Kerber and Vitale

[oldbattler]

Feel bad for those who can only listen to the broadcast.

These two go minutes not moments when there is no idea where the puck is or what is happening.

You get what you pay for.

Listened to half of tonight's game on radio. Thought they were great. Bring energy.

Perfect? No. But I've never heard perfect hockey radio.

yup.. people are just dogpiling, as usual. they're actually not bad

Not dog piling here.

They rant on for long stretches not identifying players or even what zone the puck is in.

Fans are having to try and recognize uniform numbers or names on the back of opposing jerseys to know who's making a play even when watching.

That's not professional and it's a poor way of doing the job.

+1

[netboy65]

I’m guessing once the on ice product becomes better, people will tolerate the announcers more.

[BobbyOrr]

Feel bad for those who can only listen to the broadcast.

These two go minutes not moments when there is no idea where the puck is or what is happening.

You get what you pay for.

Listened to half of tonight's game on radio. Thought they were great. Bring energy.

Perfect? No. But I've never heard perfect hockey radio.

yup.. people are just dogpiling, as usual. they're actually not bad

Not at all, I have 58 yrs of hockey listening to many teams, They are AWFUL !

[11WSChamps]

I’m guessing once the on ice product becomes better, people will tolerate the announcers more.

If its not up to standards its not.

The play of the team should have nothing to do with quality of broadcast.

[blues2112]

Kerber’s a parody of a bad play-by-play guy, while Vitale, one suspects, is in a work-release program for village idiots. Unlistenable. Makes me much less likely inclned to tune in,

Well put, hard to deny.


Kerber is perhaps average on his own, but at this point should have done the work to become better. Something he does miserably is escalate accordingly. He routinely gets worked up about mundane events, leading one to believe something exciting has happened - then will do the opposite at other times. He also makes wrong calls quite often. Is the guy even paying attention? Is he too distracted by Vitale? I'm assuming they're just watching the broadcast like we are, but he has called "tried to go 5 hole on that one" when it was up in the goalie's chest, and "beats him on the ice" when the puck was elevated over the pad (then Vitale added to the blunder).

We went from world class and SC to circus act and last place.

Rivers is "world class"?

[Old_Goat]

They are affordable placeholders until it's time to run the next advertisements.

A thought regarding the comments about having two separate broadcast teams, one for radio and one for TV. Up until the late 1980s and the expansion of cable TV and even into the late 1990s when digital cameras and high definition fiber became more prevalent, hockey was difficult to watch on TV, so it was not televised as much. It still is difficult to follow for the casual and unknowledgeable fan. And TV revenue is important to hockey, but relative to other sports it is much less % than ticket revenue. So, if not in the rink, the live action came over the radio. And the truly exceptional sports announcers & "color" commentators really shined through particularly in hockey (e.g. Dan Kelly). And when the occasional games were televised, it made no sense to have more than one crew announce. And as we watched on TV, it was special because we could see the game for ourselves, but even more with the naturally added "color" & analysis of those fantastic announcers as they maintained their established ways to help us "see" and feel and understand what was happening.
Today, fewer fans tune-in on radio than on TV. So, the radio announcers can get away with not being so great, because there is less demand. Kerber may be able to pick it up with some critical feedback and coaching. I do not believe that Vitale can.
One other point, there were no TV timeouts back in the day. They packed commercials in during intermissions, you may actually miss a little bit of action, particularly during the mandated FCC breaks every 30 minutes to identify the broadcast provider. And the comment about the short split screen commercial breaks at stops in play are so unfortunate, because THAT is practically the only time Vitale should be talking in order to quickly explain what/why just happened with potentially a short replay illustrator.

[AL57]

I tried listening to them for two games; no more. I mute the game and put on some background music.....it's really too bad over what we've had before this year...

[AL57]

Feel bad for those who can only listen to the broadcast.

These two go minutes not moments when there is no idea where the puck is or what is happening.

You get what you pay for.

Listened to half of tonight's game on radio. Thought they were great. Bring energy.

Perfect? No. But I've never heard perfect hockey radio.

yup.. people are just dogpiling, as usual. they're actually not bad

Not at all, I have 58 yrs of hockey listening to many teams, They are AWFUL !

+100

[Big_G]

Feel bad for those who can only listen to the broadcast.

These two go minutes not moments when there is no idea where the puck is or what is happening.

You get what you pay for.

Listened to half of tonight's game on radio. Thought they were great. Bring energy.

Perfect? No. But I've never heard perfect hockey radio.

Obviously, you've never heard Dan Kelly announce a hockey game.

[netboy65]

I’m guessing once the on ice product becomes better, people will tolerate the announcers more.

If its not up to standards its not.

The play of the team should have nothing to do with quality of broadcast.

It shouldn’t, but it does. People are already upset with the play, so not in the greatest mood and are set off much easier.
Kerbs and Vitale do tend to drift, but I’m watching, I can see what’s going on.

[11WSChamps]

I’m guessing once the on ice product becomes better, people will tolerate the announcers more.

If its not up to standards its not.

The play of the team should have nothing to do with quality of broadcast.

It shouldn’t, but it does. People are already upset with the play, so not in the greatest mood and are set off much easier.
Kerbs and Vitale do tend to drift, but I’m watching, I can see what’s going on.

Yeah you and I and others maybe can but others can't and they don't have all the opponent numbers memorized.

[11WSChamps]

Feel bad for those who can only listen to the broadcast.

These two go minutes not moments when there is no idea where the puck is or what is happening.

You get what you pay for.

Listened to half of tonight's game on radio. Thought they were great. Bring energy.

Perfect? No. But I've never heard perfect hockey radio.

Obviously, you've never heard Dan Kelly announce a hockey game.

With Kelly if you turned on the radio in the middle of the game you couldn't tell if the Blues were winning or losing that's how objective he was.

He kept the listener engaged not wandering off into never never land.

[kimzey59]

I tried listening to them for two games; no more. I mute the game and put on some background music.....it's really too bad over what we've had before this year...

Benny Hill music, right?

[Blues Dave]

I'm a Blues lifer since their creation. As I said in my only other post on this subject (not in this thread) it's not necessary for me to talk down about the broadcasters they brought in, so I said the old "if it ain't broke, don'tfix it." But it's much more meaningful to me and probably those who listened to Johns dad Dan on the radio as he taught me the game of NHL hockey. John can take honor in becoming the voice of the Blues just as his dad once was.

Not the same person, but another great broadcaster. This time, with the name, "John" Kelly. And John Kelly should still be a part of Blues hockey. I have come to respect the Blues organization for doing the good guy stuff, doing the right thing. And I couldn't always say that. But this won't go away. If it isn't corrected, this will be an unforgetable black era of the St. Louis Blues organization.

[AL57]

I tried listening to them for two games; no more. I mute the game and put on some background music.....it's really too bad over what we've had before this year...

Benny Hill music, right?

[zuck698]

Well thanks to good old Joe, I learned tonight the age old question of what a bakers dozen is! This as Seattle is hemming us in our own zone, we are going to get baking lessons? Man I miss JK.