Anyone who has followed sports in the New England region, particularly on NESN, will be familiar with the next broadcaster to be featured on the blog. Tom Caron is one of the most recognizable and popular voices in all of New England. He began his NESN career in 1995 and has been a fixture at the network ever since. There are many projects Tom has been involved with over at NESN- I'll begin by talking about his hockey work, which is most relevant to this blog, and then exploring his other notable work from there.
In terms of his hockey work, Tom is the voice of Hockey East on NESN and ASN, serving as the lead play by play announcer during college hockey season for the game of the week. He also provides coverage of the Beanpot Tournament yearly for the network, paired with Boston Bruins TV analyst Andy Brickley. TC, as he is often called by friends and colleagues, has also covered the Bruins for the network, functioning as a studio host. He has also done play by play for the Providence Bruins of the AHL for NESN.
Tom also hosts the very popular NESN program " The Instigators" which spotlights a roundtable discussion of trending topics in the NHL. The program frequently features Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley serving on the panel to discuss and debate these hotly contested issues.
Prior to coming to NESN, he provided play by play for the AHL's Portland Pirates, where he also hosted a weekly hockey feature for WPXT-TV in Portland, as well as calling the action for the New England Stingers of the Roller Hockey International League. Tom began his hockey career covering the Montreal Canadiens for WPTZ-TV in Plattsburgh, New York.
As extensive as Tom's hockey experience is, he also is very busy in the summer serving as the studio host for Boston Red Sox baseball on NESN. He hosts the pre and post game shows before and after every Red Sox game on the network, where he is joined by a rotation of former Red Sox players who join in on the analysis, namely Dennis Eckersley, Steve Lyons, Jim Rice, and Tim Wakefield.
Tom's baseball career goes way back as well, as his first job out of college was covering the Vermont Reds, the AA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. He would go on to cover the Montreal Expos (at the same time he was covering the Canadiens) for WPTZ in Plattsburgh. Tom also has been at the play by play mike for the Pawtucket Red Sox on NESN as well.
Throughout his storied career, he has held anchor jobs at WNNE-TV in Hanover, New Hampshire, along with WGME-TV in Portland Maine and WPXT-TV in Portland.
He can be heard frequently on WEEI-FM discussing the Red Sox, as well as WBLM-FM and 101.3 in Burlington, VT.
Tom graduated with a degree in journalism from Saint Michael's College in Vermont, and prior to that from Lewiston High School in Lewiston, ME.
His work has earned him three New England Emmy Awards, a New York State Broadcasters Award, two James Ellery Awards (for excellence in AHL coverage), and the ECAC Media Award. Tom is also a member of the Portland Pirates Hall of Fame, along with former Boston Bruins goaltender Byron Dafoe, former Washington Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig, and Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz.
Here is a video clip of Tom addressing his alma mater about his experiences and the field of sports broadcasting:
https://youtu.be/cNU8WKNmkTg
And another speaking engagement with Tom at Southern Vermont College:
https://youtu.be/9P9jju_FJhs
Tom Caron can be seen on NESN and the American Sports Network on Fridays during the college hockey season, on the first two Mondays in February covering the Beanpot, and on a nightly basis prior to and after every Boston Red Sox telecast on NESN.
