Perhaps by now you’ve heard about Westwood One’s play-by-play guy, Kevin Harlan, and his unique performance during the second game of this year’s first NFL Monday Night Football contest between the San Francisco 49ers and the league’s newest team, the Los Angeles Rams.
The fact we’re still talking about a late night radio broadcast of a football game four days later is something in and of itself. But the moment that went viral occurred in the fourth quarter of what turned out to be a very non-competitive, boring game. As it happened, a drunk ran out on the field and proceeded to run around until he was tackled and subdued by security guards.
When something like this occurs during a sporting event, the procedure by the radio crew is to ignore it, deplore it, or simply talk about something else until the game resumes. On TV, they almost always tune away from the on-field disturbance, lament why fans can be such morons, and wait for the next snap of the ball. In fact, that’s exactly how ESPN handled this blooper moment for those watching the game on television.
But Monday night, radio fans got a rare treat. Harlan – out of sheer boredom and recognition that this game was a dog – spontaneously went into an exciting, colorful play-by-play of the interruption, turning it into a moment of ironic entertainment. And as he told Radio Ink in a nice interview a few days ago, his performance blew up on social media to his complete surprise.
And when asked how he’d approach the next on-field drunk guy disturbance, Harlan appropriately responded, “To be honest I doubt that I’d ever handle it the same way. I certainly didn’t think this would be the reaction, but now that it’s had this reaction, anything similar would be a copy to a degree. The best stuff is the genuine reaction which happens organically.”
You can hear Harlan’s hilarious play-by-play call below:
1. It was live.
And in the moment, and that’s why it worked so well. You can listen to all the podcasts you like, but there’s something about being there – in real-time – when something odd, unusual, or amazing happens. On some level, Harlan sensed that. Surprises still happen on the radio.
2. It was spontaneous.
There was no prep involved for a moment like this. This is why the great ones stand out. While other play-by-play pros would have ignored a distraction like this, Harlan trusted his instincts. You can’t plan or prepare for these things. It was not in the Westwood One playbook. And that’s why it worked. It’s a tribute to Harlan’s sense of the moment.
3. He saved a boring broadcast.
There’s nothing worse than a long sporting event that’s not worth watching – or listening to. And sports announcers can only do so much to salvage a dog game. Harlan seized the opportunity to have some fun and do something intensely relatable to fans. I cannot believe Westwood One received a single complaint. On the contrary, Harlan may have saved the night. Or the early morning.
4. He broke the rules.
As noted earlier, it’s written right there in the Sports Announcer Handbook that you don’t pay attention to these crazy, self-indulgent, inebriated fan outbursts. By going against convention, Harlan got everyone’s attention. Fans love to be surprised, and Harlan served up the best “oh wow!” moment of the NFL’s first weekend.
5. It was funny.
We don’t typically listen to sporting events on the radio for laughs. Occasionally, the play-by-play announcer or the color guy in the booth will get off a good one-liner or two. So when Harlan’s inspired account of this bizarre moment during an otherwise mundane game came out of nowhere, it was truly a funny moment. In comedy, timing is everything. That’s why the guy sitting up in the press box – not just on this night, but through hundreds of sporting events over years and years – knew just the right way to treat this unplanned interruption. It’s also why it would make no sense for him (or anyone else calling play-by-play) to do this again.
6. It was a radio moment.
On TV, this would have required the camera crew, the director, and the announcing team somehow coming together to produce a spontaneous moment like this. Not very likely. But in Harlan’s case, it was something he could do on his own – on the radio. He didn’t need cameras or a director shouting in his head. It was the quintessential radio moment. As Harlan told Radio Ink, “I was always led to believe, and certainly do today, that the theater of the mind is very powerful.” Only on the radio.
7. It went viral.
And that’s the extra piece that makes something like this special because it was shared and enjoyed by more than just the few thousand diehards left listening to the broadcast in real time on Westwood One. As Harlan told Radio Ink, he had no idea this spontaneous moment in the broadcast booth blew up social media, even well after the game ended.
A single announcer sitting high above the field in a booth can make a difference between another routine football game, and an indelible moment that fans will be laughing about for years. For Kevin Harlan, that :30 impromptu call just became a signature moment in his career as improbable as it sounds.
But the same potential for creating a great broadcast memory exists for any DJ, host, or commentator on the radio on any given Sunday…or Monday or Tuesday. The live, real-time beauty of radio still makes for memorable, surprising, and buzzworthy moments.
Kudos to Kevin Harlan for the reminder. And he didn’t have to blow up a bunch of disco records or block traffic on a bridge to do it.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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