List of New York Giants broadcasters

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As of 2008, the New York Giants' flagship radio station is WFAN-AM/FM. Games that overlap with New York Yankees baseball broadcasts in the early season are carried strictly by WFAN’s AM signal at 660 AM while the Yankees broadcasts are carried strictly over the FM signal at 101.9 FM.

Preseason telecasts not seen nationally air in the area on WNBC, "NBC 4 HD."

Past[edit]

WFAN has produced the Giants' radio broadcasts since the mid-'90s, but has not always aired them on the station. The first year of production saw the games airing on the team's flagship station at the time, WOR. For the following season, the radio casts aired simultaneously on both WOR and WFAN, with the games moving solely to the latter the next year. In 1999 WFAN decided to begin airing the Giants broadcast on sister station WNEW-FM, a practice it ended after one season. The Giants' radio casts moved back to WFAN and has been there ever since.

The Giants' longtime radio home was WNEW-AM, where games aired from 1961 until 1993 when the station was bought by Bloomberg L.P. and changed its format. Marty Glickman teamed with Al DeRogatis for a long stretch beginning in the early 1960s on WNEW-AM. Chip Cipolla and later Sam Huff joined Glickman after DeRogatis left to join Curt Gowdy on NBC. After the WNEW split, games began airing on WOR. Glickman moved to the crosstown Jets in 1973 and was succeeded by Marv Albert. Jim Gordon succeeded Albert in 1977, beginning an 18-year tenure as the Giants' play-by-play voice. Meanwhile, Dick Lynch took over as color analyst in 1976 and continued in that role through the 2007 season, with his last game being Super Bowl XLII. Lynch did not return to the booth for 2008 due to illness (leukemia), which took his life in September 2008.

Eventually, Gordon and Lynch were joined by Karl Nelson, a former lineman for the Giants. Gordon and Nelson were fired after the 1994 season, after which Papa took over the play-by-play (after being studio host) and led a two-man booth with Lynch. The broadcast team would not have another third member until Dave Jennings was fired from his job as a radio analyst for the Jets in 2002. Jennings was moved to the pregame show after the 2006 season and was replaced by Carl Banks.

After WFAN began airing games Richard Neer served as pregame and postgame host. Eventually, Sid Rosenberg served as pregame and postgame host for home games. They were replaced by Chris Carlin, who in turn was replaced by Salzberg for 2008.

The Giants were carried on the DuMont Network, then CBS (New York's Channel 2) in the early TV days of the NFL, when home games were blacked out within a 75-mile radius of New York City. Chris Schenkel was their play-by-play announcer in that early era when each team was assigned its own network voice on its regional telecasts. At the time, there were few if any true national telecasts until the NFL championship game, which was carried by NBC. Schenkel was joined by Jim McKay, later Johnny Lujack through the 1950s and the early 1960s. As Giants players retired to the broadcast booth in the early and 1960s, first Pat Summerall, then Frank Gifford took the color analyst slot next to Schenkel. As the 1970 merger of the NFL and AFL approached, CBS moved to a more generic announcer approach and Schenkel was off the broadcasts.

Giants regular-season Sunday telecasts moved to Fox when that network took over NFC telecasts in 1994.

Broadcasters by year[edit]

Years Flagship station Play-by-Play Color commentator Sideline reporter
1940 WHN Dick Fishell Bert Lee
1941 WHN Dick Fishell Bert Lee
1942 WHN Red Barber Alan Hale
1943 WHN Red Barber Connie Desmond
1944 WHN Red Barber Connie Desmond
1945 WHN Red Barber Connie Desmond
1946 WHN Red Barber Connie Desmond
1947 WHN Connie Desmond Stan Lomax
1948 WMGM Connie Desmond Bert Lee
1949 WMGM Marty Glickman Harold Holtz
1950 WMGM Ted Husing Marty Glickman
1951 WMGM Marty Glickman Ernie Harwell
1952-1953 WMGM Marty Glickman Chris Schenkel
1954-1955 WMGM Marty Glickman Johnny Most
1956 WINS Les Keiter Tommy Henrich
1957 WINS Les Keiter John Condon
1958 WCBS Les Keiter Jack Drees
1959 WCBS Les Keiter Tom Dowd
1960 WCBS Mel Allen
1961 WNEW Marty Glickman Joe Hasel and Al DeRogatis
1962–1963 WNEW Marty Glickman Al DeRogatis
1964–1966 WNEW Marty Glickman Kyle Rote and Al DeRogatis
1967 WNEW Marty Glickman Chip Cipolla and Al DeRogatis
1968 WNEW Marty Glickman Chip Cipolla and Charlie Conerly
1969-1971 WNEW Marty Glickman Chip Cipolla
1972 WNEW Marty Glickman Chip Cipolla and Sam Huff
1973-1974 WNEW Marv Albert Chip Cipolla and Sam Huff
1975 WNEW Marv Albert Chip Cipolla and Dick Lynch
1976 WNEW Marv Albert Dick Lynch
1977-1987 WNEW Jim Gordon Dick Lynch
1988-1992 WNEW Jim Gordon Karl Nelson and Dick Lynch
1993 WOR Jim Gordon Karl Nelson and Dick Lynch
1994-1995 WOR Bob Papa Dick Lynch
1996-2001 WFAN Bob Papa Dick Lynch
2002–2006 WFAN Bob Papa Dick Lynch and Dave Jennings
2007 WFAN Bob Papa Dick Lynch and Carl Banks Howard Cross
2008–present WFAN Bob Papa Carl Banks Howard Cross

[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Halberstam, David J. (1999). Sports on New York Radio. McGraw-Hill.