Years ago, when reading a "helpful tips" broadcasting article authored by a radio consultant, something really struck me: that the "e" (as in "et cetera") and "i" (as in "in")
possess completely different sounds, and should be not interchangeable. Fortunately, I was raised to speak that way, so imagine my level of intolerance for Goldsmith, who repeatedly says the batter, "hits a long drive to cinter" (not "center") and that the Mariners are, "playing good definse tonight" (not "defense").
It annoys me greatly that an announcer who pronounces the "t" in the last name "Barton" with jarring emphasis is somehow too lazy to pull his jaw back a tiny bit more in order to say, "friendly confines" instead of, "frindly confines." But he does, and I wrote him about it last year. No response.
Yet Goldsmith did something really cool last night, as he prompted the engineer back at the radio studio in Seattle to drop in the recorded station ID, as stations are required to do at the top of every hour. When AG called for the ID, nothing was heard but crowd noise from the stadium; the person running the soundboard was either distracted or sleeping.
So later, when Goldsmith mentioned the names of the small staff of broadcasters on hand working the Mariners-Angels game, he said the board operator (who was likely an intern) was, "running a tight board back at our studios." It could have been a little jab aimed at the mistake, it could have been for the purpose of encouragement, and it could have been a nice way to let management know that the person in question was basically doing his work well despite that goof. Methinks it was all three--quite clever.
Mariners radio listeners have really missed fan favorite Dave Niehaus, who died
in 2010--Niehaus was a terrific storyteller the way Ernie Harwell was in Detroit. For the 2011-2012 seasons, Seattle used a rotating radio cast rather than replacing the late Niehaus outright, and I often enjoyed it.
My favorite radio moment from those years was when Ken Levine--besides working for the Dodgers, Padres and Orioles, Levine was a screenwriter for "Cheers," "The Simpsons" and other TV shows--was calling a tremendous catch made in the outfield. Uncharacteristically, he couldn't find the right phrase to convey to the listener, but that's what made it really fun. Said Levine: "If any superlatives about that catch would come to mind, I'd be using them right now!"