LA Kings Broadcast Information!
Lots to share today, Insiders. The LA Kings and FanDuel Sports Network have announced the full 68-game local broadcast schedule, which completes the full 82-game regular-season schedule for the Kings this season. As noted here last week, the Kings will run two separate broadcasts this season, with a radio-only stream on ESPN LA for each game. Looking for the full schedule on what game is where and how to access those games? Consider this page HERE your one-stop shopping on LAKings.com. It will be updated throughout the season in the event of any changes. Have any additional questions? Send them my way and I’ll get the answers for this page!
In terms of talent, the big addition to the team on a full-time basis is John Kelly, former St. Louis Blues play-by-play broadcaster. Kelly has a ton of experience at the NHL level and makes a ton of sense for the Kings here. In talking with him, he’s very excited to get the ball rolling and to join a situation that has a reputation around the NHL for top-caliber broadcasting.
“I’m very grateful to Luc Robitaille, Mike Altieri and FanDuel Sports Network to give me this incredible opportunity, really for a few reasons,” Kelly said. “One, my wife and I are really excited to spend the hockey season in Southern California and all of the advantages it offers and on a professional side, as Kings fans know, they have had just an incredible group of announcers in their history. They’ve had three, Hall of Fame announcers who have come through there including Nick, so the bar has been set really high there and I know that. I come in with a lot of respect for [Hall of Famers] Jiggs, Bob and Nick, the job they’ve done, and Kings fans expect a high-quality broadcast. I’m really excited to try to do the best job I can. I’m excited about broadcasting games for the Kings, a team that has averaged over 100 points over the last four seasons and has played high-level hockey. I can’t wait to get started.”
Breaking this down into several sections to make sure that everything gets its share, but tons of information to share below! Hit me up in the comments with any further questions about this season’s broadcast.
Play-By-Play
Kelly joins the Kings organization from the St. Louis Blues and has broadcasted NHL games since 1989. Kelly is a veteran of the industry, having also previously worked for the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning. I could just tell you he’s excited to get on board but instead, presenting Kelly’s first quotes as a member of the Kings organization to show you his level of excitement.
First things first, he understands the man he’s coming in for. Nick Nickson had been with the Kings longer than many of us have been alive. He’s a Foster Hewitt Award winner and he’s enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Kelly understands that and while his credentials speak for themselves, he is coming in to bring what he hopes is a worthy successor to the table.
“They are big shoes, but all I can focus on is doing the best job that I can and hopefully I can get to know the fans quickly and the players and coaches and bring an exciting and informative broadcast to Kings fans, because that’s what they’ve become accustomed to,” he said. “Personally, I’m the son of a Hall of Fame announcer – Dan Kelly – who passed away in 1989 and after he passed away, I came to St.Louis for awhile and took over from him, so I have a little bit of experience in trying to fill big shoes, but having said that, it’s something that I don’t take lightly and I’m going to work as hard as I can to do the best job possible.”
Kelly goes way back with Jim Fox and Daryl Evans, who he will work closely with this season.
He’s also excited to work with Josh Schaefer, who will do some games on television, and will work closely with Kelly.
“Jim Fox and Daryl Evans have been there a long time as well, I’ve gotten to know them well,” Kelly said. “I’ll lean on those guys a lot, especially Jim, who has been around [the Kings] forever……it will make things more comfortable for me in the broadcast booth knowing those guys as well as I do. I’m also looking forward to working alongside Josh, a really good young announcer who I had the chance to meet in March. There were a lot of reasons why this job is coveted in the NHL and I’m very blessed to be a part of the broadcast team.”
As far as his broadcasting style, Kelly isn’t a guy who relies on corny things to do the job.
He feels that he is, somewhat at least, in the mold of the way that Nick or Bob approached the game, which is a focus on simply producing a high-level broadcast. He emphasized preparation and storytelling, certainly, but at the end of the day, he’s an experienced play-by-play person who knows his role and is has done that role at a high level for a number of years.
“I try to be as prepared as I can and I’m really big about talking to the coaches and trying to get the insights of what they’re thinking and not necessarily the game plan, but the trends their looking for. I also like getting anecdotes from the players and personalizing the players to the fans, talking about their families or their parents or how they got into hockey. I leave the X’s and O’s to the experts, the color analyst, and I like to try to get those stories integrated into the broadcast,” he said. “As far as calling the game, I’m really big on trying to get the color analyst involved as much as possible and I just try to be as entertaining as possible. We’re trying to entertain the fans and at the same time inform the fans. For those two or three hours, we want Kings fans to enjoy the experience and that’s our job as broadcasters, is to have them enjoy the experience and hopefully have their team win.”
Here’s what I like about what John said. He isn’t coming in telling you he’s Bob Miller or Nick Nickson. He’s John Kelly and that carries a lot of weight in itself. He’s a self described no frills type of broadcaster who doesn’t rely on gimmicks or shticks to call the game, in the same way that I don’t think Bob or Nick did. Kelly is a top-class broadcaster who carries a ton of respect around the NHL. Anyone I’ve spoken with – Jim Fox included – has had nothing but terrific things to say. Kelly told me he’s excited to get to Los Angeles this weekend and hit the ground running next week for training camp and the preseason. He’ll be around. He’s actually eager to be around the team as much as possible throughout the preseason to be as integrated as possible and get rolling for the regular season.
He pointed out several times the high standard that Kings broadcasts have carried in the past and he does not take lightly the responsibility he has to the fanbase to continue that in his own work.
Josh Schaefer, who called games both on TV and radio last season, will also call select games on FanDuel Sports Network and will handle the bulk of the games on ESPN LA on the radio front. Meaning, it won’t be just one voice you’ll hear on TV this season. As reported last week, the Kings are separating the TV and radio broadcasts this season. Kelly will do the bulk of the TV games, with Schaefer filling in as well. When not on TV, Schaefer will be the lead play-by-play voice of the Kings on ESPN LA, calling games both over the air on ESPN LA 710 as well as through the ESPN LA App.
Schaefer, a Southern California native, was the primary play-by-play broadcaster for the Ontario Reign from 2021-24 and called a slate of Kings games last season, predominantly on the radio, with a couple of TV games mixed in. The organization sees him very highly and he’s one of the youngest play-by-play broadcasters in the NHL. Get used to this guy.
Photo by Mark Buckner/NHLI via Getty Images
Color Analysts
On the color front, Jim Fox and Daryl Evans aren’t going anywhere.
Fox will be the lead television analyst and Evans will be the primary radio analyst, providing work on the television side as well, likely more during pre, intermission and post coverage, as opposed to the three-person booth we saw a lot of over the last few seasons. The Kings will also introduce additional analysts for select games, with Tony Granato, Ray Ferraro and Jarret Stoll expected to work games on FDSN as well, though Fox will do the bulk of the schedule as he always has.
For Fox, the changes come at his request and he was grateful that the organization was willing to help. Still, though, the guy you have watched for a long time will still be around and still behind the microphone for the bulk of games this season.
“For years now, I’ve been talking to the Kings about backing off a little bit and I am very grateful that they were able to come up with a package that both helps me and also includes the quality of broadcasters and people like Ray and Tony,” Fox said of the new setup.
It’ll be a little bit of a different year for Fox and for the Kings.
He won’t be alongside Nick Nickson for the first time in his Kings career. Not that they called games together the entire time but they were a part of the Kings broadcast crew together the entire time and that will certainly be a change. It’ll also be one of the first times we’ve seen any sort of rotation of analysts and as he told me yesterday, that’s at his request. Fox will still do the bulk of the games as the lead analyst, but there will be times you’ll flip on FanDuel Sports Network and you won’t see Jim Fox. That’ll be different.
Helping to fill in the gaps, though will be some exciting additions in Granato and Ferraro, two people who Fox has a ton of respect and admiration for. Ferraro and Granato are really cool additions to the broadcast team. Ferraro is obviously a Kings alum and does national broadcast work for games on ESPN and regional work with the Vancouver Canucks. Granato is a fellow Kings alum and has done work for both NHL Network and regional work with the Chicago Blackhawks. Excited to see what both will bring to the broadcast, along with Stoll, who has done a really good job in my opinion when he is on during intermissions.
“I can’t say enough about the team the Kings have put together as far as the broadcast crew,” he said. “The respect I have for our current broadcasters goes without saying and the addition of Ray and Tony brings incredible experience with the game of hockey, incredible knowledge of the game of hockey and an outstanding way to communicate to our fans.”
Stoll and Evans will be regulars on Kings pre, intermission and post-game coverage, along with rinkside reporter Carrlyn Bathe and LA Kings Live host Patrick O’Neal. In a world that will feature some change, especially with a Hall of Fame broadcaster like Nick Nickson retiring, this is a familiar quartet of voices who will continue to drive that content for the Kings both at home and on the road.
There’s also a new primary pairing, with Kelly and Fox.
Professionally, it’s their first time working together but having done similar jobs for as long as they have, it’s a very familiar pairing.
“I’ve known John for a long time,” Fox said. “Actually, our fathers go way back together to when my dad was playing baseball in the 50’s in Sudbury, Ontario, they had contact back then, but I’ve known John forever and throughout the years, I’ve actually gotten to know him more than most guys that have broadcasted for various teams. Easy, easy guy to get along with, super helpful in all elements of preparing for a game, great demeanor. His long tenure and experience, it just shows his importance and his value and how effective he is as a play-by-play broadcaster.”
Excited to see how it all comes together.
On the radio side, as noted previously, the broadcast will no longer be simulcast, but rather completely separate on ESPN LA. Schaefer and Evans will be the primary drivers of radio coverage but I’d expect to see additional broadcast talent in that mix as well throughout the course of the season. While not every game will be over the air, the relationship with ESPN LA is strong and it seems like there will be every effort made to get as many games as possible on 710, with the rest available via the ESPN LA App. Either way, all 82 games will be available via the app for continuity. More to come on that front closer to the season.
So what else?
TV and Radio Broadcast teams are set. In terms of the schedule, I think it’s a little bit more viewer-friendly this season than it’s been in years past and here’s why.
All 68 games will be available on FanDuel Sports Network. Additionally, eight games will be simulcast on KCAL. From feedback I got last season, I think that’s a win for the fans. I know that KCAL can be difficult for some to access but for so many others, it’s an expanded reach that allows people who can’t typically watch games over the air watch the Kings. This season, it’s the best of both worlds, with games available on both stations. In total, eight games will be simulcast between FDSN and KCAL.
The eight games on KCAL are as follows – November 1 vs. Devils, November 29 vs. Canucks, December 6 vs. Blackhawks, December 13 vs. Flames, January 24 at Blues, March 7 vs. Canadiens, March 28 vs. Mammoth and April 11 vs. Oilers.
To watch games on FanDuel Sports Network, here are the channels & providers that will carry the games this season –
Spectrum – Channel 320
DirectTV – Channel 692
Cox – Channel 1037 in Santa Barbara / Channel 1064 in Orange County / Channel 1053 in Palos Verdes
Fubo – Not sure what channel…but it’s available on Fubo!
Like last season, Kings games can continue to be accessed via a streaming subscription through either the FanDuel Sports Network app or by visiting FanDuelSportsNetwork.com. Annual, season, monthly and individual game passes can be purchased for FDSN and the Kings through that website. A full list of supported devices is available HERE.
A new option for Kings fans this season comes for those with an Amazon Prime Video subscriptions. In a partnership announced earlier this summer, Prime Video customers can sign up to stream FanDuel Sports Network as an add-on subscription. Go to Amazon.com/channels and search for FanDuel Sports Network to subscribe.
The more information regarding the radio broadcast schedule on ESPN LA will be announced closer to the start of the 2025-26 regular season. There are a lot more factors in play with the radio schedule, with several different rights packages to manage there. That takes a little bit more time.
But for now, there’s your TV crew, schedule and watching details. As noted, please hit up the comments if you have any additional questions that I can help try and source the answers for.
Photo by Gary A. Vasquez/NHLI via Getty Images
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