Ken Kal

Ken Kalczynski or Ken Kal is a disc jockey and reporter for WXYT AM 1270 in Detroit, as well as the play-by-play commentator for the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL for the past 13 seasons (Starting the 14th on October 9th, 2008). Kal's first season was with WJR and now can be heard giving the play-by-play during every Wings game on AM 1270 "The Sports Station" / 97.1 FM "The Ticket" along with Paul Woods.

Realizing the dream

Kalczynski decided early on he wanted to be a mortician. He would watch his father get laid-off continuously as a tool and die maker and didn't want to follow in those footsteps. He decided to head to Wayne State University where, on a whim, he did a reading for WAYN, the closed-circuit radio station on campus. He wasn't very good. However, it sparked his interest in broadcasting and he began to practice. After much improvement, he finally landed a sportscasting job calling local college ice hockey games. Knowing nothing of hockey, his broadcasts were dry and hard to follow, but Kalczynski stuck with it. It was here he shortened his on-air moniker to "Ken Kal" and began to see improvements in both his quality of broadcasts and his fanbase [cite web| author = Neal Rubin | title = Red Wings broadcaster refuses to let his dream die | url = http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070117/OPINION03/701170394/1268| year = 2007 | accessdate = 2007-09-02 | publisher = The Detroit News |date = 2007 ] .

After his graduation from Wayne State in 1979, Kal landed a job with WAAM. There, he was a sportscaster working under sports director Paul Chapman and also served as a disc jockey on numerous occasions. In 1984, Kal finally received the job he was after, replacing Chapman, who'd moved on to WJR, on the play-by-play duties for University of Michigan hockey. Kal would go on to hold that position for the next 11 years on both WAAM and WTKA.

Reaching the NHL

In 1995, Kal switched over to the NHL, as the starting broadcasting for the Detroit Red Wings. He joined former NHLer Paul Woods and together helped improved the quality of the radio broadcast. He has called the final seconds of four Stanley Cup victories and the milestone goals of several hall of fame ice hockey players.

In addition to his broadcast duties, Kal represents the Red Wings in the community, often visiting schools or business groups, hosting team events and playing for the Wings charity softball team. Kal is a contributing writer to the team's official magazine, "Inside Hockeytown". Rounding out his administrative duties, Ken also works with the broadcast department to expand the Red Wings radio network and maintain affiliate relations. Ken was married during the summer of 2003 [cite web| author = Detroit Red Wings | title = Paul Woods & Ken Kal WXYT Analyst & WXYT Play-by-Play | url = http://www.detroitredwings.com/interactive/radio.jsp | year = 2007 | accessdate = 2007-09-02 | publisher = DetroitRedWings.com |date = 2007 ] .

Personal life

Ken is President-elect of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association for 2006 as well as a board member for the Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. He was married in 2003 and currently resides in St. Clair Shores, Michigan [cite web| author = Detroit Sports Broadcasters | title = DSBA Member Roster: Ken Kal | url = http://www.detroitsportsbroadcasters.org/member.php?memberid=60 | year = 2007 | accessdate = 2007-09-02 | publisher = DetroitSportsBroadcasters.org |date = 2007 ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.detroitredwings.com/wings/coachbio.jsp?id=4846 Ken Kal's Bio on Detroit Red Wings.com]