On the fourth play of the New York Jets’ regular-season campaign, star quarterback Aaron Rodgers fell down with an apparent injury. Fans within a sold-out MetLife Stadium waited with bated breath about the verdict as the 39-year-old veteran received medical attention on the sidelines. Bob Wischusen, who has been working as the Jets radio play-by-play announcer since 2002, did not jump to conclusions about what had occurred and continued calling the game while remaining attentive to the developing storyline.
In the year prior, quarterback Zach Wilson had suffered an injury during a preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles that several social media users deemed a torn ACL. It turned out to be a sprained MCL that caused him to miss the first three games, a lesson in not assuming conjecture or speculation to be incontrovertibly true.
“Even people that are so-called experts on social media, they make mistakes, so I didn’t say anything about what we thought the extent of the injury was beyond what we were being told,” Wischusen explained. “I kept my fingers crossed that maybe it wasn’t as bad as people were thinking. Unfortunately, in Aaron Rodgers’ case, it turned out to be the worst-case scenario and that was it.”
As the Jets enter the 2024 season, the team and its fans hope to have Rodgers healthy for a full season and return to the playoffs. For Wischusen though, it will represent an alteration on the airwaves since the Jets agreed to an exclusive, multiyear radio and streaming partnership with iHeartMedia that has made Q104.3, New York’s Classic Rock Station, the flagship radio home of the team.
There is excitement surrounding the endeavor and the possibilities it will bring, but Wischusen also feels somewhat doleful in that games will no longer be on ESPN New York. The Good Karma Brands-owned radio station will no longer be on the FM dial, forsaking its lease of the 98.7 FM signal from Emmis Communications. ESPN New York will continue to be distributed digitally while retaining a presence on 1050 AM.
“I understand from a business standpoint that if the company that buys the radio station decides they want to do away with the signal that basically everyone can clearly hear, well I get why the Jets needed to go in a different direction and be on a radio station that has a signal that they feel kind of clearly reaches their fanbase,” Wischusen said, “so it’ll be different.”
Having worked with several hosts at ESPN New York over the years, along with appearing on sports programming and being a loyal listener, the change was an unfortunate occurrence for Wischusen. Nonetheless, he will continue to find the station while remaining curious of the new means of distribution.
“From everything I’ve been told from Jets management, the folks with iHeart and with 104.3 have been awesome so far and are really excited to have us be a part of what they do now,” Wischusen said. “So, I’m looking forward to meeting them because anybody that’s that excited to have us be a part of what they do, it creates enthusiasm for us as well, but there’s certainly a part of me that’s really sad to see the relationship with 98.7 end because [there are] a lot of great people there.”
Landing the coveted local broadcasting job with the Jets was a challenge in and of itself in which Wischusen ultimately reigned victorious. Former Jets executives Bob Parente and Terry Bradway advocated for Wischusen to procure the role ahead of the 2002 season, and he eventually ended up securing the position.
From his inaugural season to the present day, Wischusen has paired with former defensive lineman and color commentator Marty Lyons on the broadcasts. Through their work on the radio, they have developed palpable chemistry and friendship on the airwaves that appeals to listeners.
“We’ll be friends long after we’re no longer calling Jets games together, and that’s the best part of all the fun we’ve had in the booth calling the games and even through the tough years – and there have been plenty of those obviously – we’ve never stopped having fun showing up every week, laughing with the group that we work with and working together,” Wischusen articulated. “So, it says everything that you need to know about him as a person that he’s just that kind of guy. If you don’t like Marty, you’re the problem because everybody likes Marty.”
Outside of Dan Graca assuming responsibility hosting the pregame and postgame show, most of the staff for Jets radio broadcasts has remained the same. There is a cohesiveness and congeniality existent within the broadcasting entity with a widespread commitment to accurately cover the game.
“Since all the NFL is network television, there is no identifiability with a specific voice because it changes potentially every week, so we’re the constant for Jets fans,” Wischusen said, “and we’re really honored that some try to sync the radio broadcast up with the TV because they know us [and] they’ve been listening to us for a long time.”
WFAN had launched late into his time in high school, and he was initially incredulous that people could get paid to watch and discuss sports. When he was in college, he co-hosted Sports Tonight alongside Jon “Boog” Sciambi, Christian Megliola and Joe Tessitore, discussing Boston College athletics and taking calls from listeners. Wischusen ended up interning at WFAN in New York, N.Y. and WEEI in Boston, Ma. where he gained invaluable experience and knowledge about the business. Through recommendations from connections he forged in those endeavors, he ended up earning a job out of school as a producer for Hank Goldberg on WQAM in Miami, Fla.
“I went down there as a producer originally but of course made no mystery of the fact that I wanted to be on the air,” Wischusen said, “and just by being inside the walls of the place and being, when you’re 21-22 years old, a relatively inexpensive alternative, I was given a chance to get on the air.”
Initially starting as an off-the-air radio producer, Wischusen was eventually granted more chances to speak on the airwaves, including filling in on weekends or covering an update shift. As a member of the station who exhibited dedication, resilience and an indefatigable work ethic, management chose to grant him an opportunity.
“Eric Spitz when he was at [W]FAN was [the] one that told me, ‘Internships in our business are like med school for a doctor or law school for a lawyer,’” Wischusen recalled. “They are that important to then becoming someone who’s just inside the walls of a place, getting your first entry-level job and now you’re in it.”
A few years later, Wischusen made it back to New York City and WFAN where he was hired as a reporter and update host. Returning to his home locale, he did not feel pressure to perform and possessed humility and credence that he would be able to thrive. It undoubtedly helped that he was familiar with the sports teams and had interned at the station, granting him a better understanding of what topics would resonate with the listeners.
“There might be other markets where you can get by, but if you’re in New York City and you’re on the air and you say something about one of those teams that turns out to be wrong, you are called out about it by the fans of that team immediately,” Wischusen said. “So, there is, I’m sure, a pressure for some, but I don’t know. I’ve always been relatively confident in my own opinion and the work that I’ve put in to know it, and so I always had a belief that if I was given a chance to get on the air and do it, I would be successful at it.”
Wischusen ended up leaving WFAN in 2001 after he had not been considered for a regular talk show shift amid a changing weekday lineup. Utilizing the experience he had both hosting and calling sports for the Comcast Network, he was hired by MSG Networks and served in a multifaceted role. Wischusen was the host of shows on FOX SportsNet New York, including the Regional Sports Report and Talk of Our Town, along with calling select sporting events. At the same time, he continued to host the Jets pregame and postgame show, a role he had started a few years earlier.
Wischusen realized his dream upon being named the team’s play-by-play announcer and has not looked back since. In fact, he has added more responsibilities and leveraged his versatility to gain additional opportunities in the business. Through it all, he tries to execute his responsibilities and essentially scores a soundtrack for the action without coining distinct phraseology.
Upon joining ESPN in 2005, Wischusen was granted the opportunity to broadcast a wide array of sports as a play-by-play announcer, including college football, baseball and golf. From the onset of his time with the network, he was frequently on the road and assimilated into serving as an announcer on these national broadcasts. During the football season, he balances both collegiate games on television – primarily working alongside Robert Griffin III and Kris Budden – along with his Jets radio responsibilities.
“Nobody wants to hear me complain about my job,” Wischusen said. “I’m sure there are lawyers out there that burn the midnight oil getting ready for a case that don’t want to hear my sob story about having multiple depth charts to study each week. I do what I have to do to be prepared for the games that I have.”
As Wischusen continued to merit additional assignments and multiplatform endeavors at ESPN, something that remained consistent was the fact that the network did not have media rights to the National Hockey League. It was a void that he was not sure would be filled after ESPN did not renew its deal following a league-wide lockout that canceled the 2004-05 NHL season. The potential for a reunion between ESPN and the NHL slowly became more palpable, and Wischusen knew that he would want to be a part of it.
With a keen interest in and knowledge of the sport, Wischusen entered a trailer during a PGA Tour event and met with ESPN executive Mike McQuade, who he discovered would be overseeing coverage if the network was able to close a deal. In a conversation that lasted approximately 20 seconds, he expressed interest in the NHL on ESPN and was informed that he would definitely be a part of it.
“If you know Mike McQuade, that’s a classic Mike McQuade meeting,” Wischusen said. “It’s like, ‘Okay, good meeting, thanks. We bonded; I really enjoyed our time together.’ Mike is allergic to B.S., as zero politics as it gets. He has no interest in who you eat lunch with or playing favorites. He just knows who he wants to have on stuff, and he immediately said, ‘Yeah, I want you to be a part of hockey,’ and that was it – that was really my entire interview process at ESPN.”
Moving back into hockey, however, presented a dichotomy to what Wischusen saw when he was filling in on radio broadcasts of New York Rangers games nearly two decades earlier. The hastened speed of the sport, heightened athleticism and size of the ice surface all resembled contrasts to what he had remembered. It required an adjustment for Wischusen to execute a successful broadcast that affected different stages of the job.
“There was a time where back then if I was a little unsure of a player or wanted to throw a bullet point [or] a stat out, I could look down at my chart, maybe gather some information and then go back to the ice and continue to call the game,” Wischusen said. “You can’t do that now. If you take your eyes off of the ice now, you may never catch back up, and all of a sudden, the puck’s in the net and you missed it.”
The frenetic, expeditious pace of the game on ice renders it essential that the broadcast team keeps up with the action. It requires a shrewd, deft knowledge of the teams, players and personnel, along with the ability to contextualize in real time and demarcate other conversation.
“On a Tuesday night in February, the crowd is on the edge of their seat a lot of times because it’s 2-2 in the third period and just the game is such an exciting product,” Wischusen said. “And now you add obviously the playoffs and the significance of the games that we get to call now, and it’s that times 100.”
Throughout the game, Wischusen will ask his analyst for their thoughts on the broadcast and how to improve. In the high-pressure situations, he leans on his experience and does not overthink it, concentrating on accurately and succinctly documenting the moment. Once the game has concluded, he does not engage in an excess amount of listening or watching replays; rather, he will select a segment from the contest to review his performance.
Contemporaneous to that is carrying respect of the local audience and an ability to convey comprehensive knowledge both discernible and recondite. Wischusen hopes that the assemblage of previous work and sustained excellence leads to a chance to call a seminal event, such as the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup Final.
“I’ve just never been given that opportunity yet, so I hope at some point during my career, a decision maker kind of taps me on the shoulder and says, ‘Now it’s your turn’ and I get that call, and hopefully I’m prepared for it when it happens,” Wischusen said. “I still have career ambition.”
Although Wischusen does not perceive himself to have reached a career zenith, he understands that the business is competitive and based on performance. There have been moments in his career where he has been disappointed not to receive certain assignments but remains optimistic that his time will come. Even if the yearning represents a destination that cannot be reached though, he is grateful for the career he has had and focused on the next game.
“If tomorrow I ended my broadcast career, look at the friends that I’ve made and look at the places I’ve been and the atmospheres I’ve been a part of and the games I’ve had a chance to watch in person and be in the middle of,” Wischusen said. “If my career ended immediately, I still have been incredibly lucky, and I try not to lose sight of that even when you’re aspiring to try to move up the ladder and do bigger and better.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on X @derekfutterman.
