How good were Karsch and Jansen?
Wasn't able to watch the game as I had too much to do to prepare to go camping later today, can't wait to rewatch, but man as much as I've loved Brandy as a color guy for years, it was refreshing to be able to well, you know...know whats happening when it's happening. And John being able to explain what happened and why a play went the way it did was great.
September 3rd, 2022 at 6:12 PM ^
But did they drop the “theres an Orji in the endzone” line?
September 3rd, 2022 at 6:16 PM ^
😂
I actually enjoyed the broadcast team today. They were having fun calling a blowout. Kinda of nice to add some youth to the booth 👍🏻
September 3rd, 2022 at 6:39 PM ^
I thought RG III and Mark Jones did pretty well
September 3rd, 2022 at 6:53 PM ^
Yeah, maybe it was just fresh (to me) voices, but I liked their fairly candid, fairly humble--but also pretty knowledgeable--presentation.
September 3rd, 2022 at 8:19 PM ^
Me too. They made a bunch of mistakes and didn't always explain enough of the action and flow of the game.
However, I thought they did a good job. They know the game well and seemed to be real people actually talking to each other and us, especially in their improvised moments between the prepared stuff.
September 3rd, 2022 at 9:39 PM ^
Yeah, they both did very well overall, especially RG3.
September 3rd, 2022 at 6:20 PM ^
“It’s sack time!” has been replaced with “It’s Orji time!”
There is low-hanging fruit, and then there’s that. Great work, RG3.
September 3rd, 2022 at 6:19 PM ^
They did a nice job. Never found myself wondering what was going on.
September 3rd, 2022 at 6:34 PM ^
I mentioned this in another thread but I watched the game with my dad and put the TV on mute. We listened to Karsch and Jansen the entire game.
I think they have good chemistry. You always knew what was happening on the field. Jansen's already had plenty of practice doing color commentary and Karsch is a natural on the radio. They made a couple jokes about the Iowa/SDSU score which made me laugh.
Karsch doesn't do the over jubilation thing on scores. I have fond memories of Frank Beckman screaming, "Touchdown Michigan!!!!!" Karsch is pretty calm and matter of fact and says, ..."And it's a touchdown Corum."
Jason Avant also did a nice job on the sideline reporting.
September 3rd, 2022 at 6:50 PM ^
I’ve never tried this and I’m curious; how well do the radio audio and the TV synch?
September 3rd, 2022 at 7:06 PM ^
It was pretty close. The radio broadcast was just about 2 seconds behind what was happening on TV.
This is much improvement from about a decade ago when games started being broadcast in HD and the TV footage was waaaaay behind what was being broadcast on the radio.
September 3rd, 2022 at 8:10 PM ^
I watched the game on Spectrum cable TV. My cable TV was 20 seconds behind the radio coverage on WSGW in Saginaw.
September 3rd, 2022 at 8:31 PM ^
you can listen to the radio broadcast on mgoblue.com. Pause it for a few seconds until it's synched up.
I used to do that when Brent Mushburger was calling games and rooting for the other team
September 4th, 2022 at 3:21 AM ^
Can also download the audacy app and can listen to it anywhere on 97.1
September 3rd, 2022 at 6:58 PM ^
Karsch a little too reserved for me. Thought he was calling a cricket match.
September 3rd, 2022 at 7:11 PM ^
A little more excitement would be nice on scores but otherwise, I think he’s fine. He has room to grow once he gets more comfortable in the role.
September 3rd, 2022 at 9:20 PM ^
I’d agree but announcing play by play is announcing play by play. There’s no reason someone who isn’t strong at doing it should be doing it at this level and need time to get better at doing it. It’s not like he’s a first year college player in garbage time
September 4th, 2022 at 11:01 AM ^
A lame touchdown call is not a good sign that Karsch is a good choice. The PBP guy has to be a total homer a la Frank or Ufer. Karsch is a talk radio guy who has tried to play the objective/cynical guy his whole career. I like Karsch, but they probably should have hired a professional PBP.
September 4th, 2022 at 1:58 PM ^
His whole thing was he didn’t want to come up with a canned td and let the excitement of the moment find the call. Yesterday any excitement would’ve been feigned, that was a really bad team. I’ll be interested how he sounds for better teams and bigger games.
September 3rd, 2022 at 7:14 PM ^
Karsch ok not much emotion. Jansen was excellent.
September 3rd, 2022 at 7:16 PM ^
Jansen is dull. Informative but dull. They have the makings of a good team...let's go blue!
September 3rd, 2022 at 8:00 PM ^
Still waiting for Bob Ufer reincarnate.
September 3rd, 2022 at 7:45 PM ^
I actually thought they did a great job, especially when new players came in. Got tired of the tv broadcast so we synced up the tv (10 seconds behind I think on the radio) and listened the 2nd half. Was impressed with how fluid Doug was for his first game. Him and Jansen seem to mesh well.
September 3rd, 2022 at 7:58 PM ^
I found it refreshing to hear the result of the play instead of seconds of dead air or stumbling around to figure out the exact yard line.
September 3rd, 2022 at 8:17 PM ^
Agree with the general sentiment here - they did a very nice debut job with room to grow and polish. My preference is announcers who aren't rabid homers, so I wasn't too concerned with their emotions.
I used to really enjoy a crisp fall Saturday doing yardwork and listening to the radio broadcast, but that treat disappeared when Frank Beckmann retired. Looking forward to that again this fall!
September 4th, 2022 at 9:02 AM ^
"My preference is announcers who aren't rabid homers"
Boy you sure wouldn't have liked the 50s, 60's and 70's. They had some idiot with a horn that just wouldn't stop gushing.
September 3rd, 2022 at 8:31 PM ^
I watched the game on ABC with the sound muted and listened to the radio broadcast. I think they really did a good job. Improved over the spring game broadcast. They didn't step on each other and their banter between plays was good. For those of you who watch TV and listen to the radio, try streaming the radio over iheartradio or the WTKA website pause the TV broadcast a few seconds (if you have the option to do so) until they are in sync.
September 3rd, 2022 at 9:04 PM ^
Does WTKA broadcast the games online? I'd like to figure out how to do that. I tried the iheartradio with no success
September 3rd, 2022 at 9:11 PM ^
Try 97.1 or WTKA on Audacy…
September 4th, 2022 at 3:25 AM ^
Yep. Audacy app. Listen and pause live on 97.1 then sync up to t.v
September 3rd, 2022 at 9:00 PM ^
John, as usual, was entertaining AND informative, two fundamentally important characteristics. Doug was adequate, but needs to develop his game. He will get better with experience, no doubt.
September 3rd, 2022 at 9:05 PM ^
I felt Doug Karsch did a very good job calling the play by play. I thought his gravely voice would be a problem but it wasn’t. He doesn’t have a “signature” touchdown call yet but all in all I enjoyed listening to him. John Jansen was great explaining the plays. He is tuned into the modern game and reads the plays very well from the broadcast booth. He doesn’t talk over Karsch and breaks down plays that the lay person can understand. I enjoyed listening to this broadcast team.
September 3rd, 2022 at 9:32 PM ^
I thought they did a great job. Really enjoyed it…. Switched back and forth between tv and radio broadcast… great job by the new crew!
September 3rd, 2022 at 10:41 PM ^
You lost me at "wasn't able to watch the game."
September 3rd, 2022 at 10:44 PM ^
I listened to them at the beginning, not sure how they were throughout the game, but I do know that the Roman Wilson touchdown call was very “meh” sounding, was honestly surprised he scored considering how unenthused Karsch sounded.
September 4th, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^
What few playback lines I heard during the post game show on the radio, Doug Karsch needs a lot more polish. When Michigan scores a TD, let the listening audience know. To me, Karsch was underwhelming. He lacked enthusiasm and passion in his voice tone.
Brandy, Beckman and the GOAT-Bob Ufer were so much better.
September 4th, 2022 at 9:19 AM ^
Doug's constant scratchy voice annoyed me at first but I got used to it quickly. Like others have mentioned, I just wish he had more enthusiasm when Michigan scored a TD. It sounded like he was announcing a TD for the other team. Jansen did very well and has a pleasant voice for radio. Both were more informative and helpful for me to listen to than Brandy/Dierdorf and finally we are done with ever having to hear "sack time" again!!