Hard times for hockey fans
Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix: Pittsburgh's status as the ninth-largest TV market in the U.S. was a prime reason for locating one of six National Hockey League expansion franchises in the city.
So said Joe Gordon, then public relations director for the brand-new Pittsburgh Penguins, in 1967.
The other cities receiving expansion teams that season were Philadelphia, St. Louis, Minnesota, Los Angeles and San Francisco-Oakland.
The city's reputation as "a good sports town" was the main reason Pittsburgh was selected for an NHL franchise, Gordon told the Charleroi Rotary Club. But he noted that the NHL planned to televise hockey games both locally and nationally, and "all six cities rank high in the TV market."
Although cable TV was around in 1969, it mainly existed to carry over-the-air broadcasts to people who couldn't receive them easily with an antenna. There was no ESPN (that channel wasn't launched until 1979) and no Fox Sports, which launched in 1996.
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You can talk about the "good old days," but those early years were tough for the Penguins, who won only 27 games their first season.
And that season was marked by tragedy in the broadcast booth. While calling a Penguins game for CBS Radio on Christmas Day, sportscaster Tom Lynch collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack. Lynch, who worked for WPSL (1510) in Monroeville, was just 44.
Locally, WTAE-TV (4) carried the games during the Penguins' first season, usually pre-empting what was then a weak ABC lineup. By 1969-70, however, the games were being shared between WTAE and WPGH-TV (53).
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WPGH's weak UHF signal was difficult to receive in most of the Pittsburgh area, and most of the independent station's schedule was comprised of black-and-white movies or returns of network shows.
Naturally, no one was too concerned about pre-empting programs on WPGH, because no one was watching the channel anyway.
Unfortunately, as the Penguins and the NHL found out to their unhappiness, few people were watching hockey, either. The team would change owners three times by 1971, when Pens' games moved to WIIC-TV (11) under a three-year exclusive contract. The station aired about a dozen games each season.
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Play-by-play on WIIC was handled primarily by the station's sports director, Sam Nover, who had also called games for the NHL's Red Wings in his native Detroit. (Nover took his job as "Voice of the Penguins" seriously. He got into an on-air feud with two Pittsburgh Press sportswriters during the 1971-72 season after they criticized the Penguins.)
Beginning in 1970, radio coverage was provided by KDKA (1020), with play-by-play from Penguins' PR man Jim Forney, who had previously worked at WHP-TV in Harrisburg and WLAN radio in Lancaster.
A new broadcaster, Mike Lange, became the lead radio broadcaster during the 1974-75 season, but he was absent during the 1975-76 season, when the team entered bankruptcy.
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That was also the year that Pens games moved to Pittsburgh's new all-news radio station, KQV (1410), which became the radio flagship for one season.
The team was unhappy with KDKA's continual pre-emption of Penguins games for Pirates baseball and Duquesne Dukes basketball. Gary Morrell handed the play-by-play duties that year, before moving to Los Angeles to take a TV news job.
Lange came back to the Penguins booth during the 1976-77 season, while former Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince joined the struggling hockey team as director of community relations ... just in time for the games to return to the radio station that had fired the "Gunner," KDKA.
Though he handled the TV play-by-play chores for two seasons, it quickly became obvious that Prince was better suited to baseball than hockey, and Forney became the Pens' television voice for the 1978-79 season, when the games had moved back to WPGH. (Lange's coverage would be simulcast on radio and TV, starting the next year.)
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Speaking of Duquesne, Penguins broadcasts in the early years were sponsored by Duquesne Brewing Co., though "Duke" was no longer sold at the Civic Arena after December 1972. That's when Duquesne's parent company, Schmidt Brewing of Philadelphia, closed the brewery on Pittsburgh's South Side.
While beer bearing the "Duke" label would continue to be sold in Pittsburgh for a while longer, the city-county Public Auditorium Authority passed an ordinance forbidding the arena from selling malt beverages not brewed in Allegheny County.
Yep, the 1970s were hard times for local beer drinkers. And with the games bouncing from station to station, and from announcer to announcer, those were also hard times for Penguins fans who wanted to follow the action on radio or TV.
Although Duquesne Beer is long gone, the Penguins are flying high, and with all-sports WBGG (970) and Fox Sports carrying the team's entire schedule, it's always a hockey night in Pittsburgh.
If you're a Pens fan, maybe the "good old days" are right now!
Readers’ Forum
I’m a transplanted Pittsburgher who doesn’t get enough hockey and who reads this site to some of his fix of hometown news. Thanks for the memories!
Jan Marcus - April 28, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Doesn’t WXDX 105.9 carry all the games and get out better than 970 AM?
Jason - April 28, 2008 at 6:29 pm
What is this “FM” of which you speak?
Yes, WXDX is also a “flagship” of the Penguins network.
Congratulations, you win PBRTV’s Weekly Nitpicker Award! It consists of a starfleet communicator pinned to a cluster of model train tracks.
Helen Waite, PBRTV Complaint Dept. - April 29, 2008 at 10:23 am
I have a question that I hope you can answer. I could swear I remember watching the 1975 Penguins playoff series with the Islanders, especially that sad game 7, on TV but a friend of mine says they were not on TV back then. He says he had to listen to it on the radio. Can you resolve this debate for me and give me details like what channel broadcast the game? I was 15 at the time and my memory is deteriorating so maybe I am just imagining it. Many thanks if you can answer this.
Tom Wash - May 02, 2008 at 11:22 am
For a couple more years, after WPGH became our Fox station, they continued to show Penguins games, which I would think moved to KDKA for a while. Incidentally, maybe you could do a Monday Nostalgia thing on how WPGH became our Fox affiliate 22 years ago.
JP - July 15, 2008 at 07:19 am
It was great to read this early history of Penguin hockey on radio & tv. Jim Forney was my favorite hockey play by play man. Joe Starkey followed Forney on the radio before Mike Lange. Starkey’s trademark goal call ; “Oh! What a Bonanza!”
Also, Sam Nover teamed with colorman Greg Benedetti on WIIC games.
Jeff - April 11, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Very interesting Jason! And those were the days!! The Pens were also on WEEP/1080 and WEEP-FM 107.9 for a time. Games played on the West Coast were not aired on radio at all.
When they were on TV on WTAE Channel 4, Ed Conway did the play-by-play. On WIIC Channel 11 the late Terry Schiffauer, who was the Pens director of marketing, handled the color commentary for Sam Nover. Greg Benneditti was there for a time as well, and he also did a sports talk show on WWSW AM 970.
I don’t believe the 1975 Pen-Islanders game was on television because it was played here in Pittsburgh. I was there, and believe me, you were glad you didn’t see it….
I was a big fan of Doug McLeod. I thought he was great, and I also recall him doing Pitt basketball games when Bill Hillgrove was away with Steeler duties.
Bruce - April 13, 2009 at 7:47 pm
There had to be a time back in the 70’s when the Penguins were on Channel 53. I hand built an antenna to watch Penguins on the TV on CH 53 and I can remember rolling aluminum foil to put on the ends of rabbit ears to increase amplification. Sometime if you watch Married With Children – The Fox Viewing Position – http://www.tv.com/married-...-with-child..
That is where it came from!
I’m 44 years old and I can remember watching The Penguins on CH 53.
Jerry Bosak - May 13, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I think the guy who did “color commentary” with Sam Nover was a guy named Terri Shifhower. I know that isn’t the correct spelling, so someone help a brother out. What was that guy and what happened to him?
Eric Montgomery (URL) - January 17, 2010 at 12:23 am