List of Detroit Tigers broadcasters
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The following is a list of Detroit Tigers broadcasters, past and present:


Radio


Current

The current flagship radio station for the Tigers is
WXYT-FM WXYT-FM (97.1 MHz "97-1 The Ticket") is a commercial radio station in Detroit, Michigan, serving Metro Detroit and much of Southeast Michigan. It airs a sports radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios and offices are located in th ...
, at 97.1 FM.
Dan Dickerson Daniel Hill Dickerson (born November 13, 1958) is an American sportscaster, best known for his current position as the lead radio play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers on the Detroit Tigers Radio Network. Early life an ...
calls play-by-play while former Tigers catcher Jim Price serves as the color analyst during home games; both double as pre-game and post-game show hosts.Detroit Tigers Broadcasters' Biographies
/ref> Bobby Scales serves as the primary analyst for road games as of the 2023 season. The games are available online as well via
Audacy Audacy, previously known as Radio.com, is a free broadcast and Internet radio platform owned by the namesake company Audacy, Inc. (formerly known as Entercom). The Audacy platform functions as a music recommender system and is the national um ...
. If a scheduling conflict occurs, WWJ is a substitute for its sister station.


Former flagships

WJR was the Tigers' radio flagship from 1964 to 2000. Other former Tigers flagships include WXYT (currently known as "The Bet Detroit") and WKMH (currently known as WDTW).


Former radio announcers

*
Ty Tyson Edwin Lloyd "Ty" Tyson (May 11, 1888 – December 12, 1968) was an American sports broadcaster and radio play-by-play announcer. Early life Tyson was born in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania and he attended Penn State University. As a young man, ...
(1927–1942, 1951) *
Harry Heilmann Harry Edwin Heilmann (August 3, 1894 – July 9, 1951), nicknamed "Slug", was an American baseball player and radio announcer. He played professional baseball for 19 years between 1913 and 1932, including 17 seasons in Major League Baseball with ...
(1934–1950) * Paul Williams (1951) *
Van Patrick Van Patrick (August 15, 1916 – September 29, 1974) was an American sportscaster, best known for his play-by-play work with the Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers. Patrick, self-nicknamed "The Ole Announcer", called Lions games from 1950 until hi ...
(1952–1959) *
Dizzy Trout Paul Howard "Dizzy" Trout (June 29, 1915 – February 28, 1972) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from to , most notably as a member of the Detroit Tigers team that finished ...
(1953–1955) *
Mel Ott Melvin Thomas Ott (March 2, 1909 – November 21, 1958), nicknamed "Master Melvin", was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Giants, from through . He batted left-handed an ...
(1956–1958) *
George Kell George Clyde Kell (August 23, 1922 – March 24, 2009) was an American Major League Baseball third baseman who played 15 seasons for the Philadelphia Athletics (1943–1946), Detroit Tigers (1947–1952), Boston Red Sox (1952–1954), Chicago Whi ...
(1959–1963) *
Ernie Harwell William Earnest Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the actio ...
(1960–1991, 1993, 1999–2002) *
Bob Scheffing Robert Boden Scheffing (August 11, 1913 – October 26, 1985) was an American professional baseball player, coach, manager and front-office executive. Nicknamed "Grumpy", the native of Overland, Missouri, is most often identified with the Chicago ...
(1964) *
Gene Osborn Gene Osborn (August 10, 1922 – November 27, 1975) was a radio and television sportscaster in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, known primarily as a play-by-play for several major league baseball teams. He also had a substantial career in radio and tele ...
(1965–1966) * Ray Lane (1967–1972) * Paul Carey (1973–1991) * Rick Rizzs (1992–1994) *
Bob Rathbun Robert Courtland Rathbun (born November 25, 1954) is an American sportscaster, motivational speaker, and author. He has been the television play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Hawks basketball games on Bally Sports South since 1996. He is th ...
(1992–1994) *
Frank Beckmann Frank Carl Beckmann (November 3, 1949February 12, 2022) was a German-born American broadcaster and talk radio host on WJR in Detroit, Michigan. He also was the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Michigan football from 1981 to 2013. ...
(1995–1998) * Lary Sorensen (1995–June 1998) *
Al Kaline Albert William Kaline ( ; December 19, 1934 – April 6, 2020), nicknamed "Mr. Tiger", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers. For most of his career, Kali ...
(2009, substitute analyst for select road games) * John Keating (2009, substitute analyst for select road games) *
Dan Petry Daniel Joseph Petry ( ; born November 13, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers (1979–87 and 1990–91), California Angels (1988–89), Atlanta Braves (1991) and Boston Red Sox (1991). He currently se ...
(2012, 2019, 2021–2022, substitute analyst for select games) * Ken Kal (2013, 2016, 2018, substitute play-by-play for select games) *
Andy Dirks Andrew Lee Dirks (born January 24, 1986) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He attended Haven High School in Haven, Kansas, and was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2008. Dirks made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with ...
(2019, substitute analyst for two home games) * Dan Hasty (2021, substitute play-by-play for one road game) * Austin Jackson (2021–2022, substitute analyst for select road games) *
Craig Monroe Craig Keystone Monroe (nicknamed "C. Mo") (born February 27, 1977) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder and current sportscaster. He played for the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins and Pittsburgh Pira ...
(2021–2022, substitute analyst for select road games) * Alex Avila (2022, substitute analyst for select road games) *
Doug Fister Douglas Wildes Fister (born February 4, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, and Texas ...
(2022, substitute analyst for road doubleheader) *
Greg Gania Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory (given name), Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled "Gregg (surname), Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple peopl ...
(2022, substitute play-by-play for road doubleheader)


Broadcasters by year


2020s


2010s


2000s


1990s


1980s


1970s


1960s


1950s


Television


Current

The television rights are currently held by
Bally Sports Detroit Bally Sports Detroit (BSD) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group that operates as a Bally Sports affiliate. It provides coverage of local sports teams in the state of Michigan, primarily focusing on those in Metro D ...
(formerly Fox Sports Detroit). Matt Shepard serves as the play-by-play announcer, while
Kirk Gibson Kirk Harold Gibson (born May 28, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He is currently a color commentator for the Detroit Tigers on Bally Sports Detroit and a special assistant for the Tigers. As a player, Gibson ...
and
Jack Morris John Scott Morris (born May 16, 1955) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers. Morris won 254 games throughout his career. Armed ...
serve as color commentators. Morris was 'indefinitely suspended' by Bally Sports Detroit on August 19, 2021, after speaking in what Bally called an 'offensive accent' while Los Angeles Angels pitcher/designated hitter
Shohei Ohtani , nicknamed "Shotime", is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher, designated hitter and outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional ...
was at bat. Pre-game and post-game show hosts and reporters include John Keating, Mickey York, Trevor Thompson, Justin White, and Johnny Kane, while
Craig Monroe Craig Keystone Monroe (nicknamed "C. Mo") (born February 27, 1977) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder and current sportscaster. He played for the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins and Pittsburgh Pira ...
and
Dan Petry Daniel Joseph Petry ( ; born November 13, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers (1979–87 and 1990–91), California Angels (1988–89), Atlanta Braves (1991) and Boston Red Sox (1991). He currently se ...
provide studio analysis.


Former TV outlets

The Tigers have spent most of their broadcast televised history across two of Detroit's heritage "Big Three" network stations,
WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter faciliti ...
(Channel 2, Fox; formerly with CBS from 1948 to 1994) and
WDIV WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings, Graham ...
(Channel 4, NBC; originally WWJ-TV from 1947 to 1978), as well as two of the market's former legacy independent stations,
WMYD WMYD (channel 20) is an independent television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV (channel 7). Both stations share studios at Broadcast House on 10 Mile Road i ...
(Channel 20, formerly WXON-TV and WDWB) and
WKBD WKBD-TV (channel 50) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS owned-and-operated station WWJ-TV (channel 62). Both stations share studios o ...
(Channel 50). Channel 4 was the original Tiger television outlet, carrying games from 1947 to 1952, and again for a twenty-season run from 1975 to 1994. Channel 4, at least during a time when NBC's ratings were sagging during the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, was one of a handful of the network's affiliates that was either a primary outlet or an affiliate of the local/regional baseball team. Significant in the Tiger broadcasting network were television stations owned by Tigers' owner
John Fetzer John Earl Fetzer (March 25, 1901 – February 20, 1991) was a radio and television executive who was best known as the owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1961 through 1983. Under his ownership, the 1968 Tigers won the World Series. Biography Bo ...
, including WKZO-TV (now
WWMT WWMT (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an affiliate of CBS and The CW. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and maintains studios on West Maple Street in Kal ...
) in Kalamazoo,
WLNS WLNS-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Lansing, Michigan, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to dual ABC/ CW+ affiliate WLAJ (channel 53) under a shared services ag ...
in Lansing, WJRT in Flint,
WWTV WWTV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the northern Lower and eastern Upper peninsulas of Michigan. It is owned by locally based Heritage Broadcasting Group, w ...
and WWUP-TV in northern Michigan, and even some television stations in Nebraska, namely KOLN-TV in Lincoln and its satellite in Grand Island, Nebraska. WJBK took over the Tigers telecasts starting with the 1953 season, and carried games until the end of the 1974 season; since 2007, the station simulcasts the team's home opener each season from Fox Sports Detroit. WKBD, for many years known as Detroit's leading independent TV station, as well as the longtime over-the-air TV home of the Red Wings and Pistons, televised Tigers games starting in 1995 (when it was an
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
owned-and-operated station) until 2003. WMYD televised selected Tigers games only for the 2006 season, and as WXON-TV and the local affiliate of the ONTV subscription TV service, Channel 20 also showed the team's games from 1981 to 1983. Pro-Am Sports System (PASS), originally started in 1982, became the regional cable outlet for the Tigers starting in 1984, after the network was purchased by then-Tigers team owner
Tom Monaghan Thomas Stephen Monaghan (born March 25, 1937) is an American entrepreneur who founded Domino's Pizza in 1960. He owned the Detroit Tigers from 1983 to 1992. Monaghan also owns the Domino's Farms Office Park, located in the Ann Arbor Charter Tow ...
. Monaghan sold PASS to Post-Newsweek Stations (now
Graham Media Group Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the television broadcasting subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Detroit, co-locating with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, after spending 10 years in Chic ...
) in 1992, after he sold the Tigers to local pizza magnate and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch. PASS, thereafter, re-located its operations to the WDIV studio/office facility in Downtown Detroit. PASS shut down operations in 1997, after the Red Wings, Tigers, and Pistons all elected to sign-with and helped launch Fox Sports Detroit.


Former TV announcers

*
Ty Tyson Edwin Lloyd "Ty" Tyson (May 11, 1888 – December 12, 1968) was an American sports broadcaster and radio play-by-play announcer. Early life Tyson was born in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania and he attended Penn State University. As a young man, ...
(1947–1952) *
Harry Heilmann Harry Edwin Heilmann (August 3, 1894 – July 9, 1951), nicknamed "Slug", was an American baseball player and radio announcer. He played professional baseball for 19 years between 1913 and 1932, including 17 seasons in Major League Baseball with ...
(1947–1950) *
Van Patrick Van Patrick (August 15, 1916 – September 29, 1974) was an American sportscaster, best known for his play-by-play work with the Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers. Patrick, self-nicknamed "The Ole Announcer", called Lions games from 1950 until hi ...
(1953–1959) *
Dizzy Trout Paul Howard "Dizzy" Trout (June 29, 1915 – February 28, 1972) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from to , most notably as a member of the Detroit Tigers team that finished ...
(1953–1955) *
Mel Ott Melvin Thomas Ott (March 2, 1909 – November 21, 1958), nicknamed "Master Melvin", was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Giants, from through . He batted left-handed an ...
(1956–1958) *
George Kell George Clyde Kell (August 23, 1922 – March 24, 2009) was an American Major League Baseball third baseman who played 15 seasons for the Philadelphia Athletics (1943–1946), Detroit Tigers (1947–1952), Boston Red Sox (1952–1954), Chicago Whi ...
(1959–1963, 1965–1996) *
Ernie Harwell William Earnest Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the actio ...
(1960–1964, 1994–1998) *
Bob Scheffing Robert Boden Scheffing (August 11, 1913 – October 26, 1985) was an American professional baseball player, coach, manager and front-office executive. Nicknamed "Grumpy", the native of Overland, Missouri, is most often identified with the Chicago ...
(1964) * Ray Lane (1965–1966, 1999–2003) *
Larry Osterman Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment * Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone ...
(1967–1977, 1984–1992) * Don Kremer (1975–1976) *
Al Kaline Albert William Kaline ( ; December 19, 1934 – April 6, 2020), nicknamed "Mr. Tiger", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers. For most of his career, Kali ...
(1976–2001) * Joe Pellegrino (1977–1978) * Mike Barry (1978–1979) * Larry Adderley (1981–1983) *
Hank Aguirre Henry John Aguirre (January 31, 1931 – September 5, 1994), commonly known as Hank Aguirre, was an American professional baseball player and business entrepreneur. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left-handed pitcher from 1955 to 1 ...
(1981–1983) * Norm Cash (1981–1983) *
Bill Freehan William Ashley Freehan (November 29, 1941 – August 19, 2021) was an American catcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire 15-year career with the Detroit Tigers. The premier catcher in the American League for several years from the 19 ...
(1984–1985) * Jim Northrup (1985–1994) * Jim Price (1993–1997) * Fred McLeod (1995–1997) *
Josh Lewin Josh Lewin is an American sportscaster who works as a play-by-play announcer for the UCLA Bruins football and basketball teams. Early life and career Lewin is originally from Rochester, New York, but lived outside of Boston for several years ...
(1998–2001) *
Frank Beckmann Frank Carl Beckmann (November 3, 1949February 12, 2022) was a German-born American broadcaster and talk radio host on WJR in Detroit, Michigan. He also was the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Michigan football from 1981 to 2013. ...
(1999–2003) *
Tom Paciorek Thomas Marian Paciorek ( ; born November 2, 1946) is a former outfielder and first baseman who spent 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1970–1975), Atlanta Braves (1976–1978), Seattle Mariners (19 ...
(2000) *
Lance Parrish Lance Michael Parrish (born June 15, 1956), nicknamed "Big Wheel", is an American former baseball catcher who played Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1977 through 1995. Born in Pennsylvania, Parrish grew up in Southern California and excelled in ...
(2002) *
Mario Impemba Mario Impemba (born ) is an American sportscaster, best known as the television play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Tigers from 2002 to 2018. Before working for the Tigers, he announced for the Los Angeles Angels on both television and rad ...
(2002–2018) *
Rod Allen Roderick Bernet Allen (born October 5, 1959) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and current game analyst for the Miami Marlins on Bally Sports Florida. He formerly worked as an analyst for the Detroit Tigers on Bally Sport ...
(2003–2018) *
Jack Morris John Scott Morris (born May 16, 1955) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers. Morris won 254 games throughout his career. Armed ...
(2015–2016, 2019–2022)


Broadcasters by year


2020s


2010s


2000s


1990s


1980s


1970s


1960s


1950s


References


External links


Detroit Tigers history: all-time broadcasters
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Detroit Tigers Broadcasters Detroit Tigers
Broadcasters Broadcaster may refer to: * A presenter of any syndicated media program * A broadcasting organization, one responsible for audio and video content and/or their transmission * A sports commentator on television or radio * Broadcaster, currently ...
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