loved Doc Emerick, he was very wordy and described a lot more of the action than the average television broadcaster. That won't sit well with everyone.
Beyond just the styles, this irritates me because it's a cost-cutting move, pure and simple. Nobody with the Blues will admit that, but there's no other reason any team has gone to this model. It's always to save money. Coming off the heels of them low-balling Darren Pang and now letting Kelly go, it is not a good optical move.
I saw a few fans online blaming Fan Duel, but that's not how it works. Every team has a slightly different scenario, but the teams make the decisions about who their broadcasters are. They might technically be employed by the network as far as where the paycheck comes from, but the teams have final say as to who the broadcasters are. So, at the very least, the Blues signed off on the idea of the simulcast. On top of things, Kerber is directly employed by the Blues as the director of broadcasting, so he had some input on this as well, even if directed by his superiors.
While I've accepted the fact I'll likely never reach the NHL as a broadcaster, it upsets me that positions are being eliminated. As much as everyone who gets into the business loves it, it's also a ridiculous model where people are let go at the drop of a hat just because a higher-up decided to change something.
I'll be perfectly blunt - I'm not the biggest fan of John Kelly. The thank you, thank you, thank you after goals always felt forced and cringey. However, as much as I like Kerber, I just don't like the idea of one person doing both.
It should be noted that Ken Wilson used to do both television and radio at times when he was the broadcaster, but not every game was on TV back then either.
Ultimately, a few games into the season, we probably won't even notice. For now, it's a bad idea that is driven mainly by money.