Robert Wischusen (; born October 1, 1971) is an American sports commentator who is currently a hockey, college football and basketball voice for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

and the radio voice announcer for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

on WAXQ-FM.

Biography

Early life and career

Wischusen grew up in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, and attended Union Catholic Regional High School in Scotch Plains. He then attended

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

and began his sportscasting experience on WZBC, the school's 1000-watt FM radio station broadcasting to the Greater Boston area. Classmates and fellow broadcasters at WZBC included Joe Tessitore and

Jon Sciambi Jon "Boog" Sciambi () (born April 11, 1970) is an American sportscaster for ESPN and the Marquee Sports Network, and has been the everyday play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs TV broadcasts on Marquee since 2021. He has worked extensive ...

, both of whom also went on to become successful sports announcers, and his colleagues at ESPN. After graduating from B.C. in 1993, Wischusen went to work in sports radio at

WQAM WQAM (560 AM broadcasting, AM, "AM 560 Sports") is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Miami, Florida. It broadcasts a sports radio radio format, format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. The studios are in Audacy's Miami office on Nort ...

in Miami. After leaving the station he settled in New York, where he has worked since.

WFAN and WABC

Originally, Wischusen worked for

WFAN WFAN may refer to: * WFAN (AM) WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, with a sports radio format, branded "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New Y ...

as a reporter and update host for the station's sports news flashes that air every twenty minutes. During his time at WFAN he began working on the station's Jets coverage, hosting the pregame, halftime, and postgame shows. When WFAN lost the rights to the Jets after the 1998 season, Wischusen followed the coverage to WABC. In 2002, he became the play-by-play voice for the Jets on the station after

Howard David Howard David is an American sportscaster. Biography Over the years, David has been the radio play-by-play man for several pro sports teams including the NBA's New Jersey Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics and the NFL's New York Jets ...

departed the team for a job in Miami. During his time with the Jets, he has worked with Dave Jennings (1998–2001), Marty Lyons (2002–2023), and Anthony Becht (2024-present) as his color commentators.

ESPN

Wischusen began working for ESPN in 2006 as a secondary commentator for college football and basketball, usually calling games from mid-major conferences such as the

MAC Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

or WAC. In 2009, Wischusen called ACC college football regional action on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

at 3:30(ET) with Brian Griese. For the 2010 college football season, Wischusen was once again paired with Griese, this time calling games for the Noon(ET) ESPN2 broadcast. Wischusen is currently calling with Louis Riddick. In 2021, Andrew Marchand of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' reported that Wischusen would start calling play-by-play for the

NHL on ESPN The broadcasts of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by ESPN have been shown on its various platforms in the United States, including ESPN itself, ABC, ESPN+, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, Hulu, and Disney+. Since 2021, games have been broad ...

. Wischusen has since received enormous praise for the way he calls games. He currently serves as ESPN's #2 play-by-play announcer, first pairing with former NHL goalie

Brian Boucher Brian Boucher ( ; born January 2, 1977) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender who is a game analyst on national TNT games and also Philadelphia Flyers games on NBC Sports Philadelphia. He played 13 seasons in the National Ho ...

and later Olympic gold medalist and national champion

A. J. Mleczko Allison Jaime "A. J." Mleczko Griswold (born June 14, 1975) is an American ice hockey player and analyst. She won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Playing career Mleczko attended New Canaa ...

, before currently teaming with former

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

captain Ryan Callahan. Both Leah Hextall and Emily Kaplan joins Wischusen and Callahan as a rinkside reporter on the secondary team, depending on location.

Other duties

Wischusen was at one point a substitute announcer for WEPN and MSG's coverage of the Knicks when the announcer

Mike Breen Michael Breen (born May 22, 1961) is an American play-by-play sports commentator. He has been the lead announcer for National Basketball Association, NBA games on NBA on ABC, ABC and NBA on ESPN, ESPN since 2006, including the NBA Finals. He is ...

is unavailable due to other commitments until the early 2010s. Wischusen also announced for the

New York Dragons The New York Dragons were a professional arena football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Dragons participated in the Arena Football League's (AFL) National Conference as a member of the Eastern Division (AFL), Eastern Division. ...

AFL team during its first season alongside former Jet Greg Buttle with whom he currently calls games for the New York Jets Wischusen also served as a field reporter for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's coverage of Game 1 of the

2000 American League Division Series The 2000 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the American League side in Major League Baseball’s (MLB) 2000 postseason, began on Tuesday, October 3, and ended on Sunday, October 8, with the champions of the three AL d ...

between the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

and

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

. In 2010, Wischusen teamed with

Sean McDonough Sean McDonough (born May 13, 1962) is an American sportscaster, currently employed by ESPN and the WEEI Boston Red Sox Radio Network. McDonough has play-by-play experience for all four major professional sports leagues in the United States an ...

to anchor coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament on

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wischusen, Bob 1971 births Living people American sports radio personalities American television sports announcers ArenaBowl broadcasters Arena football announcers American soccer commentators Boston College alumni College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers ESPN people American golf commentators Major League Baseball broadcasters NBA broadcasters NFL announcers National Hockey League broadcasters New York Jets announcers New York Knicks announcers New York Rangers announcers New York Red Bulls People from Union County, New Jersey Union Catholic Regional High School alumni Women's college basketball announcers in the United States Women's National Basketball Association announcers