Mount Rushmore color analysts – Doug Dieken, Jim Donovan squared and bow ties
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the seventh in a series of stories about the Mount Rushmore-worthy people, places and things in Browns history. Today we look at radio and TV color analysts.
By STEVE KING
Less is more.
That’s an old saying, but it’s still very timely today.
That is especially true when it comes to radio and TV color analysts in sports, including football.
The Browns have had a number of talented radio and TV color analysts over the years – talented because they really knew the sport and the Browns, and also because they knew that less is more with what they say, what they added – or subtracted, as it were – from the broadcast (radio) or telecast (TV).
The No. 1 rule of a radio or TV booth is that the play-by-play announcer is the king. He’s the star. He’s the boss. What he says, goes. Period. End of statement. End of discussion.
He’s the person for whom listeners and viewers tune in. Just as you don’t go to a movie or play to see the supporting actors and actresses, you don’t tune in to a football game to listen to or watch the color analyst. He – or she – is simply window-dressing.
Sorry, that’s just the way it is, has been and will be forevermore.
With that, then, it’s incumbent – absolutely necessary – for the color analyst to get in and out, saying what needs to be said, and not a word more, and doing it as quickly as possible. In that way, the play-by-play announcer has more time to say what he needs to say – what needs to be said, what should be said and what the audience tuned in to hear.
For the color analysts to drone on too long is too much of a bad thing.
Doug Dieken, who is set to begin his 33rd season (1985-95, 1999-present) as the Browns radio color analyst this fall, does a great job of saying really good stuff – insightful stuff, interesting stuff about why a play worked, or didn’t – and, in a snap, getting out, as in over and out.
So did two more radio color analysts in Jim Graner (1955-60, 1963-74) and Jim Mueller (1975-95), and a TV color analyst in Warren Lahr (1963-67).
And yes, you guessed it, they make up the Mount Rushmore of Browns radio and TV color analysts.
Here’s a bit about them:
DOUG DIEKEN
Embed from Getty ImagesHe was the starting left tackle for the Browns for 14 seasons (he’s in that Mount Rushmore as well) and then moved seamlessly into the radio booth the following year. As such, then, he has been part of the Browns in one way, shape or form for their last 47 seasons, which is longer than anyone in any position in club history. With that, he really knows the Browns, and he really knows line play, which is where the game is won and lost. Plus he has a quick wit and a great sense of humor.
JIM GRANER
Cleveland.com photo
The longtime sports director at Channel 3 (KYW and then WKYC), he was the absolute best – in any sport at any level at any time – of getting in and out and giving, in one sentence, a clear, concise analysis of what he had just watched.
JIM MUELLER
Cleveland.com photo
Also a TV sports director in Cleveland for a long time at Channel 8 (WJW), he knew the Browns and the area and had a clear, definitive voice. He never stumbled over a word. He shared the analysis work with Dieken in a three-man booth from 1985-95.
WARREN LAHR
Embed from Getty ImagesLike Dieken, Lahr is on another Browns Mount Rushmore (cornerbacks). So, he knew the game, too. And the fact he always wore a bow tie made him even more special. Just to explain, individual teams handled their own TV work through 1967, after which the NFL negotiated a contract with the network (just CBS at first), which then did the games. The Browns started televising their games in their third season of 1948.
NEXT: Radio and TV play-by-play announcers.
