Wheat Kings broadcaster is dedicated to a rare career

If you’ve ever scrubbed the radio during a Wheat Kings game, you’ve probably heard the voice of Rob Mahon.

The 32-year-old broadcaster is the voice of the Wheat Kings. When residents hear on their car radio that that “Mistelbacher fired a shot,” or “Ruzicka is the man between the pipes,” it’s Mahon making those calls as he stands in a booth at the Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

Mahon has been working in this role for the Wheat Kings for two years now. And it’s not a side-gig, it’s not a community hobby, the broadcasting role is a career job for the man — and work that he takes incredibly seriously.

At a glance, listeners can see a large part of Mahon’s job just by tuning into the show. It might seem straightforward (a guy is describing what happens on the ice. Big whoop, right?) but there is a lot that goes into the work that goes unseen.

Putting on a live show is a special kind of performance that requires a lot of preparation, Mahon told the Sun in a recent interview. Whether its creating notes, studying them, or practicing his vocal presentation, there’s always room to improve the content that comes over the radio.

The first base to cover is to clearly communicate where the puck is on the ice, who has possession, and where it is going, Mahon said. But the show would be lacking if that were all that happened, and so a lot of work happens behind the scenes to add extra value.

In his role for the Wheat Kings, Mahon has spent a great deal of time drawing up handwritten notes, studying his own broadcasts and testing himself on facts about players on the Wheat Kings and their opponents. He looks at it like studying for an exam.

“The amount of preparation that goes into it is a big part,” Mahon said.

The value provided to listeners comes from going beyond the first base. Beyond keeping up with the action as it happens, Mahon makes an effort to be bringing listeners into the league, and putting the action into context, he said. A little insight into the dynamics of the game adds extra quality to the broadcast, and it’s something he’s always jotting notes about, in case the opportunity strikes.

“If a kid scores his first WHL goal, you don’t want to be caught off guard by that fact. That’s something you want to know ahead of time and be ready for.”

Mahon describes using time on the bus, when the Wheat Kings are traveling to Saskatchewan for example, to test himself on their upcoming opponents; researching, writing notes, and then covering them with his hand to try to commit them to memory.

The work is a bit of an obsession for the 32-year-old. Even when he is alone watching hockey, his head will be calling the plays, vocalizing to himself that the puck bounced up the boards, a rebound fell loose, or a player took a hard body check, as if speaking for the audience.

“I went, ‘Woah, I actually can’t switch that off,” he said, with a laugh, from the boardroom of the Wheat Kings.

The homework is no different. The WHL may be the most fascinating thing in the world to Mahon, but it’s not something that all casual listeners can keep up with. So in his work he is constantly diving into the context of the league, and filling his head with facts and statistics.

There are always new names from across western Canada that need to be pronounced properly; there are player histories that ought to be known; there is subtle, but significant context to important games. The more involved he can be in this realm, the better the show at home.

So where can someone go wrong? Apparently, the biggest problem that Mahon has is speaking too fast — wanting to spout off the action so fast that, if he went unchecked, it would be hard to keep up with him. It’s his primary weakness, he said when asked, and a weakness he’s made noticeable progress at since identifying it nearly 10 years ago when he started in hockey broadcasting.

But there are some issues that broadcasters share in the grand scheme of things beyond Brandon. Because a live show is, by nature, live, there is no reset button. And so there is no second take or do-overs when a brain fart happens, or a tongue gets clumsy. It’s another challenge that is solved by preparation, Mahon said.

“Almost every broadcaster has a crutch phrase,” Mahon said. “Something that lets them get past what they just tripped over.”

For the Wheat Kings broadcaster, the crutch is to go back to the scoreboard. When needing to settle down or reset, he brings listeners back to the the goals scored in the game, time left in the period, or shots on net. It fills the role of being useful, but also allows him a second.

“I like to take a half breath, look at the scoreboard, tell the audience what the score is, what the time is,” he said. “It’s also a very good way to get yourself back on track if something exasperating happens on the ice.”

An injury on the ice might lead to this, he said. The point is to not get caught up and sidetracked from the action of the game.

In the commentator’s booth with Mahon at home games is co-caster and colour commentator Pete Gerlinger. He told the Sun that he has noticed Mahon is always prepared with something to say, and appears to take it very seriously.

“He’s never at a loss for words,” Gerlinger said. “He gets very animated sometimes. He’s very detailed and takes a lot of pride in it.”

After working with several other commentators over the years, Gerlinger said that this duo keeps him the busiest. With a laugh, he said that when the puck stops and there’s time to talk plays through, he is invited to chime in almost more often than he’s ready for.

“He’s constantly bouncing things off me, so he’s forcing me to be prepared,” Gerlinger said. “The guy that’s kept me busiest is Rob.”

When asked about potential improvements for his young broadcasting colleague, Gerlinger said that because Mahon covers the serious bases well, there’s one quality that he thinks Mahon might be ready for.

“One of the things I’ve bee trying to do is get him to loosen him up with some humour,” Gerlinger said.

Besides that, he said he is really impressed with Mahon since he joined the Wheat Kings two years ago. And when asked about his colleagues source of success, Gerlinger said he sees an important contribution from Mahon’s exercise habits.

“I think that’s what his real discipline comes from, to be committed to something like that,” Gerlinger said. “He’s very dedicated and serious about it.”

Mahon tells the Sun the single most important thing he ever did to get better was to go to the gym. It’s been a number of years down this road since one day in Estevan, Sask., when he prepared for a broadcast at a former job.

“I made a point of going to gym before the game, everything came through clearer. Sharper. I felt this was such an improvement.”

Several years down the line into that routine, he said he always exercises before getting on air. Mahon has a game day routine; he might not be on the bench, or “between the pipes” as he likes to say of the goaltenders, but the broadcaster does consider physical readiness important to the job. The difference between his performance on the air is like night and day, he said.

“Since I’ve been in the WHL, every game day has been a gym day,” Mahon said. “I want to do something that gets the endorphins going.”

Now, his social media reads “gym rat,” a slang term for a gym lover, and he cannot sing praises loud enough of exercising. Mahon will be found in the gym any day that the Wheat Kings play a game.

Looking ahead, he wants to broadcast as long as possible. His colleague, Gerlinger, told the Sun that he views Mahon as ambitious and driven in the work.

“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see him advancing to the next level at some point. He’s very happy doing what he’s doing.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com