LOOKING FOR MR. GOODVOICE

It’s been said that every good American boy wants to grow up to be a baseball player. It might be truer to say, in these modern media times, that everybody wants to be a baseball announcer. When Jon Miller, the former Voice of the Texas Rangers, announced in the off season that he was leaving for Boston to broadcast for the Red Sox, the offices of the Texas Rangers Network were deluged with inquiries from would-be replacements. Fifty of them went so far as to make formal application for the job, submitting demo tapes. Nine were or had been major league baseball broadcasters and 16 were minor league announcers. The other 25 included a couple of high school baseball announcers, a guy who broadcast American legion ball, several who had never broadcast baseball (including one whose tape was a staged recreation of a baseball game), a few soccer announcers, and a Las Vegas disc jockey. (Contrary to popular belief, ubiquitous sports voice Brad Sham did not apply for the job, though the Ranger people say he would have been considered if he had. It’s probably no coincidence that in the wake of the Ranger rumor. Sham signed a nice new contract with KRLD.)

After listening to 50 tapes, the Ranger network people developed keen ears for style, noticing that everybody mimics somebody else. Says Ranger broadcaster Eric Nadel, “We had a lot of Jack Bucks, a few Vin Scullys, and one Harry Carey.” And what of the man selected as the new Voice, Mel Proctor? “Well,” says Nadel, “Mel really has a style of his own, but I guess you’d have to categorize him as something of an Al Michaels.”

If you’re one of the hopefuls that Mel beat out, don’t despair. WBAP, which airs the Rangers, has contracted to broadcast the new NBA team. Start polishing your Brent Musburger.