THIS WEEK:
- Kent's call
- Right to privacy
- WBZ News
- Brockton boxing
Looking back with NESN’s first Red Sox voice; Domestic violence talk; Sales woes at WBZ; Marvelous Marvin returns
Before the New England Sports Network (NESN) became the cash cow and
ratings record-setter that it is today, it was a fledgling cable network trying
to carve its niche in the tough Boston media market.
Sportscaster Kent Derdivanis was part of this newfangled network. In
1984, NESN's inaugural year of operation, he became the first-ever cable
television voice of the Boston Red Sox, working games alongside former Red Sox
infielder and current Jimmy Fund chairman Mike Andrews.
"I had interviewed with WITS radio in 1979-80 to do Red Sox games on
radio," says the 51 year-old Derdivanis, who currently lives and works in
Arizona. "I didn't get that job, but I must have made an impression on someone."
After losing out on the Red Sox radio gig, Derdivanis became the voice
of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1981 on WVTV. When the NESN opportunity came, he
jumped at the chance to become part of New England baseball lore. In 1984, he
was hired by the Red Sox, NESN president and general manager Peter Affee and
executive producer Bob Whitelaw.
"Affee thought my name was too ethnic, so he changed the spelling to
Der Divanis. I was surprised because Boston is such an ethnic region. I remember
sitting in the old broadcast booth and dodging foul balls. We didn't have
many viewers, but we sure had fun."
According to current NESN public relations chief Gary Roy, NESN had a
"small handful of subscribers, practically zero" when the 1984 Spring Training
baseball season began. By the end of the calendar year, the network had 65,000
subscribers. Today, NESN is viewed in 4 million households.
Says Derdivanis, "There was a political battle back then to get cable
companies to carry NESN. It was viewed as a threat to Channel 38's (WSBK) free
broadcasts. People believed that viewers would not pay for something they were
getting free all those years.
"Bob Whitelaw was our producer. He made sure that our production was
very good, definitely on a par with Channel 38. They expected to lose a couple
hundred thousand on the endeavor. It ended up being more like a few million
dollars."
WSBK partnered with the Red Sox in starting NESN from a production
standpoint. Derdivanis fondly remembers his season at Fenway. He states, "It was
Roger Clemens' first year with the team. We had Oil Can Boyd and Dwight Evans.
"I pretty much had an idea going in that baseball is a religion in New
England. The fans are vocal, but also knowledgeable. They didn't have the
consistent sellouts that the Red Sox have now, but I will always treasure that
cramped clubhouse.
“Fenway was the best view in baseball for calling a game. (Local media
columnists) Jim Baker and Jack Craig wrote some nice things about us and even
Sports Illustrated mentioned NESN."
Along with Andrews, Derdivanis says he shared the 1984 booth with
periodic guest analysts Dick Radatz, Rico Petrocelli and Bill Monboquette.
Alas, 1984 would be Derdivanis's first and last season on NESN. He
explains, "After the 1984 season, the Red Sox essentially sat (WSBK announcers)
Ned Martin and Bob Montgomery down and said, 'Do you want to do these NESN games
or not?'
“They could save money by not sending a separate crew on the road.
Martin was a jewel of a guy. He called me and told me that he was sorry for what
happened."
Derdivanis, a Salinas, CA native, hoped to get another job in the
Boston market. When nothing transpired, he signed on to do play-by-play for UCLA
basketball and University of Arizona football and basketball.
In 1990, he almost returned to Boston, auditioning for the Red Sox
radio play-by-play job that eventually went to Bob Starr. That same year,
Derdivanis became the voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates at KDKA.
Today, he hosts talk shows on KTAR in Phoenix, is the radio voice of
the Arena Football League Arizona Rattlers and the preseason voice of the
Arizona Cardinals.
He has also called the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Senior Bowl, NCAA hoops,
College World Series, NBA All-Star Game and WNBA. Derdivanis recently married
second wife Joette and has two sons from his first marriage, Matt, 21 and
Corey, 19.
He relates, "In this industry, judging talent is totally subjective. I
was disappointed to leave Boston, but I feel fortunate to have spent a year
there."
Twenty-two years have passed since Derdivanis blazed a trail for the
likes of Jerry Remy, Sean McDonough, Bob Kurtz and Don Orsillo, but the classy
broadcaster has not forgotten his experience. "It was so much more personal
back then. We didn't have extensive pregame or postgame shows. It was basically
Mike Andrews, the viewers and I.
"The Red Sox players and coaches were so respectful. I hold that
organization in such high esteem. If you're not from Boston, you are an outsider,
but the people there treated me like I had been around for years. That year flew
by and was one of the best experiences I've had in broadcasting."
Family matters
Am I the only person who bristles at sports gabbers ignorantly
venturing into the area of domestic violence? WEEI’s Gerry Callahan called
Phillies’
pitcher Brett Myers “garbage” among other things after he was arrested for
spousal abuse last month in Boston.
This week, Bob Lobel was panned for tossing softball questions at Ted
Johnson after Johnson’s domestic dispute. Who is Callahan to pass judgment on a
private family issue, and what was Lobel supposed to do, pistol-whip Johnson?
Domestic violence is as heinous a crime as there is. Given this fact,
the uninformed and overly emotional opinions of talk show hosts and
commentators only add to the confusion. It seems that, all too often, these incidents
merely give hosts an opportunity to get on their soapboxes with a
holier-than-thou attitude. Who needs it?
I am all for sports talkers venturing into other areas as long as they
are intelligent enough to do so. WEEI’s Steve DeOssie, who discussed the
Johnson issue alongside Steve Buckley, fits that bill.
It was Johnson’s decision to air his dirty laundry, but there is still
something very disturbing about on-air personalities chiming with little more
than pure opinion. Can’t some things be left to the family in question and the
proper legal protocol? Do we have to know everything? Just asking.
WBZ doings
According to a current WBZ Radio sales executive, all is not well in
News Radio AM 1030’s sports sales department. In a recent email, the sales rep
stated, “We had a layoff yesterday (July 12, 2006), if you want to call it
that. Our Local Sales Manager, Mike Marcello, was fired.
“Things have been going bad here for two years as far as sales, and
coupled with his high salary, he made for an easy mark. Nobody's shocked. Mike
had a habit of bringing good people in under the allure of making big money, and
then making it dreadfully impossible for them to do so.”
The sales rep said that Marcello was not exactly a consensus builder. “
He helped create a divide between the sports sales staff who sell nothing but
Bruins radio, and Patriots Rock Radio Network.”
The so-called divide led to some in-house bickering. Says the sales
executive, “S
o often the 'BZ sales staff bumps heads with the sports sales staff,
and tensions rise occasionally on Soldiers Field Rd. Mike did not do anything
to help with that cause.
“He also was a proponent (up until about two-three months ago) of ‘BZ
radio making a play for the Red Sox. Ironic, since he wants to see us dump the
Bruins. This decision came from NY. They've already replaced (Marcello), so
obviously this layoff was in the works.”
The thoughts of this current sales executive were substantiated by two
other sources at WBZ.
Hagler comes home
AM 1510’s “Mouthpiece Boxing” show will broadcast live this Saturday
from 3-5:00 p.m. at the Brockton Fairgrounds for the Marvin Hagler Boxing
tourney. Anthony Pepe and “Irish" Pat Kelley of Fightnews.com will host.
Hagler, the former undisputed middleweight champ, returns to home to
Brockton for this amateur boxing event as part of the city's 125th Anniversary.
The event will open at 5:00 p.m. and include a Rocky Marciano Exhibit and
never before seen footage of Hagler vs. Willie Monroe in an early career bout.
Fans will be able to meet Hagler, trainers Goody and Pat Petronelli,
Emanuel Steward, Lou Duva, Kevin McBride, Tony DeMarco, Joe DeNucci, Vinny Paz
and more.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Marvelous Marvin Hagler
Scholarship Fund at Massasoit Community College and to Brockton High School
Athletics Save Our Sports. For more details on Saturday’s top amateur boxing card,
check out BashForCashllc.com.
John Molori's columns are published in The Boston Metro, Patriots Football
Weekly, ColdHardFootballFacts.com, Boston Sports Review, New England Ringside
Magazine, Boston Baseball Magazine, Methuen Life, TheRemyReport.com,
PatsFans.com, BostonSportsReview.com, BostonPressBox.com, BostonSportsMedia.com and
BostonSportz.com. Email John at MoloriMedia@aol.com.
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