On the Air
by Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
March 2, 2007
Jim Jackson, play-by-play man for the Flyers, will be the Phillies’ new radio pre and post-game show host. Jackson replaces Scott Franzke, who will do play-by-play this season.
Though Jackson is known as a hockey announcer in Philadelphia, the Syracuse graduate broadcast minor league baseball games for years before joining the Flyers in 1993. Jackson got back into baseball in the summer of 2005 when he called Trenton Thunders games after the NHL lockout of 2004-05.
“I definitely feel that doing the Thunder games revved me up for baseball and helped me get this position,” said Jackson, who also did play-by-play for the Cal Ripken World Series with Cal Ripken Jr. and Billy Ripken on OLN (now Versus) in August 2006.
“Fortunately, the Flyers, the Phillies, and Comcast SportsNet were 100 percent supportive of me working for both teams,” said Jackson, a self-described “workaholic.”
Jackson will be working the almost the entire season for the Phillies, whose regular season runs from April through October. The Flyers’ season runs from October through April.
Jackson said his family’s vacation this year will be during Major League Baseball’s four-day All-Star break.
Trading announcers
We’ve heard of “Wife Swap.” On Wednesday the Sixers and Suns teams participated in “Announcers Swap,” when television analysts Steve Mix and Eddie Johnson switched places for part of the game.
We’re going to Disney
ESPN personalities Linda Cohn, Sal Paolantonio, John Kruk, Stuart Scott, and more will join Mickey, Goofy, and Cinderella for the fourth annual “ESPN The Weekend” at Walt Disney World. When is the NFL going to create its own theme park?
Watts up
WPEN 950-AM is increasing its daytime signal from 5,000 to 25,000 watts. That means more people will have the chance to avoid the morning show.
Maxwell Awards
“Out of Bounds” will broadcast live from “The Maxwell Club Awards” in Atlantic City at 7 tonight on CN8. Gregg Murphy hosts.
Phillers
Comcast SportsNet will air three Phillies spring training games. The first exhibition game vs. the Yankees airs at 1 p.m. Sunday … When the regular season begins, Ron Burke and John Marzano will be the battery for “Phillies Post Game Live.”