Broadcaster Profile- Ron Weber, Washington Capitals (1974-1997)

Continuing on with the theme as of late, I will stay in the NHL with the next post to highlight another influence on my career, the longtime former voice of the Washington Capitals, Ron Weber, who called Capitals games for 23 seasons on WTOP radio in Washington, D.C. I will be returning back to Hockey East radio broadcasters very soon, as Merrimack gets back into league play on January 21. Following my look at the rest of the Hockey East broadcast voices, I will spotlight the rest of the NHL radio personalities.

I love to tell the story of my experiences in listening to hockey on the radio growing up- sitting at home with an AM radio by my bedside just tuning up the dial from bottom to top listening to radio voices calling the game I love. Getting to the top of the dial for me always meant listening to Ron Weber, who called the Washington Capitals on WTOP AM 1500. Ron was one of my favorites, so much so that he actually turned me into a Capitals fan (a pretty impressive feat, with me living in Boston). To be fair, it was a case of me being a Bruins fan first and a Caps fan second. But his descriptions really helped me to see the game in my minds eye, a skill that is crucial for any broadcaster to have. He also had a very folksy style which was very comfortable to listen to. I remember Ron hosted an in between periods segment called " Capitals Mailbag" in which he selected random letters from listeners and read them on the air. If your letter was selected, you won Caps tickets. He read my letter on the air one night, and I got my tickets. I took an Amtrak train down to Washington D.C. and got to see my game.

I'll never forget the night I met Ron, one of my childhood idols, for the first and only time. I was working for the San Jose Sharks in the early 90's at the old Cow Palace in San Francisco, doing security. My assignment was at the radio and TV area, so I got to meet all of the radio and TV talent from each team. Washington came to town, and I got to see him in action. I talked to him briefly after the game, explained who I was, and how much of a fan I was. To see him up close and personal was a thrill I will always cherish as a memory.

Ron called the first 1936 games of the Capitals existence. He also received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for excellence in hockey broadcasting and was also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. I will never forget the Easter marathon he called against the New York Islanders in 1987, a four overtime game that went well into Easter morning. I had his call on WTOP while simultaneously muting the TV feed (no disrespect meant to the men who called that game on ESPN that night, Mike Emrick and Bill Clement, who were great in their own right).

Ron also did other sports, like the Minnesota Twins of MLB, the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA, the Washington Diplomats of the North American Soccer League, Penn State football and tennis and weightlifting matches. He also covered the 1968 Olympic Games, but hockey was his bread and butter.

I remember listening to him in Calgary one night and he had a major disruption on the air- coffee or some other liquid spilled all over his notes. One of the skills you have to have as a broadcaster is to adjust and adapt to changes quickly, on the go- and he did it perfectly and seamlessly. It is through him I learned to keep calm and adapt in such a way that the audience doesn't even know that there was a problem.

Here is an excellent website with many great clips of Ron's outstanding play by play with the Capitals over the course of his career:

http://caps-audio.blogspot.com/

And, here is a brief video of Ron's induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji0uJeDHf3M

Ron retired in 1998, but his work will always be a major reason why I pushed myself to enter this field and live my boyhood dream.