List of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim broadcasters

One of the primary reasons why Los Angeles was awarded an American League expansion franchise for the 1961 season was because actor/singer turned broadcast mogul Gene Autry wanted to secure radio broadcast rights for the newly planned Los Angeles American League franchise. His KMPC (710 AM, now KSPN) was the radio home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, from the time they arrived from Brooklyn, New York in time for the 1958 baseball season, and actually came away from the 1960 Winter Meetings with his own baseball team.

Radio

Naturally, KMPC became the longtime radio outlet for Angels games throughout Southern California, although was a period from 1998 to 2002 that KLAC (570 AM) became the team's flagship radio home. However, the Angels returned to their ancestral radio home at 710 AM, now since rechristened KSPN-AM, Los Angeles's ESPN Radio-operated outlet.

Team owner Arte Moreno recently purchased his own radio station, KMXE (830 AM), an Orange County, California-licensed Spanish-language formatted station. This station could possibly become the English-language outlet for Angels games, when their contract with KSPN expires. By mid-2006, 830 AM's programming was mostly in English (the principal exception being Angels games in Spanish), and the station's call was changed to KLAA. In October 2007, the Angels announced that KWKW would carry games in Spanish, and KLAA will carry Angels games in English, although games that conflict with Anaheim Ducks games will be transferred to another station. [ [http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/oct/19/no-headline---sc2fccarlislecol19-fc/ Carlisle: East county fans still cranning ears : Columnists : Ventura County Star ] ]

Television

On the television side, the then-KHJ-TV (Channel 9) was the team's original home, until the start of the 1964 season, when Autry moved the Angels to his then-newly purchased KTLA (Channel 5). KTLA remained the Angels home for 32 seasons (while also carrying Dodgers games from 1993 to 2001). The Angels returned to Channel 9, now at this time renamed KCAL-TV, because The Walt Disney Company bought a stake of the team and eventually became the full owner after Gene Autry's death in 1998. At the time the broadcast rights were secured before the 1996 season, Disney had owned KCAL, until they were forced to sell the station when it bought ABC. Due to FCC regulations at the time, Disney could not own two television stations in the same city, as ABC owned KABC-TV.

KCAL remained the home of Angels baseball for 10 seasons, until the 2005 season. The station began broadcasting Dodgers games, starting in the 2006 season. When Moreno took over as owner, starting in the 2004 season, he made sure more games were available for fans. Most Angels fans were accustomed to seeing probably more than 100 games annually, but the Angels televised more than 140 games, the most in franchise history. In addition to the 50 telecasts each on KCAL and FSN West, the remaining telecasts were spread between UHF outlets KPXN (Channel 30, a Pax/i O&O) and the hometown-based independent station KDOC (Channel 56). In 2005, just KCAL and FSN West combined to televise about 140 games.

On April 3, 2006, the Angels and its cable broadcaster partner, Fox Sports Net West, finalized a 10-year, $500 million deal. This deal voids the previous one in which FSN West would only televise a minimum of 50 games annually until 2008. In this current deal, FSN West would own the rights to 150 locally-televised games annually, with 100 airing on West, while its sister over-the-air station, KCOP (Channel 13) will televise 50 contests. The remaining games would either air exclusively on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball or on Fox Television's Saturday Baseball Game of the Week package.

Broadcasters

Many broadcasters have come and gone over the years, as with any other sports franchise, and the Angels are no exception. Many notable voices have included current Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, legendary voice of the Seattle Mariners, Dave Niehaus, legendary broadcasters Dick Enberg and Joe Garagiola, late Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale, Hall of Fame outfielder Reggie Jackson, current Detroit Tigers TV voice Mario Impemba, current Arizona Diamondbacks TV announcer Daron Sutton (son of Hall of Famer Don Sutton), and Hall of Famer manager Sparky Anderson. Enberg is the broadcaster most associated with the Angels, famous for his pet phrases "Oh, My!" and "And the halo shines tonight!". He used both of these phrases during the World Series' victory celebration of the Angels in 2002 while addressing the crowd.

Others such as Bob Starr, Paul Olden, Larry Kahn and Al Elconin served as Angel broadcasters. Starr and Olden, along with Dick Enberg, were former Los Angeles Rams play-by-play announcers concurrent with their Angels duties. Elconin's broadcasting style was very similar to that of Dodgers' Hall of Famer Vin Scully. Longtime San Diego Padres and New York Yankees legend Jerry Coleman had a brief stint with the Angels in the early-1970s before joining the Padres.

The current lineup of Angels broadcasters are Steve Physioc (TV and radio play-by-play), former Major League player Rex Hudler (TV and radio analyst), Jose Mota (the lead analyst on the Spanish radio broadcasts), Rory Markas (radio and TV play-by-play), and Terry Smith (radio play-by-play). Mota and FSN West/Prime Ticket analyst Mark Gubicza worked 50 telecasts (mostly road) in 2007 for FSN West and KCOP, while Physioc and Hudler continued as the lead TV broadcast team for the Angels, working the remaining 100 local broadcasts. Veteran Spanish sportscaster Amaury Pi-Gonzalez joined the team for Spanish radio play-by-play for the 2007 season, replacing Ivan Lara.

Terry Smith, who handles mostly the middle innings, has been referred to by some as this generation's Harry Kalas, due to the fact that Smith often uses Kalas' famous phrases as "this ball is out-ta here" on an Angels home run, or "struck him out" when the Angels strike out an opposing batter. Markas, who uses his famous phrase "Just another Halo victory!" is also a broadcaster for the USC Basketball team.

It was announced on November 30, 2007 [ [http://origin.sgvtribune.com/sports/ci_759549 SGVTribune.com - Sports ] ] that the Angels will restructure their broadcasting teams for the upcoming season. With that, Rory Markas will work 75 games on television with Mark Gubicza as analyst, Steve Phyisoc and Rex Hudler (whose contracts were renewed) will continue to work the remaining games on TV, but will move to the radio side whenever Markas and Gubicza work on TV. Markas will continue as the lead radio play-by-play announcer for the games Physioc and Hudler do for TV. Terry Smith will continue his role as the #2 radio play-by-play man, while Jose Mota will return to his previous role as in-game reporter on TV and Spanish radio analyst.

Markas and Gubicza previously worked a three-game series for FSN West between the Angels and Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto, on August 13-15, 2007.

Broadcasters through the years

Broadcast outlets throughout the years

Radio

*KMPC/KSPN (710 AM), 1961-97, 2003-2007
*KLAC (570 AM), 1998-2002
*KTNQ (1020 AM, Spanish), 2001?-2005
*KLAA (830 AM), Spanish, 2006-2007; English, 2008-present
*KWKW (1330 AM, Spanish), 2008-present

Over the air television

*KHJ-TV/KCAL (Channel 9), 1961-63, 1996-2005
*KTLA (Channel 5), 1964-95
*KPXN (Channel 30), 2004
*KDOC (Channel 56), 2004
*KCOP (Channel 13), 2006-present

Cable television

*Fox Sports Net West (formerly Prime Ticket, Prime Sports West), 1990-present

See also

* List of current Major League Baseball announcers

References