Baseball Fans Choose The 20 Greatest Baseball Radio Announcers in National Poll Commissioned by XM Satellite Radio

Baseball Fans Choose The 20 Greatest Baseball Radio Announcers in National Poll Commissioned by XM Satellite Radio

WASHINGTON, July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray was named the greatest baseball radio announcer(1) in a recent survey of U.S. adult baseball fans sponsored by XM Satellite Radio, the official satellite radio network of Major League Baseball (MLB), and conducted by Harris Interactive(R). With the MLB All-Star Game just around the corner, the survey asked baseball fans, aged 18 and over, across the country to place their votes for the greatest baseball radio announcers in order to determine which radio broadcasters, past and present, should be named to XM's own all- star line-up of baseball announcers.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050214/NYM129-a )
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000724/XMSATLOGO )

"Baseball seems like it is made for radio, and listening to the game is something that has brought families and friends together for decades," said 19-time Major League All-Star and current XM radio host Cal Ripken Jr. "Broadcasters have done nearly as much to define baseball history as those who have played the game. So many baseball fans look forward to the time they spend listening to their teams' games on the radio. The bonds they feel with the broadcasters painting the picture of those games are strong, and the memories created last a lifetime."

Vin Scully, the renowned voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, finished second in the poll, with Milwaukee Brewers announcer Bob Uecker and the late Mel Allen of the New York Yankees finishing third and fourth, respectively.

Harry Caray's extraordinary career as a major-league announcer dated back to 1945, when he started a 25-year run with the St. Louis Cardinals. He spent 1970 with the Oakland A's, then moved to Chicago, where he called White Sox games from 1971-81, then the Cubs until his death in 1998.

In addition to Caray being named the greatest baseball radio announcer, his signature catch phrase, "It might be ... it could be ... it is!" topped the list of most memorable catch phrases of all time with 42 percent of the votes. Other top catch phrases included Phil Rizzuto's "Holy Cow!"(23 percent) and Mel Allen's "How about that?!"(14 percent).

When asked which home run calls were the most memorable, fans chose Russ Hodges' 1951 "Shot Heard Round The World" commentary, which topped the list with 27 percent of the vote, followed by Milo Hamilton's call of Hank Aaron's 715th home run in 1974 (24 percent). These calls were trailed by a more recent radio call, Mike Shannon's play-by-play of Mark McGwire's record- breaking 62nd home run in 1998 (17 percent).

And, while attending a game at their team's stadium (60 percent) or seeing their team win the pennant or World Series (52 percent) topped the list of fondest memories growing up as a baseball fan, listening to baseball on the radio was one of the fondest memories for 42 percent of fans. When asked what they liked most about listening to games on the radio, many fans appreciated being able to catch the games while they were doing something else, such as driving or barbecuing (38 percent).

Fortunately for fans, through XM's partnership with MLB, several of these great voices can be heard on the air today from coast to coast. MLB on XM allows fans anywhere in the United States to tune in to games from every team, all season long.

"To be able to tune into any game, regardless of where you live, is an incredible offering to fans of the game," says Eric Logan, executive vice president of programming for XM. "Fans across the country can hear these amazing announcers and follow all the action in ways that were never imagined until XM. If you live in Oklahoma and want to hear Vin Scully call a Dodger game, or live in Maine and want to hear Bob Uecker wax profound during a Brewers game, now you can."

Following is the top 20 list as voted on by fans(1):

1. Harry Caray
2. Vin Scully
3. Bob Uecker
4. Mel Allen
5. Dizzy Dean
6. Ernie Harwell
7. Joe Garagiola
8. Phil Rizzuto
9. Jack Buck
10. Curt Gowdy
11. Red Barber
12. Jack Brickhouse
13. Al Michaels
14. Chuck Thompson
15. Harry Kalas
16. Bob Murphy
17. Rafael "Felo" Ramirez
18. Lindsey Nelson
19. Milo Hamilton
20. Russ Hodges

About the Survey

Harris Interactive(R) fielded the online survey on behalf of XM Satellite Radio between June 23 and 27, 2005 among a nationwide sample of 2,547 U.S. adults aged 18 and older, of whom 831 considered themselves baseball fans. The data was weighted to be representative of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online. Though this online sample is not a probability sample, in theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the overall results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Sampling error for those who considered themselves baseball fans is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

For more information regarding XM's complete coverage of All-Star Week, you can visit XM's Web site at http://www.xmradio.com/.

About Harris Interactive(R)

Harris Interactive Inc. (http://www.harrisinteractive.com/), the 15th largest market research firm in the world, is a Rochester, NY-based global research company that blends premier strategic consulting with innovative and efficient methods of investigation, analysis and application. Known for The Harris Poll(R) and for pioneering Internet-based research methods, Harris Interactive conducts proprietary and public research to help its clients achieve clear, material and enduring results. Harris Interactive combines its intellectual capital, databases and technology to advance market leadership through its U.S. offices and wholly owned subsidiaries, HI Europe in London (http://www.hieurope.com/), Novatris in Paris (http://www.novatris.com/), and through an independent global network of affiliate market research companies. EOE M/F/D/V.

About XM Satellite Radio

XM is America's number one satellite radio service with more than 4.4 million subscribers. Broadcasting live daily from studios in Washington, DC, New York City and Nashville at the Country Music Hall of Fame, XM's 2005 lineup includes more than 150 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: commercial-free music channels, premier sports, talk, comedy, children's and entertainment programming; and advanced traffic and weather information. XM was named Best Radio Service at the 2004 Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards.

XM, the leader in satellite-delivered entertainment and data services for the automobile market through partnerships with General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan and Volkswagen/Audi, is available in more than 120 different vehicle models for 2005. XM's industry-leading products are available at consumer electronics retailers nationwide. For more information about XM hardware, programming and partnerships, please visit http://www.xmradio.com/.

(1) Respondents were presented with a list of 28 baseball radio announcers

and asked to rank the top 3 they believe are the greatest.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050214/NYM129-a
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000724/XMSATLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: XM Satellite Radio

CONTACT: David Butler of XM Satellite Radio, +1-202-380-4317,
david.butler@xmradio.com; or Zach Perles of PainePR, +1-212-613-4924,
zperles@painepr.com, for XM Satellite Radio

Web site: http://www.xmradio.com/
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information or to receive comprehensive survey results, please contact Zach Perles at 212.613.4924.

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