Horse Racing on the Radio and How I Miss the Hartford Whalers

Earlier this summer, Equispace wrote a fun post about the world of sports radio from his youth. Equispace blogged, "...that in my early days growing up in Syracuse I would have a transistor radio under my pillow...listening to the weekly Monday Night Football game or sports talk radio nightly."

I too have fond memories of listening to the radio when I was a kid. Armed with nothing more than a cheap radio/tapedeck, I would delicately tune the dial listening for the sound-between-the-static where I might hear an out-of-town hockey game. As a fan of the Montreal Canadiens, I was often able to track down Habs games against the Hartford Whalers on the Whalers radio network. (For the life of me, I cannot remember the call letters.)

The Whalers were the runts of the Adams Division but over the years were home to several great players including Gordie Howe, Mark Howe, Mike Liut and Ron Francis. Their non-threatening uniforms were matched only by the ridiculous theme song of Brass Bonanza which would blare after each Whaler goal.

Brass Bonanza - The Hartford Whalers Fight Song


In the mid-to-late 1980s, I became somewhat of a Whalers fan and stayed up late each night hoping to hear the silly sounds of Brass Bonanza hiss through tinny speakers. It was a time when the only way to learn about non-local teams was by reading The Hockey News, and thus finding these far-away broadcasts was a way to keep informed. Hockey translated well to radio and it was easy to close my eyes and envision the game unfolding to the sound of the puck being slapped across the ice and players bashing each other into the boards.

Somewhere along the way technology accelerated and Internet, satellite television and multiple cable television channels dedicated to sports highlights provided instant access to what I once scrounged to find on radio. For me, radio fell by the wayside - until recently when I purchased Sirius Satellite Radio.

Sirius provides hundreds of channels and, most importantly for the purpose of this post, features the horse racing show At The Races With Steve Byk on Sirius channel 126.

Weekdays from 4PM-7PM EST, Byk hosts a three-hour broadcast focusing on the sport of horse racing. Past guests include such notables as Carl Nafzger, D. Wayne Lukas and Steve Haskin. By browsing through the show archives, you can easily download enough material to drive from Belmont to Santa Anita and back.

On Saturdays, Sirius listeners can tune in to Down The Stretch from 10AM - 1PM EST and listen to hosts Dave Johnson, Bill Finley and Caton Bredar pontificate on the racing game including a look into the world of harness racing.

Bloggers are getting in on the radio action as well via BlogTalk Radio. Ted Grevelis, who writes the blog Owning Racehorses, will soon be on the air with a radio show by the same name. Grevelis will kick things off on August 26th with a pilot episode discussing the ups-and-downs of owning and racing horses.

What is interesting about the BlogTalk medium is the ability to "call in" either by regular phone (long-distance charges apply) or by computer mic (free of charge) which is accessed by hitting the "Click-To-Talk" button on the station homepage. Essentially, a completely interactive environment to discuss all the issues of the game.

Not surprisingly, Alex Brown is all over this Internet-based medium on his radio station named Alex Brown Racing. Brown's show covers the big stories in racing with a focus on Woodbine and issues relating to horse slaughter. Past guests on Brown's show include Michael Matz's assistant trainer Peter Brette, Old Friend's proprietor Michael Blowen and jockey Chantal Sutherland. You can tune in to Brown's show this morning live at 11:30AM.

Standardbred fans can get their radio fix courtesy of host Norm Borg on TROT Radio. Borg covers all the developments in the harness game and previous shows have featured lively discussions with legends Bill O'Donnell, "Hollywood" Bob Heyden and John Campbell.

One final plug for the Horse Racing Radio Network which in 2009, will broadcast more than 100 stakes races from 10 racetracks across the country. HRRN broadcasts features interviews, analysis, as well as the live call of each race.

Despite all of the above content, my local Toronto radio stations offer little coverage of the sport of kings. Once upon a time, Woodbine track announcer Daryl Wells would interrupt listeners on CJCL 1430 to provide race recaps following each race on the weekend, but those days are long gone along with real dirt and sloppy tracks. While accessing radio via the Internet will never be as romantic a notion as adjusting a radio antenna at just the right angle to pick up a soundwave of static, we should consider ourselves lucky to have this vast (brass) bonanza of options.