Al Shaver, who spent 26 years as the voice of the Minnesota North Stars and was known as the “voice of hockey” in Minnesota, has died at the age of 96. His family said Shaver passed away after a brief illness.

Shaver had a 48-year broadcasting career which included a couple of years as the voice of Minnesota Gophers hockey. Shaver’s son Wally is the current voice of the team.

Shaver started with the Minnesota North Stars in their inaugural season in 1967-68 and continued until the team moved to Dallas in 1993. The Minnesota Wild named their press box at Xcel Energy Center after Shaver.

Shaver is a 10-time Minnesota Sportscaster of the Year and received numerous awards over his career. He’s also in the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Last week it became official that Ryan Hurley would take over running WFAN in New York. One of the other candidates for the position, it is now well known, was Jon ‘Stugotz’ Weiner and the subject has come up recently on his show.

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz played clips of WFAN’s Sal Licata and Brandon Tierney butchering their names and saying Stugotz “wasn’t good enough” to come back to New York.

“Thats a classic sports radio move where you know their names, but you give off like you don’t know their names,” Stugotz said. “…[Dan] may not know who Sal is and I believe you when you say that. He knows very well who you are, and he knows who I am.”

Since finding out about the interest Stugotz had in the position, the cast of Le Batard’s show has joked several times about who he was going to fire and which air shift he would have tried to appoint himself to take over.

“Do they know that you wanted to fire them?” Le Batard asked in reference to Licata and Tierney. “Are they in a timeslot that you would want?”

“They’re in the midday timeslot,” Stugotz replied “…And no that’s not who I was going to fire, it was gonna be Evan Roberts,” he quipped.

Stugotz went on to say he is a WFAN fan and listener and had he taken the position it would have been because he loves the station.

“I will say this, all three shows do a great job,” he said. “It’s why I wanted to take the job. That station is incredible, where you could put any two people in a four-hour window and have them talk about a bunt and boom, ten shares. It’s insane. But they do a good show. So, I don’t know why Sal has beef with me. He always thinks I’m coming up to take his stuff, I’m not taking your stuff. I’m not taking your stuff. I was going to be your boss.”

Stugotz then, somewhat out of left field, said, “…If I did a remote, an appearance side by side against Sal and Brandon Tierney, by myself, with no promotion except a couple of tweets. I’m telling you I would outnumber their promotion by at least five thousand people. But I didn’t want their jobs. I wanted to help them become better at their jobs. That’s all.

“I was trying to take everything I’ve learned in the radio industry over a couple of decades and pour it back into a radio station that I love and hosts that I love. I do, I listen to those shows, I like those shows.”

Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC) announced they have expanded their partnership with the Carolina Panthers. Beginning this fall, games will now air on MIX 101.5 in addition to a simulcast on Buzz Sports Radio.

The contract extension runs through 2027 and includes play-by-play broadcasts for all pre-season, regular season and post-season games, as well as the weekly Panther Talk and daily Panthers Updates.

“We are extremely pleased to augment an exceptional multi-media broadcasting partnership between the Panthers and Capitol Broadcasting,” said Eric Fiddleman, Carolina Panthers Affiliate Manager in a release. “The addition of one of the largest radio signals in North Carolina in MIX 101.5, coupled with the simulcast on The Buzz and a continued presence on 99.9 The Fan, will provide ample listening opportunities for fans of the Panthers/NFL in the Triangle and well beyond. CBC’s radio and television stations are much appreciated partners. These affiliations are a crucial element of our efforts to best serve the fan base.”

MIX 101.5 is an adult contemporary station but also airs North Caorlina State football and basketball games .

“MIX 101.5 is focused on our local community,” said Brian Grube, CBC radio’s VP/GM. “That commitment is evident from our local partnerships and fundraisers to our talented team of local on-air hosts. We know from the engagement we see with all our stations that local sports are extremely important to our passionate audiences. We are excited to make Carolina Panthers games available to Triangle fans on CBC’s strongest radio station.”