CHL Broadcasters have more in common than a job title

TULSA, Okla. – There are several stories that will be told this weekend when the Tulsa Oilers travel to Southaven, Mississippi for their final regular season series with the Mississippi RiverKings. One of the more interesting stories to come out of this rivalry is not about the men in the skates, but instead the men behind the microphones for the two squads.

With the two teams locked in a heated battle for playoff position in the Central Hockey League’s Berry Conference, Oilers broadcaster Steve McCall and his RiverKings counterpart, Bob Bakken will call the action live for their respective fans. McCall, now in his eighth season as the radio voice of the Oilers, also spent three years with the RiverKings organization between 1999 and 2002. “Steve was the ultimate professional, was always on top of things and was always there to help when called upon,” RiverKings Director of Business Operations Dave ‘Ab” Mattice said. Bakken, in his third season with the RiverKings, has been calling hockey games for over 20 years. Most of his experience was in the United States Hockey League, with stints in Sioux City and Omaha. He made the jump from juniors to the CHL after the 2008 season that saw his Omaha Lancers claim the tier-1 Junior National Championship. “Bob has made the jump pretty well,” Mattice said of Bakken’s move from juniors to the pros. Mattice went on to add that it is very important for a team to have a solid broadcaster. “He’s the voice of the team, the arm of the team that reaches out to all of our fans to keep them informed,” he said. Bakken and McCall have more in common than calling play-by-play for the RiverKings, they actually worked together over twenty years ago. In 1990 McCall was working at a small radio station in Grundy Center, Iowa while serving as Public Relations Director for the USHL when he first met Bakken. After hearing McCall’s reports that he filed with the Associated Press, Bakken, the Sports Director and morning news anchor for KWLO radio in nearby Waterloo, suggested that the news director consider him for an opening. “When they had a news opening, Bob helped give a lead to the news director and she called me and said they had an opening,” McCall said. “It was definitely a step up in the radio news reporting world.”  “I’m doing sports and news and he comes in and he’s the news beat,” Bakken added. “It was kind of a great situation, that’s really how we first met.” According to Bakken, the job at KWLO was different from other radio stations not only in Iowa, but in the entire country. “We were a bit of an anomaly in radio news, we had about 70,000 people in Waterloo and maybe 110,000 in the metropolitan area, yet our radio station had a five person news staff,” he said. While working together at the station, the two formed a friendship and were quick to help each other out. McCall helped Bakken and the news director crack the case of some stolen political yard signs and helped to identify the suspects. According to McCall, when he heard the names of three suspects that were arrested, he realized that they had a prank on their hands and not a political conspiracy. “I said all three of those guys play for the Waterloo Black Hawks hockey team,” McCall said. “Bob looks up and said, I thought those names sounded familiar,” he added with a laugh. “We didn’t know – is this an orchestrated deal, is it a big deal?,” McCall said, about originally learning of the story. After learning of the suspects’ identities, McCall said the players didn’t even know the candidates or the offices they were running for. “They were just going to take them and put them all in their team captains yard,” he said. “That was kind of a fun story that we had a chance to cover.” Bakken recalled a moment in 1991 when he was preparing to announce a high school football playoff game, when he received word that his father had passed away. While Bakken began making arrangements to return home to Minnesota, McCall stepped in and took over the broadcast so Bakken could be with his family. “Steve graciously stepped in and actually did the game and I probably left him at one of the coldest high school football fields in the state of Iowa that night,” Bakken said. He added that the game was probably the only one in the entire state that was played outdoors that weekend due to a heavy snowstorm. Bakken moved on to do play-by-play for the Sioux City Musketeers, while McCall left KWLO in 1992 to serve as the voice of the Black Hawks, even though he had never announced hockey games on the air.   Fast forward twenty years and its an odd coincidence that the two are now working in the same league, right? According to Bakken, it is no coincidence. “I credit him (McCall) for actually getting me to the RiverKings,” Bakken said. “It was his phone call that told me that the opening was coming up,” he added. McCall said he contacted Mattice to put in a good word for his former co-worker. “I said hey Ab, you’re looking for somebody – Bob knows the sport, he’s done hockey for years; he’s going to be a great representative,” McCall said. “I’m glad it’s worked out well for all of them.” You could say that Bakken’s move to Mississippi has brought the story full circle and has brought the old friends back together again. “We can’t seem to get rid of each other, one way or shape or form,” Bakken said with a laugh. 
Contact the writer@john.hall@prohockeynews.com
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