Broadcasting Memories! (posted March 10, 2010)

Well, folks, this is my first blog as the new radio voice of the Nashville Sounds and I am delighted to be here in the Music City and to make my move up the ladder after a marvelous decade of covering a variety of sports in San Antonio, Texas, including the play-by-play assignment as one of the radio voices of the San Antonio Missions, the AA affiliate of the San Diego Padres.

As a young man growing up in New York City, I have been fortunate to listen to many of the great voices of sport, especially in baseball. My father, Uncles, Aunts and other old relatives listened to the likes of Mel Allen, Russ Hodges, Red Barber and Ernie Harwell. There was Marty Glickman, who broadcast the New York Football Giants and the New York Knicks, Win Elliott doing the Rangers and Les Keiter doing re-creations of the Dodgers and Giants after they moved out to the West Coast in the late 50s.

For yours truly, it was Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner for the Mets, Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Jerry Coleman and Bill White for the Yankees, my friend, the late great Merle Harmon who did the New York Jets Football games (albeit he broadcast over sports locally and nationally elsewhere) and my fellow Brooklyn Native and Abraham Lincoln High School Alumnus, Marv Albert. During my youth, Marv was the radio voice of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers. For a time, he also broadcast for the New York Football Giants. Marv had moved on to bigger things with NBC, TNT and current does the New Jersey Nets on Television and NFL Football on Westwood One.

I also enjoyed the dulcet tones of Bob Wolff, who was the Knicks and Rangers’ TV play-by-play voice in the 60s and 70s. Bob would just stick with the Knicks after the 1969-70 season (their first championship year) and Jim Gordon would eventually wind up being the TV voice of the Hockey Rangers and the radio voice of the Football Giants when Marty Glickman moved to the Jets in 1973.

As a youngster growing up in New York City, these great men were my “friends on the radio and the tube”. I relied on these broadcasters to keep me abreast on what is happening with the sports teams. This inspired me to want to become a broadcaster and I am glad that I have been able to follow my dream and be on the same path as these great announcers before me.

I saw Championships in New York City in the late 60s and early 70s and again in the late 70s. I was energized by the great Sam Rosen’s call of “This one will last a lifetime”, meaning the New York Rangers ending a 54 year drought with their 1994 Stanley Cup Championship on June 14, 1994. Sam had replaced Jim Gordon as the Rangers’ TV Voice in the late 80s and has been at it since. He also has done play-by-play for NFL Football on Fox Television.

I have been fortunate enough to broadcast in places like Eugene, Oregon, Salem, VA, Hagerstown, MD., Jacksonville, Florida, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Davenport, Iowa and San Antonio, Texas and I was thrilled to see 3 Texas League Championships during my tenure in San Antonio and two Southland Conference Championships with the UT-San Antonio Women’s Basketball team capturing the honor in 2008 and 2009.

Now as I begin my quest as the Sounds’ radio voice, I wish the same for the ballclub and I know they are in good hands with Don Money leading the way. Money had a long career with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Milwaukee Brewers and what lies ahead for the club, remains to be seen. Cutdown day to trim the rosters is coming up and I will be heading to Spring Training next Monday night and I will have daily blogs on my experiences at Brewers’ camp in Phoenix, Arizona. Please feel free to follow me next week and all season long as I capture the excitement and great moments as I continue on as a Scribe for the Sounds on this blog! Please feel free to address any comments/suggestions you may have.

I look forward to meet the Sounds fans and to continue to make friends here in Nashville.

As for those great announcers that I mentioned, I hope that i can leave an indelible mark in the broadcasting field for years to come. Still, I am here for you, the fan. To inform, entertain, report and to share my passion of this great game of baseball with you fans.

Thank you for reading! I will speak out again real soon!

–Stu Paul

• Posted on March 18, 2010 at 9:56 am