The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2014 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 67 the show with him. He's a true professional, who is very respected for what he does." Homecoming Jansen, who now lives near Petoskey, Mich., where he runs a Crossfit gym, has worked a few Michigan games over the past three years. Karsch has been immersed in the U‑M program since his WTKA days more than 20 years ago, while Brandstatter has enjoyed three decades of classic Maize and Blue victories. Assembling this team means a lot to all of them, but it might mean the most to Dierdorf. "When you have had a career like I've had, you very seldom got to go back to Ann Arbor to see a football game," he said. "I was working every weekend that Michigan played, either playing or broadcasting. In the 43 years since I played my last game in Michigan Stadium, I think I've seen five or six games in Michigan Stadium." The good news is Dierdorf could always find the Michigan game on TV no matter which city he was in, and he usually found a former Wolverine eager to talk about U‑M's season, including NFL standouts Tom Brady, Charles Woodson, LaMarr Woodley, Jason Avant and more. "I saw Tom's speech when he came back last season to talk to the team. I saw him a few weeks later and I said: 'Tom, I'm really proud of you. That was a heck of a thing to do.' "He looked at me and said, 'I wish it was easier for me to get back to Ann Arbor more often because every time I'm there I revert back to 19 years old again,'" Dierdorf re‑ layed. "Just a chance to get back to Ann Arbor on a regular basis is special. I got to do it when my daughter was there playing basketball, but that was always during the winter. To be back for Michigan football … what I have to do is really try not to hyper‑ ventilate and pass out when the Michigan team runs out of the tunnel and hits the 'M Go Blue' banner. "Brandstatter might have to give me CPR." If it comes to that, Brandstatter will be ready. "I've already got a guy up in the booth with a defibrillator and the smelling salts," he joked. "The thing for me that will be fun is I'll have a kick watching him. I've been doing this for 30 years, and I know when I see the Michigan band come out of the tun‑ nel and play the 'Victors' I get goose bumps on my neck. "I can only imagine what it will be like for Dan that first day because he hasn't been there for so long. "That's going to be fun for me watching him experience that and taking thus ride with him." ❑ On Oct. 25, 1924, Ty Tyson and Doc Holland broadcast the first ever Michigan game on the radio, buying tickets and sitting in the crowd for a contest against Wisconsin only after con- vincing Fielding H. Yost their broadcast would not negatively impact attendance. According to U-M historian Bob Rosiek, Yost told them: "You fellows can come in, but everybody has to buy a ticket, ya know," and only agreed to the broadcast after the game was announced a sellout. A 1996 inductee to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, Tyson was also a Detroit Ti- gers play-by-play man, and he would call Michigan games through 1951. Budd Lynch, known throughout De- troit as the longtime play-by-play man and later in his career the public address announcer at Red Wings games, took over for Tyson in 1952 and held the post for two seasons before Bill Flemming took the mic for WWJ. Fleming was on the air for six seasons and would later do TV work, calling the 1969 Michigan-Ohio State contest on ABC regional. The sports director at WWJ-TV and a public relations director for the Detroit Lions later in his career, Don Kremer called Michigan games from 1960 into the 1970s. Simultaneously, other radio stations were also broadcasting the games, with eight local teams, five from Lansing and one from Chicago airing the 1968 Michigan-Michigan State contest. Bob Ufer famously began his broadcasting career in 1945, calling games for WPAG-AM in Ann Arbor before becoming the lead play-by- play man for WJR in 1976. In 1976, WJR and Michigan entered into an agreement in which it would be the flagship station for U-M football games, clearing the broad- cast booth of the extraneous radio teams from big and small cities that had enjoyed access for nearly three decades. The relationship would last until 2005 when WJR entered a new deal with Michigan State. WOMC's 104.3 FM carried U-M games for five years before Michigan returned to WWJ in 2011. When Ufer passed away in 1981, Frank Beckmann became the new voice of Michigan football and called games for 33 years before retiring following the 2013 season. Play-By-Play Announcers And Color Commentators Play-By-Play Color Analyst Station Ty Tyson Doc Holland WWJ Budd Lynch * WWJ Bill Flemming * WWJ Don Kremer Bennie Oosterbaan WWJ Kremer Vince Doyle WWJ Larry Henry Jim Brandstatter WWJ Bob Ufer Don Lund WPAG/WJR Bill Stageth * WUOM Tom Hemingway Tom Slade WUOM Hemingway Tirrel Burton WUOM Larry Zimmer Al Renfrew WAAM Bob Reynolds Ty Tyson WJR Van Patrick Frank Sims WJR/WKMH Frank Beckmann Bob Thornblade WJR/WOMC/WWJ Beckmann Jerry Hanlon WJR/WOMC/WWJ Beckmann Jim Brandstatter WJR/WOMC/WWJ Jim Brandstatter Dan Dierdorf WWJ * Color analyst could not be verified The Evolution Of Michigan's Radio Team Bob Ufer first called U-M football games on WPAG-AM before becoming lead play- by-play man on WJR. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN Jansen, who spent the past three seasons as a color analyst and sideline reporter for the Big Ten Network, will provide pregame, half- time and postgame commentary for U-M. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN 64-67.New Radio Team.indd 67 6/19/14 11:36 AM