Broadcaster Kenny Albert and the roots of WNST

Longtime broadcaster Kenny Albert tells Nestor that he is included in his new book of memoirs, “A Mic For All Seasons.” And in celebrating 25 years of Baltimore radio, the whole story cannot be told without the one-time voice of the Baltimore Skipjacks, who started the journey for AM 1570 back in December 1991.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

years, goose, kenny, game, great, broadcaster, hockey, team, book, baltimore, day, stanley cup, fox, sports, story, seasons, ravens, play, nhl, life

SPEAKERS

Kenny Albert, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

W and S T, Towson Baltimore, Baltimore positive. This is going to be one of the great segments of my young life. I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but it’s our 25th anniversary. We shall be spiking the ball long and hard. Joe Enoch I want to give him a shout out as well as Bill Cole and Greg Landry from tacit transfers as being my con sleeping theories on our 25th anniversary and memories and ideas. Joe Enoch gave me this idea to do 25 stories of glory to 25 Greatest moments in the history of wn st beginning on August 3 1998. But the strangest thing about all of this is that I didn’t begin in 1998 that this is my 32nd year of doing radio, but really 25 years of having an FCC license, paying people having a tower having all of it and running a radio station, running a business, all of that stuff. It’s been 25 years and any time we celebrate anything, that’s an anniversary around here, Kenny Albert has to be a part of that. So Kenny, I’m sorry you miss Costas. I’m sorry. You missed drug city. I’m sorry. You’re gonna miss Pappas on the 29th with Stuart Pittman, and Rhonda county executive it’s all brought to you by our friends at wind donation, and the Maryland lottery. Dude, I hit the lottery the day I met you up in Pittsburgh at that all star game with your sister and your dad at the Penn. You were a kid I was a kid. I remember meeting you. And next thing I know you’re like the Skipjacks broadcaster and, and dude, I’m like a wet bookie in your life. I can’t shake you. Apparently, I’m even in your book, man. So like, thanks for coming on. And being my friend for now going on 33 years, which is more than half of our lifetimes, man, you look exactly

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Kenny Albert  01:45

the same as the damn match, you know. But I do remember the brief meeting in Pittsburgh. But then the first real meeting was in June of 1990. When I came down, and they had a press conference at the dais in next to the Baltimore arena to introduce head coach Rob Blair to the skip jacks. And I was there as well.

Nestor Aparicio  02:04

Bright told me to refer you with that all star game, by the way, now that I’m thinking about it. Tommy bright, made sure I met you. While we

Kenny Albert  02:13

did meet there. And then at the press conference, and the rest is history. You were covering the team for the Baltimore Sun. I was doing the radio and then year two, which was 9192 gentleman by the name of Jim Ward at the radio station, came to me and said, Do you want to do a radio show. And from four to six every day, during the week, I started doing the show, Jerry Coleman, and then I road trips, and I would miss a lot of shows and we brought you in and the rest is history. It took it over about a year or two later. And here we are hard to believe in 2023 still talking about it.

Nestor Aparicio  02:52

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I’m not gonna bore our audience because I probably have told this story before the night that Mark came in, and like was hanging out and you left him behind and thinking and I had never done radio in my life. Like I

Kenny Albert  03:05

never had a game to go do so I bolted out of there.

Nestor Aparicio  03:08

i The three of us did the first like 30 minutes, and your hour and you left. And you’re like I’m leaving you’re good hands with my dad. And I’m like, Kenny, I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to do this. I and your dad sat there and I swear to god top of the hour rockin Rockin Robin, Freddie Robinson flipped the top of the switch to go to we went to the top of the hour news top of the hour. 6pm news. Marv looks at me, puts his jacket on NASA. I gotta go see Kenny, I’m gone. I’m like, No, you can’t leave. I don’t know what I’m doing. Like I. I mean, I was right. And Kenny, like, I mean, I’m not I can laugh about it. 33 years later, whatever it’s been, but like your father walked out on me kicked me off the plank into the deep water and said, he said to me, You’re gonna be fine. And I was he was

Kenny Albert  04:06

like, it’s like throwing a five year old into the deep end of the swimming pool. Right? You learn how to do it?

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Nestor Aparicio  04:12

Well, your father did that to me. And that’s a true story. And it’s a true story that you said to me, Hey, I’m gonna do this show. Do you want to be a part of it? All these years later now you’ve got a book. So like, I I don’t have the copy of your book to hold up the way I would tell me about the book because you hit me a couple of months ago and you’re like, give me your address and I’m like it’s Kenny sending me flowers for my twice he sent me chocolates March 25 And it’s a turns out you’re gonna send me a copy of this book. But give me the bookstore because I I know a lot of your stories. I don’t know all of them. And all these years later I learned things about you. I mean, of your relationship with goose that you know when he died. I didn’t really realize how close you guys were. And I can’t imagine this lifetime of rangers, all the football all the baseball you’ve had privy to Every coach, every league, I mean, this is gonna be a good book. I’m gonna read this book any.

Kenny Albert  05:06

Well, I know you’ve gone through the process, you’ve written multiple books. And this was my first and I was I was telling somebody yesterday for 33 years, I’ve pretty much had the same job. I’ve been a play by play broadcaster. Yes, we hosted the talk show for a while. And I’ve done a couple of other things in the world of sports casting, but it kind of hit me. I’m going to be an author. It sounds crazy. Actually. I did it myself. No Ghost Rider, had obviously helped from my family, my wife and kids chipped in. And

Nestor Aparicio  05:36

have you ever signed a lot of autographs at once? I’m just saying. You’ve watched these ballplayers at these sign stuff. They had signing rooms for like, Have you ever like literally taken a Sharpie and just tried to do it for an hour? Just tried to sign your name on a book,

Kenny Albert  05:51

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probably not more than 10 or 12? In a short period,

Nestor Aparicio  05:56

Dude, get ready, because you’re gonna cramp. I’m swear. And I and I know. But I’m telling you, there is something the signing books that that’s going to be a new experience in your life, you’re gonna be like, this is kind of hard. You’re really proud of it. Right? And, and we’re really proud of it. I’m so proud of my book that I’ve given them. I have 200 copies left, I’ve given them all the way this week it cost us but like there’s a part of signing books, that’s gonna be a new experience for you. Because as an author, it’s the weirdest thing in your life being cramped from signing books.

Kenny Albert  06:26

Well, I look forward to that part of it. It was a great experience started during the pandemic, when I was home for 146 days in a row and had a lot of time to myself with with the family. Obviously, you’re a

Nestor Aparicio  06:37

play by play guy. No, you’re not. There’s no more sports. You know,

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Kenny Albert  06:41

you obviously had a terrific writing career in high school. In college, I did a lot of writing for the town paper, the school paper. So writing was in my background a little bit. And I enjoy writing. And I wanted to do it myself. I had spoken to a couple of writers thought about maybe using somebody but the bottom line was it’s my stories. I wanted it in my voice. And I got it done, started during the pandemic put together an outline some sample chapters, and then really over the last year and a half to two years last summer, I had a lot of free time finished it up and have gone through the editing and correction process over the last four or five months as well.

Nestor Aparicio  07:20

I wish I had spellcheck for the first book a lot. You know,

Kenny Albert  07:23

it’s amazing how much you miss, right? Like, every time you go back and read it, you find three more selling

Nestor Aparicio  07:30

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apostrophes in the second book, you know, so yeah,

Kenny Albert  07:34

exactly. But anyway, a lot of good stories about our eight years together. I did spell your name right as well in ER, right. I spelled it right. spelled incorrectly. But it was a lot of fun. It basically starts with the My early life born three months premature. I tell that story. Wow. hospital for two and a half months,

Nestor Aparicio  07:58

already five years, and I’m learning things got

Kenny Albert  08:01

one pound 15 ounces, but I was born and I went down to one eight after a miracle Kenny, though. So I tell that story. All right. story about growing up and going to a lot of games and then my high school and college days and some of the experiences and then getting hired by the Skipjacks is a big part of it. There’s an entire chapter on on my two years with the Baltimore skipjack. So I’m sure you’ll look forward to that.

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Nestor Aparicio  08:26

Is there a chapter on the little

Kenny Albert  08:27

room that smelled like smoke? We had water battles in our first year in the studio or No, I’m not sure that made it in but definitely, it was pretty good story that I just talked about, about the Skipjacks the radio show. And then I go into getting hired by Fox in 94. And then a chapter on each sports stories on hockey, football, baseball, basketball, memorable games, stories about color analyst I’ve worked with travel tales, a chapter on the eight Olympics. I’ve worked six months to Summer Olympics, a chapter on the COVID years and how we broadcast the games during that period. A lot of family stories and it was a lot of fun. I’ll give you a couple of quick ones. You mentioned Barry trots, who was also in studio with us. One day back in 1991. He came in and sat with us and and did the show he was the assistant coach with the Skipjacks. Now he’s the third winningest coach and National Hockey League history. Won a Stanley Cup obviously with the capitals. One of the rare plane trips we took with the Skipjacks we would always bus to Hershey and Binghamton and Utica New Haven in Portland, Maine. Everything was a bus trip. But once a year, we would fly to the maritime provinces in Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, so we got to skip Jack’s road trip during the 9192 season. We took three flights in one day, Baltimore to Boston, Boston to Halifax and then Halifax to Sydney, Nova Scotia, and it was a small regional jet. There were probably 25 of us in the traveling party, right we had 20 Slayer Cape Breton Oilers. It was the cape Breton wireless. Exactly. And it was myself two trainers, two coaches and 20 players. So 25 of us, there were probably 30 seats on the entire plane. And they told us, the big hockey equipment bags and the stick bags would take priority. And a lot of our personal luggage would not make it on and we probably wouldn’t get it until the next day. So we take the three flights. We landed in Sydney, Nova Scotia about four in the afternoon. And it’s a really small airport, one room we go down.

Nestor Aparicio  10:28

People live in Sydney, Nova Scotia 10,000. It’s a it’s a village literally right

Kenny Albert  10:33

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out. So we go down the steps off the plane onto the tarmac. There’s a gentleman standing at the bottom of the clipboard. And he has some names on it. He pulls me over and says, Is this you? Yes. I thought maybe he wanted me to identify what the luggage look like that would be coming in the next day. Right? This is before the roller bag. So everybody had different luggage, different sizes and shapes. So he takes me into a room and starts questioning me. Is your passport valid? Have you ever been arrested? Do you know anybody that’s in trouble? And I’m thinking, you know, I knew I didn’t do anything. But I’m wondering what’s going on. And then they put me in a car and official car. Two older gentlemen start driving around and asking similar questions. And finally after about 15 minutes, they pull up to a hotel. And they say to me, do you know Jimmy Wiseman, Jimmy was the longtime Capitol security chief down in DC. His brother was the police chief up in Sydney. He set the whole thing up, because Barry trots wanted to get me back. As a practical joke. I had interviewed him months earlier. He said something that came out funny. I went and played it for the players. They thought it was funny. They repeated it to him that I played it for them. So once a year they would they would pull this practical joke on somebody player, a trainer, a broadcaster. So a fake arrest in Nova Scotia set up by Barry trots, and every time I see him, he makes sure to tell the story to whoever’s around us. 3032 years later, so

Nestor Aparicio  11:56

they see people well in Canada in jail. I’m just wondering, never

Kenny Albert  12:01

never stepped in jail only into this small room and they

Nestor Aparicio  12:04

get fresh fish. Sydney, Nova Scotia Jael,

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Kenny Albert  12:07

what the story lives on. Story lives on 32 years later, but just stories like I said about travel, the Olympics, the various sports a chapter giving advice to young broadcasters high school and college students. So you know, hopefully you’ll I’ll definitely be sending you a copy. Hopefully you’ll join and get through the whole thing, but it was a lot of fun.

Nestor Aparicio  12:32

I want to ask you because I don’t even know what you want.

Kenny Albert  12:35

For the listeners and viewers. Nestor it is available on pre order. All right, good. Good. It’s called a mic for all seasons. Mi see the eye is a microphone. And one of the things I’m most proud of and honored. The foreword. There are two forwards Wayne Gretzky and Walt Clyde Frazier.

Nestor Aparicio  12:53

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Nice to for to to, to have your compadres through all of these.

Kenny Albert  12:57

Exactly. My initial idea was to have one person from each of the four sports that I’ve worked with. But the publishers told me it’s a little too much clutter on the cover. We don’t want four names. So I narrowed it down to the great one and Clyde.

Nestor Aparicio  13:10

Well, I’ll tell you what, that’s that’s inside New York and inside Canada, you’ve you’ve got all the bases covered Kenny Albert is here. He was the one who actually started the show that started the station that begat wn St. And here we are all these years later, he’s got a book out now talking about so I wanted to ask you this in. I mean, I’ve run stats for you. I remember one night in St. Louis, 25 years ago, you’re doing a hockey, you’re doing a radio broadcast, the television part of what you do. And I would even make this as current as last weekend when you were in your call. And again, everybody hated you, and all the national because you were too pro Yankee. And I’m thinking to myself, I don’t think Ken even likes you. But either way, because that’s where we are in Baltimore, how different is doing what you do now, then even what your father was doing, or even what you found that fox 20 years ago when you’re a kid. And but I feel like to some degree, the technology of all of it and the rules and staying up with like just the fact that you have the hotline to Mike Pereira. You know what I mean? Like we have all that going on people gambling on it legally. Now we can actually talk about it. They all do Big Papi does, but from the broadcasting standpoint, from you showing up and doing a game for any of the four sports. Do you still have to pick board that you always did that was always in your apartment when I came down? And so I mean, you still do it the same way or are you more digital in the way you do it?

Kenny Albert  14:39

I still do those boards the same way all by hand. I’m old school I feel like you remember a lot more when you do it by hand. I have a file cabinet here on my left where I have all them from each and every almost every game that I’ve ever done. I’d say 95% of them are in this file cabinet from all sports. I go back and reference the next time that I have a particular team What’s changed though, is the technology and the information that’s out there that helps you with the preparation. When I first started with Fox 94, they would send us VHS tapes of each team’s previous game. But we wouldn’t get those until Wednesday, they would have to make copies of the Monday send them out on Tuesday. We get them on Wednesday. Now I can take games at home off DirecTV. I can watch games on the NFL game pass or the NHL or major league baseball app, live on tape, whatever I want. So you could start the process a lot earlier in preparing for a game on a Sunday. And then when I think back to 94, the Internet was in its infancy back then. So Fox would send us articles on each team on a fax machine I’d have to be I’d have to purchase rolls of fax paper and these articles would spit out of the fax machine every day. Now one click of a button on the internet you could read 100 articles on the Ravens for example. So the technology’s changed. The iPad was a great invention for me

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Nestor Aparicio  16:01

preparation part has been made Smith streamline for you right but the actual like when you’re there and the games live the games, the game and I I would think that part of it. I just talked to a lot of different people Kenny oriels threw me out 17 years ago now that’s why you didn’t see me at the ballpark right now the Ravens have thrown me out. I don’t do that. I mean, literally, it’s it’s an amazing thing all these years later that I still exist. And then I still do this. But I think about your job specifically as being as similar in many ways, as anything can be where like baseball coaches as an example. And you know, this, the analytic side of the game has changed every single thing about coaching in every sport, literally,

Kenny Albert  16:48

it has and I’ll tell you one thing about baseball, it has changed this year with the pitch clock. There’s obviously not as much time during the broadcast between pitches between batters and I think that’s a good thing. It’s sped it up a little bit. The average game last year was three hours seven minutes this year, it’s 240. So they’ve shaved 27 minutes off major league baseball games, but the actual job that I do once we get on the air once the red light goes on, hasn’t changed that much I go through the same checklist in preparing that I went through back then. And that involves a lot of reading and watching prior games and preparing charts and poring through statistics and other publications provided to us you know obviously technology the graphics the cameras all that has improved significantly due to technology but when I’m calling a Rangers game on the radio for example it’s pretty much the same as it was back in in 1995 Your dad can walk

Nestor Aparicio  17:43

in right and literally if you you know where the mic goes and where it is and where the game is and the the preparation is 98% of what you do other than the gift of following the puck and like things that you do that I can never do I can never ever ever do i mean i I marvel at your ability to do it and specifically your ability like it’s one thing to know baseball and to be but it mean to fly in and out of sports the way you have and do I mean dude I never said this it but mean you’re you’re becoming a legend because of how many you said you keep every one of those sheets right now. Dude, I’m going through all of our I got my clobbered Cleveland signs from 96 My I believe in Steve’s for 2006. The Baltimore loves cow with the free the birds for 2007. I’ve got the rate 252 And the believe in Joe, I have all this stuff. You. You call. Am I wrong to say you call 250 events a year? Am I wrong to say that?

Kenny Albert  18:41

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This is what the football chart looks like? No, it’s about 130 Sometimes 140. So you

Nestor Aparicio  18:47

don’t like at hockey? Of course you don’t like you? But I don’t think you’re when you’re working three days a week, four days a week, which I guess adds up to under 30 140 events right sometimes,

Kenny Albert  18:57

you know, including travel October, November, December. I might only be home one day a week during that time period. Because now with the NHL on TNT the last two years we have a Wednesday night game every week. So unless it’s in the northeast, I’m traveling Tuesday, game Wednesday, traveling Thursday and then we go in for football Friday we go meet with the home team on Friday at their practice and meet with the visiting team Saturday. So it’s more days you know then than actual games. I might be either on the road or working definitely more than 200 days a year but

Nestor Aparicio  19:29

people would see you a goose you know, in a game on Sunday, and they don’t realize you got in there on Friday. He spent the whole day Friday with the home team. You’re sitting around on Saturday waiting for the visiting team you spend the whole evening doing that you’re prepping everything you’re at the stadium at eight o’clock in the morning making sure everything’s right like it’s it’s not you guys don’t roll in at 11 o’clock off the tailgate you know

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Kenny Albert  19:52

God with goose there was no sitting around on a Saturday morning we were I’ve told you this before. We were doing something fun predicated by goose what Whether it was going out to swamp tour touching baby alligators in Louisiana if we had a saints game, if we had a bills game, we’d be in a boat Niagara Falls getting soaked. We would go to the practice Friday home team go to dinner Friday night, and then wait for the visiting team to get him Saturday afternoon. But with goose there was always an activity. I write about this in the book, I have so many great memories, there are probably probably six or eight things I’ve done once in my life, including riding in a NASCAR, you know, going 150 Miles shorter than the track. There are probably eight things I’ve done that I’ve only done once and it was because of goose and and I remember some of those events more than the actual games. So that was certainly a great period of all of our lives.

Nestor Aparicio  20:46

Well, we lost goose and I had you want to talk about that. I know you did a thing recently and I talked to Kyle Richardson just off the off the charts of former ravens punter and Super Bowl champion and one of the guys that lives here locally Meredith Dundalk are talking last week just because we’re friends and I was just he was mentioned in goose in the flight and the charity and gooses family and I know I mean you I know his kids from the stage and 2001 Riding Purple Rain one and and then I know them from meeting them two weeks before he died here last year and but you’ve seen you’ve been around his family you wrote in every helicopter you told me all the I didn’t know of the depth of your relationship, but talk a little bit about what’s going on because this foundation and that’s burning bright and everything he did with Big Daddy up and up on Long Island. There’s still a lot of people fighting gooses costs.

Kenny Albert  21:39

There certainly are. I was at an event two weeks ago. I’m not much of a golfer but I did play golf that day. And there’s a there’s a company goose flights, a charity called goose flights. And it was started by Dirk Vander steer who was a great friend of goose dark owns a private aviation business private jet business called Titan aviation. I think Ray Lewis is involved as well. Goose was one of darcs partners, and it’s out of Florida and all three of goose’s kids worked for Titan aviation. His son Anthony and his daughters Ava and Samantha they all work for the company and they formed a charity goose flights. And they brought Make A Wish child to the Super Bowl for example. They flew the child in from his hometown to the Super Bowl this past February. They do a lot with the Make a Wish Foundation and they also fly retired NFL players who have medical appointments in cities away from where they live away from their hometown. So they have X number of private jets available and between the Mako with children and the former NFL players who have to get to appointments. That’s what they do. So this tournament, raised a lot of money. There were some great celebrities there from both in and out of the sports world Michael Strahan showed up for the entire day. He was a great friend of goose played golf and stuck around for the dinner. Some other former football players, former New York Yankee Rick SEROW, there were a bunch of ravens their hockey players Ken DataCo, three time Stanley Cup champion with the New Jersey Devils. He was a great friend of goose. So it was a terrific day. gooses mom was there. I took a photo with our we affectionately refer to her as Mother Goose. So Rosemary Serkis who was on hand gooses brothers, so many of his relatives and friends. It was great to see everybody. Everybody Kenilworth was there. All Kenilworth New Jersey was there. But we shared so many great memories. And I’m not sure what the total was. But you could probably go online Titan aviation goose flights and find out how many hundreds of $1,000 they raised. I had heard after I left that one of gooses jerseys went for $30,000. Which which, which went towards the charity goose flights.

Nestor Aparicio  23:54

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Well, Kenny Albert is our guest, he has a book out I have a 25th anniversary going on. Do you want to celebrate anniversaries of anything? I mean, probably the anniversary of the Rangers winning the cup or something right. But, you know, for you being a part of all of this and identifying as a team broadcaster in New York, but national broadcaster through all of this stuff. Do you enjoy any part of it more than the other? Like when it’s all over with? And you just want to settle down? Well, you just like be the Ranger. I mean, I’m wondering where the end of not quite frankly, your madness, because I’m 55 You’ll you’re just turned 55 Like we’re, we’re the same age. I wonder where it does slow down a little bit for you and how you’ll ever be able to do that. I saw Joe Buck. I mean, just just a point where like, you, you have sacrificed a lot with your family and I and how much travel and I know you love it. You’ve lived your whole life to do it. You got enough money now You’re fine, you’re good. How long do you think you’re going to do this? You know,

Kenny Albert  24:53

it’s a great question and I don’t feel like I’m ready to slow down and I’m very fortunate. Very fortunate to work are three networks Fox Turner and msg who are all great about the jigsaw puzzle of a schedule. My family has been so great about it and my wife do what she was getting into. My kids grew up around it. They didn’t know any different. I missed a lot of the weekend stuff. But I was home during the week a lot more than than most parents are. So there were sacrifices but a lot of positives to it. They got to come and some great trips through the years. My daughter, my older daughter works the business behind the scenes. She’s a video editor at the NHL, she edits hockey highlights all day, there’s a new project NHL Breakaway, which you could find on social media, which she’s been involved in editing, editing those highlights so he’s your real love.

Nestor Aparicio  25:40

I mean, it is.

Kenny Albert  25:41

I love the wall. I do I get that point. It’s like yes, which kid you like better. I mean, I love that I keep growing up, you know, was a little bit above the others. But this you asked about anniversaries. We had we had our fox football seminar recently. And this is the 30th season of the NFL on Fox. And there aren’t too many of us left in that first year we took a group photo and there were 18 of us on the air and production folks, and myself Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw are the only ones who have been there continuously for the 30 years. Matt Millen was there left to run the lions and came back. There were some folks on the production side who started Fox left and came back. But as far as on the air Jimmie Johnson was there at the start left to coach the dolphins came back but myself Terry Bradshaw and how he long the only free standing left standing out Joe box at ESPN. He’s a Hall of Fame broadcaster Kevin Harlan was an original Fox broadcaster has been at CBS and TNT. So a lot of great people are still working. But we’re the only three that are still a fox from year one.

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Nestor Aparicio  26:47

Yeah, why do you hate the Orioles? So much? I mean, I’m asking on behalf of everybody that watched your broadcast.

Kenny Albert  26:52

We get this. We get this all the time we were thinking to we were 5050 on the broadcast. I get it because I do the Rangers locally. Fans of teams are so provincial. They want to hear their local broadcasters. They don’t want to hear the national guys, we come in and to give a different perspective. But we’re 5050 we told a lot of Oreo stories but the problem is they lost that game. So Oreo fans think that we were talking more about the Yankees. Because the Yankees won the game. What a

Nestor Aparicio  27:18

crazy I’ll give you the true story for and I didn’t get to see you when you were in town and I saw some pictures here. I didn’t know you were doing the game I booked you on you didn’t tell me you were in town. We booked this thing. My anniversary. You’re in a different city every night. And and you know, I knew we were gonna get together and visit on the air anyway would have been nice to see you. My electricity went out over the weekend. So we spent the whole 100 degree day running around we were over at El Guapo and Catonsville we were at the local in a brand new place and Whitemarsh celebrate, then we’re gonna cost this and the games don’t like. And I see people in the end it couldn’t hear the game. The game wasn’t there wasn’t like I knew was national. I could see from the graphics. Not and I didn’t and everybody’s pitching about the broadcasters. And then all of a sudden I’m sitting there, like, and you showed up and I’m like, Hey, Kenny.

Kenny Albert  28:10

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You’re sure that wasn’t Sunday night?

Nestor Aparicio  28:11

Ah ha ha ha. They hated that. You Yeah, that’s fine to have. They did that too.

Kenny Albert  28:16

I got it. People love their local announcers. You want to hear the local, local men or women who are doing the game. So no, no,

Nestor Aparicio  28:22

it’s not even that way. They just think that you love the other team if you’re the national broadcaster, and especially the Yankees, and you know, like they’re the Yankees. So anything positive you may say about Aaron judge is construed as completely preposterous to anybody and listen, I deal with it all day. It’s great. Doesn’t make any sense to me.

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Kenny Albert  28:41

You got it on football. We got it on national hockey. We heard from both sides. That means you’re probably doing a good job down the line. We’ll hear it from fans of both teams all the time.

Nestor Aparicio  28:52

Well, anything you want to you want to kick trots in the nuts while he’s here since he got your rest and Halloween. I said to my wife, he he and I spent time together in the offseason last year, right? He gets candy on the island. He’s hanging out. He comes on the show come down to Nashville, like all this stuff. Then he goes and takes this job that just isn’t gonna like eat and back up again. He is Godfather Daiki he’s in and I don’t know that we’ll ever leave that shop. Right? Like he’s got to get it right. He’s got to win a cop to a boil then do I mean God bless Barry right? He’s gone to the Hall of Fame. But he’s, he’s like, yeah, he’s a lifer. He’s in prison for good.

Kenny Albert  29:29

Is one of the best people I know. You know, back when I was his road roommate during those two seasons. Just a regular guy you would never know that he’s such a successful coach and pro sports if you met him on the street, great family. And you mentioned David Boyle. He was the one who hired Barry along with Jack button in Washington and Baltimore back in the late 80s. And David brought him to Nashville and he was the coach there for 15 years and now he replaces David who retired as general manager so it goes full circle but wish them all the best laughs Seeing them whenever I go to Nashville or we run into each other elsewhere and he’ll do a great job there with the predators.

Nestor Aparicio  30:06

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You really will right like I just, it’s a job you have to want and love but what a great, what a great landings. What a great story if they were to win the cup with him they’re like and having been there at the beginning of Fang fingers and all that and you’re seeing the growth of the city and hockey and what’s controversial, right? The doubles. We’re gonna move down there at one point, and that was a place that could never support hockey, like Tampa, right like Tampa is never going to support. I mean what your eyes have seen in hockey, for communities embracing the sport, I mean, say what you want about betting in one way or another going back to Ziggler. But whatever that vision has been for hockey in certain markets, it’s worked.

Kenny Albert  30:45

Look at this year’s final. I was there I was calling the games Vegas and Florida. When we were doing our sale back in 1991. If I told you that Vegas in Florida would be in the Stanley Cup final. You would have thought I was crazy. But the atmosphere in Vegas is unbelievable. It might be one of the best in the entire league both inside the arena and outside where they watch the games on the screen. You mentioned Tampa they’ve won three Stanley Cups now. Florida gets to the final this year. The success in Nashville they’ve gotten to a Stanley Cup final Dallas has won a cup. The Arizona coyotes not great success lately, but they went deep into the playoffs back in 2012 and Austin Matthews one of the best players in the league admits he would never have played hockey if not for the coyotes. He grew up in the Scottsdale area and started playing hockey in the junior coyotes program. So we have kids who’ve grown up in California Wayne Gretzky going to play in LA that really started things going and now you have all these teams in the Sunbelt. The final four this year. We’re all Sunbelt teams, Vegas, Florida. Dallas and Carolina. fourteens in the Sunbelt in the

Nestor Aparicio  31:51

other place that like 30 years later like we all miss the Wailers right we all miss you know the Bonanza but

Kenny Albert  31:58

by the way, walking by the harbor in Baltimore the other day walk past the gentleman wearing a Hartford Whalers golf shirt adds in my head,

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Nestor Aparicio  32:10

right? Absolutely. Well, it Kenny the Vegas thing is fascinating to me because my ex girlfriend from many years ago and you’ll know the year we sat inside of New York, New York in early June felt like it was late May then but it was early June. We were out in Vegas on a bender and it was the night that the Sabres got robbed of the Stanley Cup by the stars, right. So that game was five periods six hours long. I was rolling like dice in between periods. We were in this little restaurant called ill for nao or Italian theme restaurant inside New York, New York. And I saw the Stanley Cup get raised there. I sat in the corner bar, I sat there for six hours watching the game. And that was in 19, whatever. 99 whatever year that was right 2001 Whatever that you know better media the hockey story. So all these years later, my wife and I are in Vegas. The night that the capitals, my team. Barry trots, my guy wins the cup. I was in the bowels of the T Mobile Center, you were there. And with the Stanley Cup on the ice Ovechkin Tony Robbins, all this stuff happens. My wife and I were there all night and told the cup was in the locker room and we’re all leaving, then we’re gonna go to the party. And my wife and I walked out of the T mobile arena, we made a right turn. And I’m at New York, New York and I walked in and said, Hold on, I want to just go in here and get a beer. It was two in the morning, or whatever it was after winning the Stanley Cup. I said I want my beer to be in that spot where I want and I couldn’t believe that they that they that they had a team that there was a Stanley Cup that this weird transactional thing 20 years later in my life happened and I’m like, this just happened. And now the Vegas stars are like mites. I should say our thing like really a thing.

Kenny Albert  34:03

They’ve done an unbelievable job. George McPhee is the general manager was the general manager now the president who came from the capitals, they did such a terrific job with the Expansion Draft and some other deals they made. They’ve been a team for six years. They got to the Stanley Cup final their first year and they wanted in their six which was predicted by their owner Bill Foley before they ever played a game he said I expect us to be in the playoffs year three win a Stanley Cup year six they want to Stanley Cup your six

Nestor Aparicio  34:30

yeah to crack and have that going on right now too or no?

Kenny Albert  34:33

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They got to the second round this year. So they Ron Francis, their general manager they’ve done a great job as well.

Nestor Aparicio  34:39

You say Ron Francis I’m gonna play brass Bonanza get it Kenny Albert is here. Yeah, still got a hockey heart Kenny you know I mean, I’m not watching every night anymore. I’m stuck on his Oreo first place thing that feels really weird to me. We’re all Lamar and up around here. What game you’re gonna piss off the ravens and say bad things about Lamar. You got Lamar on the calendar this year yet or no? Go whatever. The schedule yet so well it’s weird because the games aren’t normal anymore, right like you could easily have a Lamar AFC game because it’s not as proprietary is

Kenny Albert  35:11

more of those crossover games. Fox still is primarily NFC. If I’m not mistaken, each NFC team is guaranteed nine games on Fox now. It used to be more clear cut where every NFC road game was on Fox and AFC road games or CBS. NFC still, primarily Fox, AFC, primarily CBS with more crossover games than we’ve seen in the past. I’ll tell you what,

Nestor Aparicio  35:36

for you our parting gift is a spank the Yank sign from 1996. This is from this. This is from the Jeffrey Mayer era. So where you are going back that’s it doesn’t even say wn st on it because I didn’t have a wn St. Yet. loonies pop is still around though. So Stella roses and Ameche. So we had some great sponsors even 27 years ago. Kenny, with the book right,

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Kenny Albert  35:58

had a great lunch at 17 knows how to go back to the you mentioned Tommy, right, the old former owner of the skip jacks, he’s the one that introduced me to Saba Tinos, I still try to get back when I’m in Baltimore and it was a quick trip I had a I actually drove home after the game had a family wedding the next day so didn’t spend as much time in Baltimore as I would have liked but hopefully next time

Nestor Aparicio  36:18

next time you get a proper crabcake none of that tourist nonsense. Hope we got a little bookmaker down there at sabse all as well. Absolutely like hey man, Yankees come to town they take over right so I mean, there’s there’s fans everywhere spending money. That’s a Baltimore positive thing. It’s even more Baltimore positive and we beat them in a season series. And we’re in first place in their last place which makes it more fun. Candy which book come out.

Kenny Albert  36:39

October 10. available for preorder now, Barnes and Noble Amazon. You can Google it a mike MMIC for all seasons triumph books as the publisher.

Nestor Aparicio  36:48

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All right, well, maybe you’ll get a game that we That’s my 55th birthday, October 14 that week, so I will reach out to you when the book comes out. I’ll hold it up. And we’ll tell stories about how the Orioles are about to win the World Series. Look forward to it areas Kenny Albert. You can find him out on the interwebs he’s on social media. He’s a little reclusive and, and somewhat quiet and shy and bashful and introverted in real life, but he is the broadcaster for all seasons and all sports and is really the not the spiritual Godfather, the actual godfather of the time. He walked up to me and said Nestor, I’m going to do radio Do you want to do a show with me? And here I am all these years later, owning a radio station for 25 years. It is our 25th anniversary we’re celebrating all month on the Maryland crab cake tour. It’s all presented by our friends at the Maryland lottery I’ll have these it’s a lottery scratch offs. We had $100 winner a couple of weeks ago we’re going to be Papist on the 29th we’re going to be fade these we’re going to be in Hollywood casino at the Barstool Sports. And all of those dates are now up as well as our 25th anniversary stuff. And the 25 stories of glory at Baltimore positive.com We got to pet a race in Baltimore. What’s that Getty?

Kenny Albert  37:53

Happy anniversary.

Nestor Aparicio  37:55

Oh, happy anniversary. Happy. We got a real pennant race going on here. And Kenny’s got some game to call though. It’s not hockey just yet. Stay where this is Baltimore positive.com