Press Clippings
The best and worst in sports broadcasting
The Toronto Star
Friday, August 15, 2006
Jaime Stein ranked 5th overall in the "Best Football Announcer" category in the Toronto Star's innagural ranking of the best and worst sports broadcasters. You can view the results here.
Capturing a new generation: Toronto Argonaut play-by-play man Jaime Stein helping to make new football fans
Mike Beamish
The Vancouver Sun
Friday, July 15, 2005
Jaime Stein, marinated in Canucks hockey and Lions football since his days as a Point Grey high school student, is now the greatest promotional instrument for the Toronto Argonauts.
He grew up in Vancouver connected, as so many kids were, to the Canucks by the voice of Jim Robson and to the Lions by play-by-play man J.P. McConnell. Paradoxically, Stein today bleeds Double Blue as the broadcaster for the Argonauts on AM 640 Toronto.
In May, though only 26, he was hired full-time by the Argos, who buy air time on the radio station in the hope of selling spots to advertisers and promoting the club.
Stein is a neophyte in the play-by-play business, only three years removed from broadcasting school, but he is vitally important to the Argos because he is helping to make new football fans.
Two years ago, when the CFL was at its lowest ebb in Canada's biggest media market and the Argonauts were going bankrupt, the team couldn't afford the cost of broadcasting its own games. Now, Stein is a memory maker for hundreds of first- and second-year listeners.
"I think a generation of fans in my age bracket got skipped over," Stein says. "The Argos are the team of the future. They're in the community, out there, exacting positive change."
Tonight's game against the Lions at B.C. Place won't be televised -- the only one of the Argos' games which isn't shown on TSN or CBC this season -- so Stein is the primary source of getting the game to Toronto fans.
Of course, calling the game for the same team from which he draws a paycheque could induce a broadcaster to apply a coat of varnish to the Argos' foibles. Stein, however, doesn't feel he or his sidekick, veteran colour man Peter Martin, are unduly pressured to give opinions one way or the other.
"Keith Pelley [the Argos' president and CEO] told us, 'I don't want you guys to be homers. Tell it like it is, or people won't respect you,' " Stein says. "They didn't play great last week for 53 minutes [a 27-26 win over Saskatchewan] and we were the first to say the Argos got lucky."
While Robson and McConnell were formative influences, perhaps decisive ones, the radio medium initially was not his calling. Stein's mother, Sunni Stromberg-Stein, is a Supreme Court judge in B.C. His father, Dr. Howard Stein, is a retired rheumatologist.
Jaime, who says his goal as a child was to be prime minister, graduated with a degree in political science from McGill. He then went to Laval to take courses in French, so that he could get his points of view across in both official languages. He later moved to Toronto to get a temporary job as a technical writer, but a chance encounter in a sushi restaurant took him on a different path.
"I was watching a girl taking pictures of the chef, and I got into a conversation with her," Stein says. "Turns out she was in the journalism program at Ryerson [a downtown Toronto polytechnical university]. I thought that sounded cool so I applied. Broadcasting became my focus."
Kid Grabs Mike: Argos hire Jaime Stein, 26, for play-by-play
Perry Lefko
The Toronto Sun
Saturday, May 21, 2005
It will not exactly make the Canadian Football League transaction news, but the Argos' announcement of Jaime Stein as their radio play-by-play announcer is newsworthy.
Only two years ago the Argos didn't even bother broadcasting their games on the radio because they couldn't afford the cost.
Traditionally, the Argos have hired an individual affiliated with the radio station contracted to broadcast the team's games or someone of note to do play-by-play.
Last year, in a move by the new ownership group, the Argos hired veteran sports broadcaster Paul Romanuk, who was limited to about half the games because of personal and business commitments. A variety of others filled in, including Stein, adding to a multitude of tasks he had with the team, including producing the radio broadcasts and providing content. Stein left after the season on a lengthy vacation, travelling to parts of the world so foreign to the CFL his only connection came through the internet and e-mail. All the while he had been hoping to be handed the full-time play-by-play role, yet understanding the team wanted to do an exhaustive search of "name" candidates.
In the end, the Argos found their voice, so to speak, a 26-year-old who is less than three years out of journalism school. Yes, he works for the team, but play-by-play announcers traditionally are paid to be homers anyway.
Yesterday, on his first official day in his new role, Stein interviewed Royal Copeland and Joe (King) Krol, the famed Gold Dust Twins, who starred for the Argos during a dominant run in the 1940s. Copeland, who lives in California, hadn't seen his former teammate in 14 years, and took the time to reminisce with him, along with a group of other Argo alumni during the club's monthly alumni meeting.
Stein found it "interesting and overwhelming" to interview the duo. He planned to talk to his father, Howard, who grew up in their era. "It's almost enchanting to meet guys and hear their stories of games like the Mud Bowl," Stein said. "You can read about a Mud Bowl, but once these guys start describing how these guys are drowning in the mud, it's really incredible to hear it firsthand.
Stein is the latest in a long line of broadcasters who have called Argos games, including veterans Dave Hodge, John Badham, Bill Stephenson and Bob Bratina.
Interestingly, at one time Krol participated in the broadcasts in a post-game show called Football Feedback, which he did with Norm Marshall.
Stein's sidekick will be veteran Pete Martin, who has gone through more partners on the broadcasts than Elizabeth Taylor has gone through husbands. And with any luck, Stein and Martin will have the same continuity and chemistry in the broadcast booth that Krol and Copeland had on the field.
"For me, it's a real honour to be calling games when you're talking about the likes who have done it in the past and guys that are legends; guys I would look up to," Stein said.
Stein grew up in Vancouver, listening to and idolizing broadcaster Jim Robson, who did play-by-play of Vancouver Canucks games. He was to the Vancouver market what Foster Hewitt was to the Toronto market. J.P. McConnell did play-by-play of the B.C. Lions broadcasts and last year Stein met him for the first time during Grey Cup week.
"It's almost surreal being a part of this small fraternity of guys when most of these guys I grew up listening to and now I'm part of them," he said. "Before my first game, I was thinking of all these people driving around in their cars like I used to do listening to the broadcast. I was really nervous, but once we got underway and that headset went on, the rest of the world just switched off. When I'd done about four games in a month and a half span, I was really into the groove of this gig."
Now it's his turn to grab the mike and run with it.
Argonauts pick Stein as radio voice
William Houston
The Globe and Mail
Saturday, May 21, 2005
The Toronto Argonauts announced yesterday that Jaime Stein will call the CFL team's radio broadcasts on 640 Toronto this season. Stein, who produced the broadcasts last season and called four road games, will work with veteran colour commentator Peter Martin. Stein did play-by-play for football and hockey at Queens University, and worked as an editorial assistant at TSN before joining the Argos' radio team.
Stein to bring innate judgement
Malcolm Parry
The Vancouver Sun
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Jaime Stein will be the Toronto Argonauts football team's play-by-play radio announcer for 2005. He should bring innate judgment to the task of calling the opening game against Hamilton June 11. Jaime's mom is B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein.
Ya Heard?
Paul Hunter
The Toronto Star
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Jamie Stein, 26, who produced Argo radio broadcasts last season, will be the club's radio play-by-play voice in 2005. Long-time colour man Pete Martin will return in that role.