The next round of the NHL playoffs have started and so far it has been exciting hockey to watch with plenty of surprises. Currently, the playoffs see the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins going head to head, New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche, and an all Canadian series featuring the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers.
620 CKRM’s imaging voice (the big voice guy between songs) is Al Murdoch, who is also the public address announcer for the Vancouver Canucks. In 2011, Murdoch was asked to help with public address announcing at Canucks games because longtime announcer John Ashbridge had suffered a health scare. The two shared hosting duties for a few years after that health scare before Murdoch took over the job full time in 2015.
As one would expect there is a lot of work behind the scenes to get ready for a game, especially during the playoffs. Murdoch spends several hours each morning studying player statistics, player history, and game day scripts before heading to the arena around 2:30 in the afternoon. Once there, he participates in meetings to go over production, ask any questions about the script, and to mentally prepare for the game.
Listen to our whole interview here:
