The Nashville Predators are making some changes on their broadcasts.
Buried about halfway down a 14 paragraph press release outlining the upcoming content for the 2015-16 season, the Preds announced Pete Weber and Willy Daunic are going to be switching roles. Weber will take over play-by-play on 102.5 The Game with Brent Peterson, Jay More, and Dan Keczmer, while Daunic will join Stu Grimson to call games on FS-TN.
Building on the success of both of the Preds’ broadcast partners, 2015-16 will include even more coverage – including expanded features and more pre and postgame coverage. Additionally, fans who tune-in to game broadcasts will hear familiar voices in new places. The “Voice of the Predators” Pete Weber will move into the Preds’ radio play-by-play role and Willy Daunic, who was behind the radio play-by-play mic in 2014-15, will move into the television play-by-play role.
“It’s been a great run on the Preds television broadcasts these last 17 years, including many of those early seasons which featured simulcasts, but I’m looking forward to returning to the medium that first gave me my love for sports broadcasting – the radio,” Weber said. “Not only am I excited to be calling all 82 regular-season games, but I’m also looking forward to being on the call for every Preds playoff game, and ultimately, getting to call the game when the Predators bring the Stanley Cup to a new home in Nashville.”
“I’m excited to move into a new role with FOX Sports Tennessee on the Predators television broadcasts,” Daunic said. “I’ve been fortunate to have been a part of the Predators broadcasts since Day One, and since then, so much of what I’ve learned about hockey and how to call a game has come from Pete Weber, who has been a tremendous mentor and friend to me. Pete is, and always will be, the voice of the Predators. I’m truly honored to have this opportunity.”
It marks the first season in Predators’ history that both Weber and Terry Crisp will no longer be in the booth. Crisp took a reduced role last year and was replaced by Grimson, who had some growing pains transitioning from a rink reporter to a color commentator. But he certainly brought his own element to the broadcast, and “hotter than a sock from a dryer” may remain one of the best things to happen last year. Coming into this season with a full year under his belt, we’ll see how he and Daunic mesh together on air.
Daunic hits the TV broadcast after about a year-and-a-half as the radio play by play voice.
They have big shoes to replace, as Weber and Crispy were two of the best tandems in NHL broadcasting. Not hearing (or seeing) either of them on TV is going to be a bit of a shock to the system. But in an organization encroaching on its 20th birthday, changes are going to happen. We wish Stu and Willy the best of luck at the new TV duo, and are happy we still get to hear Pete when we aren’t in front of our sets.
(The rest of the release detailed the success and growth of the team’s website, as well as popularity of the Beneath the Ice segments. In addition, it mentioned more features being added to the Smashville App and hinted at more new content being explored online next year. The who release is linked above.)