Staples Twitter: Chris King & Greg “Red” Picker fired as radio voices of the isles.

[SI90]

 

[Mr Misunderstood]

Wow, as piercing as Kinger's voice could be, he was a staple of the Isles experience. Will always remember listening to his game recaps on Southern State after leaving the Coli growing up.

 

[Strummergas]

I feel bad that they lost their jobs, but not having to hear King's shriek any longer was an act of mercy by the organization.

 

[sebsisles]

Really hope we dont lose radio broadcast.

 

[PK Cronin]

They were passionate and devoted, but they were also bad at their jobs. I don't mind them being let go from those positions but I do hope they are just moved into a different area of work for the team.

 

[ekill08x]

Feel bad because they are devoted fans but not having a radio broadcast is operating like a 3rd rate organization yet again. one of the first things lou did here was make our broadcast the radio much stronger. this is stupid.

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

Feel bad because they are devoted fans but not having a radio broadcast is operating like a 3rd rate organization yet again. one of the first things lou did here was make our broadcast the radio much stronger. this is stupid.

Completely agree. This coming one day after the Lou announcement is not a good sign at all. Not so much King and Picker being let go, but the idea that there might be no radio broadcast. That is definitely a decision out of the Milstein and Gluckstern era if it is true. For any of his faults, Lou made this a professional organization from top to bottom. My concern now is that this decision was not made to better the direction of the on ice product but rather to start cutting costs.

 

[MJF]

Kinger was embarrassing. I know we love loyal employees on the Islanders but he was an awful announcer.

As for radio, it's unfortunate that the business side of broadcasting dictates that it can be done cheaper by simulcasting the tv crew over the radio. I think more and more teams are coming around to this. Soon teams will stop paying radio stations for air time altogether and just stream their radio via the teams own website.

 

[The Lighthouse]

Is simulcasting becoming a general trend? If so then I suppose it's just inevitable change. I remember the Islanders tried that years ago and quickly switched back.

 

[MJF]

Is simulcasting becoming a general trend? If so then I suppose it's just inevitable change. I remember the Islanders tried that years ago and quickly switched back.

I know the Kings are simulcasting. The Hurricanes fired Chuck Kaiton a few years ago in favor of simulcasting. He was a radio pro who went back with the franchise to the Whalers WHA days and their was a big uproar when he was let go.

People can listen to games over their phones and through their Car Play hookups now. They get streamed through the team's website. No need to buy air time from Hofstra or radio stations that only have a 50 mile reach, and no need for teams to pay for travel accommodations for a separate radio crew when the tv guys are already there. It's a sad reality because radio specific broadcasts provide a little more detail than a tv simulcast.

 

[The Lighthouse]

I know the Kings are simulcasting. The Hurricanes fired Chuck Kaiton a few years ago in favor of simulcasting. He was a radio pro who went back with the franchise to the Whalers WHA days and their was a big uproar when he was let go.

People can listen to games over their phones and through their Car Play hookups now. They get streamed through the team's website. No need to buy air time from Hofstra or radio stations that only have a 50 mile reach, and no need for teams to pay for travel accommodations for a separate radio crew when the tv guys are already there. It's a sad reality because radio specific broadcasts provide a little more detail than a tv simulcast.

Yeah, I think as long as there's a viable way to listen, it'll serve the on the go need. Not ideal, but I'm sure if it's not the trend already eventually it will be. A loss for Hofstra's program and simulcasting won't quite be the same.

 

[Thrasymachus]

Some people may call me heartless.

But THANK GOD.

They both sucked.

Picker considerably less so (I think he improved anyway over time) but he was still pretty obnoxious, and a blatant nepotism hire so it is good to see we are actually prioritizing talent over who you know.

 

[MJF]

Some people may call me heartless.

But THANK GOD.

They both sucked.

Picker considerably less so (I think he improved anyway over time) but he was still pretty obnoxious, and a blatant nepotism hire so it is good to see we are actually prioritizing talent over who you know.

Imagine that at one time we had pros lime John Wideman and then Steve Mears doing radio for us and we settled on Chris King??? Blows my mind.

 

[PK Cronin]

I know the Kings are simulcasting. The Hurricanes fired Chuck Kaiton a few years ago in favor of simulcasting. He was a radio pro who went back with the franchise to the Whalers WHA days and their was a big uproar when he was let go.

People can listen to games over their phones and through their Car Play hookups now. They get streamed through the team's website. No need to buy air time from Hofstra or radio stations that only have a 50 mile reach, and no need for teams to pay for travel accommodations for a separate radio crew when the tv guys are already there. It's a sad reality because radio specific broadcasts provide a little more detail than a tv simulcast.

I agree that radio is different so the simulcast doesn't work quite as well, but there's likely a cheaper production option that is available that could replace the radio feed and still provide that level of detail. You're right that there's no reason to actually use radio stations anymore, so they have the opportunity to do something different if they wish.

 

[Tres Peleches]

Back before I hated Tavares I could listen to King’s call of his OT goal in the playoffs that won that series over and over again

Simulcasting TV feeds is dumb, completely different way to call games

 

[Bones45]

Seems like the Isles are gunna be cutting the fat off and reducing costs. LIke most other "for profit" businesses in the current environment.

Out of the 1678 Islanders fans left on the planet -- only 587 are watching them on MSG -- how many are listening to them on radio? 12?


Shit -- Id volunteer some of us doing a real-time pod cast during the game to people who would listen.

 

[Throttle]

Imagine that at one time we had pros lime John Wideman and then Steve Mears doing radio for us and we settled on Chris King??? Blows my mind.

Mears has been bouncing around as he can’t secure a play by play tv gig - he’s doing CLB radio.

I remember he wanted to go to PIT to be closer to home or something, seems like from a professional standpoint it hasn’t been the best choice.

 

[BMOK33]

I cannot tell if this is a cost cutting measure or they're gonna go hire a more seasoned bunch. When it comes to radio though why do that

 

[Throttle]

I cannot tell if this is a cost cutting measure or they're gonna go hire a more seasoned bunch. When it comes to radio though why do that

There is no reason to hire a more seasoned or experienced bunch - that costs more money than the discount bunch they’ve had for years.

The market isn’t there. The ‘radio’ is on life support with no way to revive it.

Are you going to listen to the game on radio? Or streaming it on your phone and CarPlay it?

Picker/king were awful, which didn’t help either. I just bypassed the game if I had to listen to those two, again, stream game, listen to the actual crew.

 

[SI90]

They were passionate and devoted, but they were also bad at their jobs. I don't mind them being let go from those positions but I do hope they are just moved into a different area of work for the team.

Don’t wanna shit on Greg because he’s an absolute pro and a great guy but his dad was close friends with Wang and that’s what got him the gig.

I personally didn’t mind, I was just holy to have a radio broadcast for the isles of I was driving during a game.

 

[PK Cronin]

Don’t wanna shit on Greg because he’s an absolute pro and a great guy but his dad was close friends with Wang and that’s what got him the gig.

I personally didn’t mind, I was just holy to have a radio broadcast for the isles of I was driving during a game.

His personal connections aside, he did get better over time. I think he could have a spot somewhere with the team but neither of them are what I think of when I think of a professional broadcaster. Picker needs to grow more, the way Kevin Burkhardt did (Burkhardt is obviously better but he's grown a lot since he was on SNY for 1 minute a night).

 

[SI90]

His personal connections aside, he did get better over time. I think he could have a spot somewhere with the team but neither of them are what I think of when I think of a professional broadcaster. Picker needs to grow more, the way Kevin Burkhardt did (Burkhardt is obviously better but he's grown a lot since he was on SNY for 1 minute a night).

I don’t disagree

 

[Throttle]

Don’t wanna shit on Greg because he’s an absolute pro and a great guy but his dad was close friends with Wang and that’s what got him the gig.

I personally didn’t mind, I was just holy to have a radio broadcast for the isles of I was driving during a game.

I don’t mind that’s how he got the job. It’s more his area kissing approach to his job that he hasn’t grown out of. I’m not a fan, but he needed to be a bit more independent of his approach, always felt like he was looking over his shoulder and it showed.

 

[SI90]

Howie Chimes in. He’s not wrong

 

[Big L]

Bummer. You could stream Hofstra if you were out of the broadcast range.

Just simulcasting Brendan and Butch over the air would be terrible. There’s a difference between radio and TV broadcasting. It is not the same. TV broadcast loses a lot without the visual.