In this week’s issue… Yankees hire Dave Sims – Wallace, Maxwell move in NYC – Gray cuts news in Maine – Remembering CT’s Pinto
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*The New York Yankees radio booth has always been a little different from anything else in baseball.
Where else, after all, could a 71-year-old announcer be welcomed as the new kid on the block?
That’s what’s coming in 2025, when the Yankees bring Dave Sims on board as the replacement for the 86-year-old John Sterling, who retired abruptly early in the 2024 season only to return to the mic for the postseason.
While Sims has spent the last 17 seasons with the Seattle Mariners, he’s making a return home. The Philadelphia native was a sportswriter for the Daily News in the 1980s, hosted “Sports Night” on WNBC (660) in the middle of the decade, then co-hosted middays on 660 after it became WFAN, working there from 1989 until 1993 while also calling Knicks basketball on radio. Later in the 90s, he did weekend sports on WCBS-TV (Channel 2) before heading off to do more national TV play-by-play work.
“I can’t wait for Opening Day and to work with my good friend Suzyn!,” Sims said on social media, anticipating his forthcoming WFAN partnership with Suzyn Waldman, Sterling’s longtime on-air partner, herself 78 years old.
As for the next generation of would-be Yankees announcers, they’ll have to wait a little longer: the other voices who took turns in the booth after Sterling’s departure, Justin Shackil, 37, and Emmanuel Berbari, 25, will presumably still be fill-ins, at least until some other team comes calling. The third major voice of the last season, Rickie Ricardo, remains the Spanish-language radio voice for the Yankees, as much as some of us would have liked to have seen him occupy the English-language booth on a full-time basis.
The landmark 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar is in production, and your support will determine whether it will be the final edition.
It’s been a complicated few years here, and as we finish up production of the new edition (including a cover reveal, coming later this week!), we’re considering the future of this staple of radio walls everywhere as we evaluate our workload going forward.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the new Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the new Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025 ready to ship, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the next calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!
In this week’s issue… iHeart axes Boston, NYC morning shows and more - Cumulus cuts in central PA - Southern Tier combo saved from silence - Ottawa FM relaunches - K-Love buys in the Burgh - Scranton gets "Loud" -...
In this week’s issue… "Hot" cools down in Providence, CT studios closed - GBH to sell Cape studios - A HEBA in Hamden? - New HDs in New York - Another Canadian AM to close
In this week’s issue… GBH shuffles mornings, prepares new show launches - NYSBA inducts Hall of Famers - More news-talk in the Hudson Valley - Remembering Dan Sys
In this week’s issue… Beasley cuts claim veteran jock - FCC releases LPFM decisions - AM towers coming down - New voices at Indie 88
