Yahoo Sports When The Rangers Broadcasts Were Young, Zany And Revolutionary
It's hard to believe in this super-electronic day and age but there was a time when Rangers games were not televised.
Then again, how could they be when tv sets were as rare as the Dodo bird during the Rangers 1945-46 season. Radio, my friends, was the thing and everyone had one.
It also was the first full hockey campaign after World War II otherwise known in Rangerville as The Year Of the Eichler Automatic Goal Judge at Madison Square Garden. (But I'll get to that in a few seconds.)
Thanks to RCA, Philco, Emerson, Zenith and assorted other manufacturers of advanced crystal sets, yes, you could catch a Rangers game on the radio and – take it from The Maven – it was lots of fun.
My first experience listening to "The Broadway Blueshirts Of Frank Boucher" was on radio station WHN – 1050 on your dial – also home of Brooklyn Dodgers baseball broadcasts with "The Old Redhead," Red Barber behind the mike.
The Rangers play-by-play guy was Bertram Lebhar – alias Bert Lee – who also owned a piece of the station and was a champ bridge player. Ex-vaudevillian Ward Wilson handled "color" and assorted other duties including occasional jokes.
One of Wilson's other chores was operating what they called the "Eichler Automatic Goal Judge," which was neither automatic nor a goal judge but what a crazy contraption it was. And a fun listen to boot, if you like crazy sounds like never before.
Those were the days when Eichler was a well-known Met Area beer brewed in The Bronx. Its slogan was "It's The Top," as in the nice head of foam on the brew. Even nicer Eichler was the sole sponsor of our Rangers on the radio.
And funnier than all that, Lee and Wilson found a novel way to tie in Eichler's brew with a one of a kind invention. (Listen up, folks.)
"That gives me an idea," Bert explained to Ward."When the Rangers score a goal, we tie together three different bike horns which will play the first three bars of Cole Porter's hit tune, 'You're The Top.' That's almost like Eichler's 'It's The Top.' Our sponsor will like that. So will the fans."
And so they built this robot-before-robots and sat it right next to them in the old Madison Square Garden radio booth. It was a marvelously simple operation. When the Rangers scored, Wilson squeezed the three horns in succession and, "You're The top," came forth, and the Eichler Automatic Goal Judge had done its thing.
I loved listening to the Eichler Automatic Goal Judge which lasted for one full 1945-46 season. It was better than Lee's goal call and I couldn't wait for the follow up after the red light flashed for the Blueshirts. (Close your eyes and pretend that you're listening to the game and the Blueshirts just scored a goal.)
Lee: "Now Ward, turn it on and let's hear from The Eichler Automatic Goal Judge." Beep, Beep, Beep. (You're The Top) Then, Lee: "And now on with the game."
Unlike legions of hockey play-by-play guys – then and now – Lee never bothered with the standard 'HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!' If the Blueshirts tallied, Bert would fairly well shout, "IT'S A GOAL!" as if the cow jumped over the moon.
Heaven forbid, if the other team lit the red light, a downcast Lee would virtually whisper, "It's a goal!" (If you listened closely, you might hear it.)
Those Rangers radio broadcasts of the late 1940's were revolutionary in one respect. They were first to feature postgame dressing room interviews; all conducted by Wilson in the Blueshirts' clubhouse.
It was a bonus listening to our ice heroes give Ward their reaction to the game, win or lose. I also was able to detect background chatter that made it feel even more realistic.
The young Maven would imagine the Rangers toasting their victory in the locker room with bottles of Eichler Beer gurgling, amid a chorus of Cole Porter's "You're The Top!"
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