Look out, Loretta!
Pittsburgh: Keith Barnes of the Tribune-Review "Focuses" on Penguins play-by-play man Mike Lange in an article for the newspaper's Sunday magazine.Lange has now been broadcasting hockey for 38 years --- first for the Phoenix Roadrunners of the defunct Western Hockey League, then for the San Diego Gulls, and finally for the Pens since 1974. He cites the legendary Pirates' sportscaster Bob Prince as an early influence.
The 59-year-old native of Sacramento, Calif., now lives in the city's North Hills; in 2001, he received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award (named for the legendary host of Hockey Night in Canada) from the Hockey Hall of Fame for outstanding work as a broadcaster.
Lange was bumped from the Pens' TV broadcasts and now exclusively works radio broadcasts, heard on 21 stations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia, including flagships "The X" WXDX-FM (105.9) and Fox Sports WBGG (970).
Barnes doesn't mention persistent rumors that Lange might leave Pittsburgh for the chance to work on TV again, but Lange does allow that he has no plans to retire soon.
"I still enjoy what I do," he tells Barnes, "and maybe when it stops being fun I'll decide to take another avenue and try something different."
Readers’ Forum
Isn’t it ironic that some all-knowing person(s) decided that Mike Lange wasn’t the right person to any longer broadcast the Penguins’ games on TV, yet his game-calling is used in the promos broadcast during TV games?
Mike is probably the best hockey caller in the U.S. and Canada, combining knowledge and information while making the game exciting, even at those times when it’s not.
Paul Stiegerwald, who is very knowledgeable, can’t even come close to Mike’s expertise and personality.
I’m afraid, however, that those decision makers won’t change their stand for fear of eating crow and we are stuck with Stiegerwald.
Oh well, I just turn the TV sound down and the radio up and enjoy Mike while he’s still around.
Mike Smalley
West Mifflin
Mike Smalley - January 21, 2008 at 1:59 pm