Veteran
play-by-play announcer, Kevin Harlan, will be calling Super Bowl 50 on radio
for Westwood One on February 7, 2016.
Kevin's jam-packed schedule also
includes calling television games for the
NBA on TNT, NFL games for CBS,
and
radio play-by-plays for
Monday Night Football on Westwood One.
Harlan is known
for his unique voice, enthusiastic style, and classic catch phrases such as
“Right between the eyes” and
“No regard for human life.”
Kevin
Harlan will be working Super Bowl 50 with
analysts Boomer Esiason and Dan
Fouts.
Kevin Harlan- It never escapes
me, how lucky I am to get a job where I can do what I grew up wanting to do.
Wanting to be on the air and doing big events, particularly on the radio. That
is my most favorite thing. Every time they sing the national anthem, I say,
‘Thank you Lord that you have, for whatever reason, put me in a place where I
can broadcast a game like this which has such personal meaning.” To do
something, from a career standpoint, that you will always remember.
I love the business
of radio and the challenges. I think it is the purest form of broadcasting. The
words, the pacing, the inflection, the reporting skills needed. I just think
that every time that I put that microphone on. With television, you are
enslaved by the picture, the analyst, the graphics, and the replays. The
announcer is like fourth or fifth in line of importance, but in radio the
announcer is everything. I really enjoy that.
Larry Burnett: How did you develop your very distinctive voice and
announcing style?
KH- I don't
have the voice that I had hoped to have or wanted to have. I wanted to have a
different kind of voice. The first voice that I really admired was John Facenda
on NFL films. I liked the late, great Pat Summerall. I used to go to bed at
night when I was 11, 12, 13 years old. I’d listen to Don Criqui and Keith
Jackson. These were the great voices to me.
Then, I had an
internship while I was attending the University of Kansas. It was called
Enterprise Radio. It was an all sports, nationwide radio network. They hired two
interns that summer, myself and Sean McDonough from Syracuse. I worked
overnights and he worked during the day. The people they had working there as
engineers and producers were all from Mutual Radio, ABC, CBS, NBC radio in New
York. There were guys who had been retired or phased out and they brought these
great clips of radio giants like Red Barber, early Vin Scully, and people like
that. That's where I learned, on the radio side, about voice and how important
diction and inflection was and getting the right words and the pacing.
LB: Okay. So that is where the voice came from. How has your
broadcasting style evolved?
KH: I am more of a fan,
probably, than I should be. I think a great play in the first quarter is a
great play. So, I enjoy that. It is a constant evolution. You listen back to
the games that you thought you called really well and you go, “Oh my gosh!” The
games you thought you struggled in, “Not too bad!”
I cannot tell you how
many games there are that are like that. One thing that constantly comes up for
me is my voice. I am always tweaking, slowing down or speeding up. Sounding
more serious or more jovial. More inflection or less inflection. I just seem to
waffle back and forth. I don't know if other announcers do that. Some guys
don't even watch the tapes of the games they call. They are the best in the
business, but they don't watch their games. They just do it.
I'm not that good.
I'm not that talented. I need to go back and watch my work. I need to have
something ringing in my ear to improve from one week to the next. I like that
challenge, but what I think about all the time is, “Gosh. If my bosses are
watching this closely, they are going to say ‘get this guy out of here.“
I think a little bit
of paranoia is always good. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. I probably
take off the headset after a game and think of 1000 things that I could've said
differently and wish I had.
LB: Part of your basketball announcing style is your catch
phrases such as “Right between the eyes.”
Where did those come from?
KH: It came from those god-awful days doing
the early Minnesota Timberwolves games when we were screwing around. That was
when I really should've been fired. (Laughs) I was doing games with Kevin
McHale and the Wolves were just a 15, 16, 17 win team. There were some dark,
bad basketball days with that franchise. To keep ourselves awake when the team
was down by 30 points in the third quarter, we would start making stuff up.
Most of those catch phrases came from screwing around with my buddies. Like
when Kevin Garnett was a rookie and the team was still bad. We would be loose and
things would be flowing and all of a sudden it would come out, “Ahhhhhhh! He
had no regard for human life.” That's where that kind of stuff came out.
You can't plan for those moments. You
never write that stuff down. They sound bad if they are planned.
The “right between
the eyes” came from Chuck Person with the Timberwolves. He was called “the Rifleman.”
When he came out on the floor, he would always look over at the booth and
pretend like he was shooting an imaginary gun.
“Ahhhh! The Rifleman. Right between the eyes.”
That's where that stuff came from. Just really screwing around moments. Never
anything with good games. It was all from the dark ages with the Timberwolves
and those were times that were amusing, probably, only to us and not to anybody
else.
LB: Your daughter, Olivia, is doing sideline reporting for
ESPN. How, the heck, did you let her get into the crazy business of sports
broadcasting?
KH: I don't know.
(Laughs) I told her, Larry. I told
her to try anything else! I told
her that this is a tough business, especially on women. She is finding that
out. It is a male dominated business. She is 22 years old and it is difficult.
LB: Women in
sports broadcasting really need to know their stuff and they have to have a
thick skin, don’t they?
KH: I have talked to her
about every possible situation. I put her in contact with Rachel Nichols and
Michelle Tafoya. She has talked with the best in the business. She was well
prepared and equipped. She did a ton of work in college at the University of
Georgia. She's really done a nice job. We are very, very proud of her.
LB: So, your daughter is busy and you are extremely busy
between the NBA and the NFL and college basketball and all of the things that
you do. How do you juggle all the time, travel, and preparation?
KH: An announcer has
to set a routine for himself every week. For me, there is no day off. On Sunday
night I'll start preparing for my NBA game on Thursday. On Monday morning, I'll
start preparing for next Sunday's game. There is a little bit of preparation
every day. There has to be a component of every day that is designed just for
that particular broadcast.
Then, I have to
really start to hit it hard. For instance, if I have a Thursday night NBA game
in Los Angeles for TNT, I will get on a red-eye after the game, fly back home
and get a day and a night there. I will do everything I can to bone up on my
Sunday NFL game for CBS and put in a little bit of time preparing for my Monday
Night Football game. A lot of it is watching tape and knowing the players. That
is about 50% of it. Just making sure that I know who is on the field because,
if all hell broke loose and I had nothing in front of me, at least I could
still call the game. The game is always the story.
Our job description
is that we need to know those teams as well as the beat writers who cover them
every day, as well as the fans who watch and enjoy their favorite teams. We
can't let them down. That is why, sometimes as a broadcaster, it is better to
be more simple and provide a good overall feel for the game, rather than try to
be too specific. Sometimes you can get into trouble trying to be too smart.
LB: What has been
the busiest workweek that you have had to deal with?
KH:- This season, we
did an NFL game in London for CBS. It was also the beginning of the NBA season.
I had my Monday Night Football schedule still intact and there was a span of
about three weeks when I was going from East coast to West coast and then back
again. I think I did it seven times, back and forth from one game to the next.
We had a Raiders’ game in Oakland and again the next day in Philadelphia. We
had a game in San Francisco with the 49ers and then a game the next night in
Philadelphia for Monday Night Football. In between, there was a flight to
London. It was a span of days and weeks that was pretty difficult.
It's not like I get
tired, but the monotony of preparing and reading all the stories. I heard Dick
Enberg say one time that he enjoys the preparation and he loves the
preparation. He’s far smarter than me. He's a Hall of Famer and one of the best
who has ever broadcast. Me? I dread the preparation because I know that there
is just so much to plow through. We have so much information at our fingertips
now. What do I use? What don't I take? That process frustrates me. I wish it
was simply black and white and I could say, “They have won six of their last
seven” or “Here is the leading scorer.” It would make things so much easier,
but that's not the world we are living in. This world is filled with analytics
and information. The preparation is daunting. When I get into it, I'm fine, but
sometimes the thought of it just paralyzes me.
LB: With a schedule like yours, where do you find time to prepare for your upcoming games?
KH: Guys like you made it
tough on guys like me because you were always so well-versed and so prepared.
So the pressure exists from your peers and the people that you followed growing
up. You knew was that they were always well prepared. Now, there are bloggers
and there is twitter and there is all this social media stuff. There is so much
volume!
So, an announcer has
to set a routine for himself every week. For me, there is no day off. On Monday
morning, I'll start preparing for next Sunday's game. On Sunday night I'll
start preparing for my NBA game on Thursday. There is a little bit of
preparation every day. There has to be a component of everyday that is designed
just for that particular
broadcast.
Then, you have
to really start to hit it hard. For instance, if I have a Thursday night NBA
game in Los Angeles for TNT, I will get on a red-eye after the game, fly back
home and get a day and a night at home. I will do everything I can to bone up on
my Sunday NFL game for CBS and put in a little bit of time preparing for my
Monday night football game. A lot of it is watching tape and knowing the
players. That is about 50% of it, just making sure that I know who is on the
field because, if all hell broke loose, and I had nothing in front of me, at
least I could still call the game. The game is always
the story.
When that
Sunday game is over, I get on a plane and fly to my Monday night game and then
go at it. You've gone through this. You know what I'm talking about. That's
what goes on. Hopefully, you don't
fall too far behind. That's what I hope for every week.
I make my own travel
reservations through our production managers in different cities. I get it down
to the flight number and the seat that I want. When I fly, I like to
sit on the right-hand side near a window. I am right-handed, so if I am writing, the person next to me isn't constantly looking over. If I sit on the left-hand
side, they are able to see everything I'm writing. I've got my tape and my
boards all right there.
When they can
see that, the questions start to come. I always enjoy talking sports, but I
have got to use the limited time that I have. That time in the air is a great
time to get a lot of work done, to study and prepare. As much as I might like
to talk sports, I have got to be honest, I have come up with a "go to" line now
when I need to focus on my work.
If someone says to
me, “What do you do?” I tell them it is just fantasy football or fantasy
basketball. Sometimes I tell them that I am a statistician. If I give anything
more than that, we've got a conversation started and I can't get my work done.
I don't mean to appear mean or rude. I never am, but I have to be somewhat
efficient with my time and my answer. (laughs)
LB: And what conveniences does Kevin Harlan have to have when he is on the road? 24 hour room service? A phone in the bathroom? Mints on the pillow?
KH: When I am sitting at the desk in my hotel room, I like
to be able to look out and see something nice. The worst room is when you're on
a low level and you are looking out at another building where there are people
working by their windows and looking right back at you.
So, if I want to put
on a T-shirt and my jogging shorts in my room. If I want to be casual or maybe
even lie down for a nap or whatever, I like having my drapes open
so that I can get a feel for the change of time during the day. If I kept them
closed and stayed cloistered in, I would feel as though I did not have my
bearings. I don't need room service. It is too expensive! I am cheap as can be
and I've got four kids’ colleges to pay for, so I don't need that and I don't like
to eat late at night. I don't think its good to sleep on a full stomach. I
don't think it's good for your voice. When I am on the
road, I just request a room on a high floor with some kind of view. That's all
I really need.
**
