DON'T MISS
Oscar-winning actress Olympia Dukakis (SAR’53, CFA’57, Hon.’00) discusses her life in the arts on Wednesday, January 16, at the BU Concert Hall, at 4 p.m.
Week of 11 January 2002 · Vol. V, No. 18
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Scoring big on the airwaves
BU alums double-team the FleetCenter broadcast booth

By Brian Fitzgerald

Are BU graduates taking over the Boston sports radio airwaves? As is the case on many winter nights, on Saturday, January 12, listeners can tune in to WBZ-AM 1030 and hear a Boston University alumnus announcing a Bruins game. Then, between periods, they can turn the dial to WWZN-AM 1510 and listen to another alum covering a Celtics game.

 

Celtics announcer Sean Grande. Photo by Steve Lipofsky, Basketballphoto.com

 
 

Sean Grande (COM'91), the voice of the Celtics, and Dave Goucher (COM'93), the voice of the Bruins, are both veterans of sports coverage on WTBU AM-640/FM 89.3. In fact, both recall the "passing of the torch" BU hockey game in 1991, when graduating senior Grande officially handed the microphone to rookie play-by-play announcer Goucher.

Grande and Goucher each sit in the hot seat in their respective jobs. Boston is a city where fans take their sports and their announcers seriously. Interestingly, in separate interviews both mention Johnny Most, the late gravel-voiced Celtics play-by-play man so revered that a gold-plated microphone engraved with his name hangs from the FleetCenter rafters. "As a kid, when I watched the Celtics, I turned down the volume on the TV, turned on the radio, and listened to Johnny Most," says Goucher. "Then I started thinking that this would be a pretty good job." And as a basketball announcer, Grande knows that in the eyes - or rather, ears - of Celtics fans, the Most legend looms large.

He insists that in the scheme of things, "I am not the voice of the Celtics. Johnny Most is the voice of the Celtics. I'm just the current play-by-play announcer."

Will either, or both, of these announcers be beloved enough by fans, colleagues, and athletes to one day be honored with a golden microphone in the FleetCenter or a similar accolade? Only time, skill, and personality will tell.

Sean Grande
When Grande graduated from BU in 1991, his goal was to be an announcer in a major league sport by the age of age 30. He realized his ambition two years early, however, becoming the youngest television announcer in the NBA in 1998 when he signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It was a far cry from his days at WTBU, when he was the first journalist at every game to take advantage of the free doughnuts in the press box. "The hockey games didn't start until seven o'clock, but I was a poor, hungry college student, so I was there at four o'clock," he says. He recalls those days fondly, but still winces when he talks about the Terriers' 8-7 loss to Northern Michigan in triple overtime in the 1991 national championship game. "I can remember BU having a 3-0 lead, then a 6-3 deficit, then a 7-4 deficit, and then tying the game with 39 seconds left in regulation," he says. "I can remember BU hitting the post twice at the end of the first overtime. I can tell you who scored all the goals and all the names of the players on that team who went on to play professionally, but I still can't seem to remember the date of my wedding anniversary."

After graduation, Grande spent five years calling Terrier hockey, football, and basketball games for WABU-TV and WBUR-FM.

In 1996, he became the voice of the Boston College football and hockey radio network for three years, as well as sports director for WEEI sports radio in Boston, until leaving for Minnesota. On the television side, Grande was the original voice of the Hockey East Game of the Week on Fox Sports New England, which garnered him three New England Emmy nominations. He also joined ABC Sports in August 2000 to provide play-by-play regional college football telecasts.

Grande says that WWZN Celtics analyst Cedric Maxwell, a former forward with the team, "is the reason I'm here." When Celtics play-by-play announcer Howard David announced last spring that he was giving up the job to concentrate on radio broadcasts of the New York Jets and Monday Night Football, Maxwell gave Grande a call. "I was a little nervous at the prospect of giving up TV to do radio, but I did it," Grande says. And the Celtics, who have played miserably in the past few years, posting a 36-46 record last season, are now in second place in the NBA's Atlantic Division with a record of 20-13. "Let's face it," says Grande. "The fans who are in their early 20s and younger can't remember the Celtics' glory years of the 1980s, so this is an exciting time not only for me, but also for a new generation of fans, not to mention the longtime fans."

Dave Goucher
For a lifelong Boston Bruins follower, what could be as sweet as doing play-by-play radio for the team alongside former Bruin and hockey Hall of Famer John Bucyk? How about calling the Providence Bruins' run to the Calder Cup championship in the 1998-99 season?

 
  Bruins announcer Dave Goucher.
 
"That team was special," the Pawtucket, R.I., native says of the Boston Bruins minor league affiliate. "The year before, they had the worst record in the American Hockey League. They went from the basement to the championship in one season. There was a championship parade in downtown Providence, and 10,000 people showed up."

In the summer of 2000, Goucher was offered the Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer position at WBZ. Bob Neumeier, who was the voice of the Bruins for more than a decade, was taking a job as a radio talk show host on WEEI and pursuing other broadcasting assignments. It was an offer Goucher couldn't refuse, even though the team had been
a pathetic 24-33-19 in the 1999-2000 season.

The B's didn't fare much better the next year, moving from fifth place in the Northern Division to fourth, with a record of 36-30-8. It was the second consecutive year they failed to make the playoffs, something that hadn't happened since 1967. However, Goucher knew that Bruins fans, known to be faithful through thick and thin, were still tuning in. And lately hockey has been interesting on Causeway Street. The team is 24-12-3 and currently in second place.

"I think that they've added the necessary pieces to the puzzle," says Goucher, sounding very much like a fan. "It all starts with Byron Dafoe in goal. He gives them the chance to win every night. I believe that they will be contenders this year."

Like Grande, Goucher "dabbled in basketball and football" announcing at BU, but, he says, "Hockey is my first love." He fondly recalls calling games with the late Richard Keshian (SMG'93), and a Terrier hockey team in his senior year that was "loaded with talent, but lost to Lake Superior State in the semifinals, 6-1." BU would finally get its national championship in 1995, when Goucher was two years into his professional broadcasting career as the radio and broadcasting voice of the Wheeling (West Virginia) Thunderbirds of the East Coast Hockey League. Next he spent five years calling Providence Bruins games, longer than any announcer in the team's history.

Then came the call from WBZ. Just like a Providence Bruin heading to Boston to play in the big leagues for the first time, Goucher relished the thought of announcing NHL games.

"I consider myself very fortunate," he says. "It's a very competitive business. There are 30 teams in the NHL, and there are a finite number of announcing spots. You just have to work hard, hope that you develop professionally, and pray that you'll be in the right place at the right time when an opportunity opens up."
       

11 January 2002
Boston University
Office of University Relations