Upon Warner Bros. Discovery choosing to exit the regional sports network business, the Pittsburgh Penguins organization found a new television home through a joint venture with Fenway Sports Group. Commensurate with the creation of SportsNet Pittsburgh, which is operated by New England Sports Network, the franchise introduced new members of the Penguins television broadcast team that have worked to provide stellar coverage of a team with a storied tradition of winning and simultaneously ushering in a new generation. This phenomenon extends to the broadcast team as Josh Getzoff works his second season as the television voice of Penguins hockey, through which he has called signature moments and accomplishments.
Getzoff was assigned to the role as part of a two-step transaction that involved Steve Mears moving from television to radio. Even though he found the situation with Mears to be difficult, he was ecstatic to receive the opportunity to fulfill his dream of calling games on a visual medium. Getzoff had refined his craft on the airwaves for the previous eight seasons working in commentary and hosting roles. Over his decade with the team, he has developed an inclination for the city and considers it a privilege to call PPG Paints Arena his workplace. Before every game, he reminds himself that he occupies a “get-to job” and does not take his assignments for granted.
“It was an emotional time [with] excitement when I got that call, and the one thing I’ve always promised myself is the one thing I can control in this role is just standing tall enough to fill my own shoes,” Getzoff said. “Not being anybody else, but at the same time, every game is an opportunity.”
In the preceding seasons, Getzoff had called select Penguins games on radio as Mike Lange was nearing the end of his career. Widely regarded as a legendary figure in the business, Lange provided constructive criticism and feedback to Getzoff from the beginning and took him under his wing. Getzoff is forever grateful for his mentorship and inculcation, and they still maintain regular communication despite no longer working together. Moreover, he has been able to leverage relationships within the sport to facilitate the switch from radio to television broadcasts.
“This sport is the best because the people who work in it are the best, and they’re gracious with their time and gave me advice and thoughts that they did when they made transitions because essentially, everybody at some point was on the radio before they got to television,” Getzoff said, “so it was interesting just to kind of pick guys’ brains around the league and learn a little bit more.”
Although both platforms contain elements of informing and entertaining the audience, there are inherent differences between radio and television. Getzoff observes that the radio broadcast resembles more of a play-by-play call, whereas telecasts are full-fledged productions containing graphics, replays and other visual elements. As a result, there are instances where he does not need to describe the exact location of a skater or synthesize complex quantitative metrics; rather, he can let the picture disseminate these tidings and keep his discourse concise.
“You have to find a way to find that middle ground of excitement while selling the moment with the rise and drop in your voice, the emotion in your voice with less words,” Getzoff said. “I think out of the gate, that was something that I knew was going to be an adjustment – I wasn’t blind to that fact – and it was, but I think as the year went on last [season], I started to find ways to find a comfort zone within that.”
While Getzoff was familiar with hockey when he began broadcasting, he worked to learn about different intricacies from the vantage point of a media member, including viewing morning skates, recording line rushes and parsing game notes. On a typical gameday, he will attend the early session and have conversations with personnel before taking part in several additional hours of preparation. From there, he arrives at the arena to rehearse for the broadcast and has didactic boards brimming with self-updated statistics, storylines and miscellaneous intangibles.
“I’ve always been a believer that the only thing you can control is your preparation,” Getzoff said. “You and I have the same idea of what’s going to happen and [the] same knowledge of what’s going to happen once the puck drops. Anything could happen, but I can out-prepare you, and I can be ready to go for any kind of statistic or any kind of thought that potentially would come across over the course of a game, and that’s something I set out to do.”
Getzoff looks to emit his passion for hockey within all of his calls ranging from authentic excitement to earnest disappointment in the action. The Penguins achieved a scintillating start to the regular season, but the team has struggled of late and sits near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. Getzoff acknowledges the importance of being honest with the fans and recognizing the transitional period that took place after the team won three Stanley Cup championships in an eight-year span. Safeguarding against pantomiming his affectations, he is conveying his genuine self to the listeners and illustrating an energetic disposition.
“I talk to people the same way, for the most part, off the air that I do on the air,” Getzoff said. “I realize that I’m a little quirky and I can be a little goofy at times, maybe even a little bit weird at times, but I would say that most people in the media world are a little bit weird if you get to know them.”
Despite being embedded in local news coverage and enjoying his responsibilities, Getzoff always retained a desire to call hockey games but realized the limited number of jobs connected to the NHL. While working on news stations in local markets, he would reach out to teams to see if they needed anything and also practiced by simulating a broadcast with a tape recorder. Getzoff would then take these recordings, add ambient sound and create mock demo reels of his announcing to distribute.
“It was always something in the back of my mind, [but] I don’t want to say a pipe dream because I felt like if I was given an opportunity, I could really start to grow in it, but there’s just so few chances to get those opportunities that I never was sure how it would come about,” Getzoff said. “So I kept positive, I kept hoping, but I didn’t know where or when it would come, and I’m glad it came in Pittsburgh.”
During his time on television, Getzoff has worked with a rotation of analysts with playing experience that includes Phil Bourque, Colby Armstrong and Mike Rupp. Having familiarity within these different commentary arrangements, he knows their characteristics and is able to accentuate their respective strengths. This allows the game broadcast to assume various timbres that align with numerous situations, the ability to expound on distinctive experience and hearing a variety of firsthand narratives.
“As you go on in your career, nothing is ever set in stone as far as what the situation is going to be year to year, so I’m just grateful to be in there, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know these guys more, getting dinners with them on the road, hanging out with them, spending more time one on one and just building chemistry,” Getzoff said. “It’s been fun, the last year and a half.”
Broadcasting hockey matchups over the 82-game season while traveling the country can be an exhausting task, but Getzoff has gradually surmised how to maintain energy and avoid sentiments of fatigue. As someone with a penchant for traveling, he likes to explore cities on the road but also evinces how the season resembles a marathon rather than a sprint. Even though the act of calling a game is usually stationary in nature, he does not surrender to languor and values a healthy lifestyle.
“We’re fortunate that a lot of these hotels we stay in have pretty nice gyms, so I’m always in the gym, I’m always trying to take care of my body and make sure that I’m in a good spot physically or as best as I possibly can be so that I can excel and just be mentally and physically prepared to perform every single night,” Getzoff said. “It’s different than an athlete obviously, but it’s similar in the sense of just the body maintenance and body care can go a long way.”
Working with SportsNet Pittsburgh and being a sports fan, Getzoff is cognizant of the advantages associated with local coverage. A burgeoning number of teams have either taken ownership in the broadcast entities and/or offered direct-to-consumer functionalities by which to access game presentations. Being able to implement Fenway Sports Group into this network is something Getzoff acknowledges as being helpful, along with hiring professionals mindful of the locale.
“I think it’s ultra-important from the local angle, and I hope that there can be a way where this is sustained and not just buoyed,” Getzoff said, “not just in Pittsburgh, [but] across all the markets that have sports teams in the U.S. because that connection to the fans is so important.”
As Getzoff continues to progress throughout his career, he would be interested in reviewing national broadcast openings so long as they do not interfere with the Penguins. The city has become his home, and he does not intend to be leaving any time soon. Getzoff holds the organization in high regard and is appreciative of the platform to which he has been entrusted, seeking to uphold the lofty standards instantiated heretofore while also putting his own stamp on the venerated pulpit.
“I feel such an attachment and such a desire to be a part of what the Penguins have and what they’ve continued to build and what they’re now building back up,” Getzoff said. “It’s a place that I’ve just really come to love and enjoy being a part of the community with, and hopefully this is something that I get the opportunity to really make a long standing point of my career at.”
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Derek Futterman is an associate 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, email Derek@BarrettMedia.com or find him on X @derekfutterman.
