Chris King and Greg Picker won’t be going on the road with the National Hockey League team they handle play-by-play for, unless it involves match-ups at Madison Square Garden, the Prudential Center or Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center.
It marks the latest cost-cutting move from a pro team regarding radio coverage of their live games, and it involves the New York Islanders, the NHL franchise that calls Long Island its home.
The Islanders cited organizational reasons for the decision, Streamline Publishing’s Radio Ink reports. Unlike most NHL teams, the Islanders’ broadcast crew does not travel on team charters, adding an extra cost for road coverage. MSG Networks TV announcers, who are not part of the Islanders’ organization, will continue to cover road games in person.
This means the Islanders radio team will mostly be working from Hofstra University’s radio studios. The first of these remote broadcasts is Saturday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
Radio hosts for the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and the English-language hosts for the Montreal Canadiens have also been absent from calling games on the road. This infamously led to a gaffe during a Maple Leafs game, where a game-winning goal was attributed to the wrong player by announcer Joe Bowen.
New York Islanders radio broadcasts can be heard on ESPN Radio in New York, Hofstra’s WRHU-FM 88.7 in Nassau County, and JVC Broadcasting-owned WRCN-FM in Suffolk County.
