April 14, 1936, was the first live radio broadcast of a Phillies home game. On the 90th anniversary of this very important milestone in club history, let’s take a look back at that initial broadcast.
The first live airing on radio of an MLB game in which the Phillies participated occurred 15 years earlier on Aug. 5, 1921. In fact, it was the initial MLB game ever aired live on radio. It featured the hometown Pittsburgh Pirates vs. the visiting Philadelphia Phillies. Played at Forbes Field, the game was broadcast by radio station KDKA, and called by staff announcer Harold Arlin. In 1966, the Phillies selected right-handed pitcher Steve Arlin in the amateur Draft, Harold’s grandson.
In 1936, both the Athletics and Phillies decided to have their home games aired on radio to create a new revenue stream and, hopefully, generate fan enthusiasm. Every Phils and A’s home game was aired on radio throughout the season with the exception of those on Sundays, July 4 and Labor Day. With most people off on Sundays and those holidays, club officials likely judged more people would come to the ballpark to witness the action in person if they were unable to stay at home to listen on their radios.
The games were aired on WCAU -- a CBS affiliate that broadcast on AM radio frequency 1170; and, WIP -- a Mutual affiliate that broadcast on AM radio frequency 610.
WCAU and WIP each had a single sponsor in airing baseball games. For WCAU, it was the Mobile Gas & Oil Company. For WIP, it was the Atlantic Refining Company.
Each station also had its own play-by-play announcer to cover the games. For WCAU, it was Bill Dyer, who was a sportscaster at the station. For WIP, it was Dolly Stark, an eight-year NL umpire (1928-35) who traded in his home plate broom and ball-strike counter for a microphone. The reason for Stark’s career switch, quite simply, was a fatter paycheck. When Stark asked NL president Ford C. Frick for a raise from his $9,000 annual salary, he was turned down. Stark threatened to walk, and then did when Frick stood fast on his refusal.
WIP and Atlantic Refining were delighted they had snared Stark for the position, believing it would give the station an advantage over WCAU in luring people to tune in. Stark’s game insights, charismatic personality and articulate verbalization had served him well as an umpire, and no doubt would do so again as an announcer.
“Dolly Stark, who will be absent from the umpiring ranks of the National League for the first time in eight years, starts broadcasting a play-by-play description of weekly games in this city today. He will announce the opener with the Boston “Bees” over WIP. He will describe the Phils and A’s games throughout the season, and the program is sponsored by the Atlantic Refining Co. Stark brings to the microphone a keen knowledge of baseball and its participants. His ability to make decisions, gained through his work as an umpire, will enable him to pass on an instantaneous verbal picture to his listeners,” wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 14, 1936.
With two radio stations broadcasting Athletics and Phillies home games, the question arises, “What happened when both teams were playing at home -- Shibe Park for the A’s and Baker Bowl for the Phils -- on the same day?” Fortunately, AL and NL league schedulers resolved that problem. If you look at the 1936 schedules of the clubs, you’ll see the Phillies and Athletics never played at home on the same dates during the year.
The Phillies had the honor of being the first MLB team in Philadelphia history to have one of its home games broadcast live on the radio. The Athletics started the 1936 season on the road playing in Boston against the Red Sox. The Mackmen had to wait until April 17 to make their radio debut in a home game against the Washington Senators at Shibe Park.
While Phillies and Athletics home games were aired live, road games were recreated by an announcer sitting in a radio studio in Philadelphia. The announcer would read a Western Union teletype account of the game. Using sound effects, he would emulate the crack of the bat and insert prerecorded crowd noise. Live radio broadcasts of A’s and Phils road games did not start until the 1950 season.
Another radio first for the Phillies came in 2005 when their games started to be aired in Spanish. The first Spanish broadcasting team was Bill Kulik and Danny Martinez.