Broadcaster Profile- Chuck Kaiton, Carolina Hurricanes

I hope you've enjoyed my look at the radio voices of Hockey East. Please be sure and check back as I will be updating these posts and profiles as time goes on. As you also may recall I have thrown in some NHL voices past and present as well as an AHL voice. I'd like to keep the momentum going and move on to another voice still going strong in the NHL and a man that I grew up listening to here in New England, the current radio voice of the Carolina Hurricanes and former voice of the Hartford Whalers, Chuck Kaiton.

Chuck Kaiton is a true iron man in hockey radio broadcasting. He began his tenure with the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80 and has never missed a game in the entire history of the Whalers/Hurricanes franchise. Chuck began his broadcasting career in 1969 at the University of Michigan and then did radio work in sports at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1975, and was then named Wisconsin's Sportscaster of the Year in 1979. He made his way to Hartford in that same year and has been with the franchise ever since. His tenure included a relocation to Raleigh, N.C. when the franchise became the Carolina Hurricanes. He is also president of the NHL Radio Broadcasters Association.

Chuck is unique in that he normally broadcasts games alone, a rarity in this day and age.

His work here in New England occurred on WTIC in Hartford (1080 AM on the dial), and many listeners on the Eastern seaboard were able to pick up his calls. He is a true professional and a stickler for detail- as he achieves perfection with player pronunciations by directly talking to players regarding the correct way to say the name- a skill that every broadcaster needs to master.

He is very interactive with fans and has a great understanding of the history of the game. Chuck devotes a segment of his broadcasts to answering E-mailed questions from fans in a segment called " Kaiton's Corner." He was honored with the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 2004, the highest award that can be bestowed on an NHL broadcaster.

Certainly one of the highlights of Chuck's career was winning a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006. Here is a clip of Chuck calling the dramatic moments of that clinching Game 7 win, on the 9394th day of the history of the Whalers/Hurricanes franchise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVyi9aJXaVI

And here is a wonderful clip of Chuck's version of the epic and famous poem, " Twas the Night Before Christmas."

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

And finally, here are some vintage clips of Chuck's calls from his time in Hartford:

http://www.brassbonanza.com/hcc/whalers-audio/kaitons-kalls

If you have never heard Chuck call a game, you really are missing out on something special. I listened to him for years when he worked up here and I love his voice and his passion. With the advent of the Internet it's easier than ever to tune in to his broadcasts now. Hurricanes games are broadcast live at 99.9 FM on the dial (WRAL) and the link to their station is at http://www.wralsportsfan.com/.  You can also pick up Chuck's broadcasts anywhere in the world on the TuneIn radio app for your mobile devices.