The Portland Trail Blazers’ have had only two radio play-by-play announcers since the team’s inception in 1970. The first was Mr. Rip City himself, Bill Schonely. “The Schonz” wore the headphones from 1970 to 1998, coined the phrase “Rip City,” and, among Blazers fans, is considered nothing less than royalty. At a virile 87 years of age, he can still be found roaming around at games, appearing as a team ambassador, giving out prizes to season ticket holders, and even singing songs like “America, the Beautiful” before tip-off.
The second—the man still speaking into the mic today, transmitting from Rip City Radio AM 620—is Brian “Wheels” Wheeler. If you consider yourself a Blazers fan but have never listened to one of Wheels’ broadcasts, you better check your credentials.
For the last 19 years, Wheels has traveled with the team, announcing 82 games a year with his buttery voice and boisterous bravado. (He called his 1,700th game for the Blazers this season.) A creative, on-the-fly wordsmith, Wheels is a sports almanac personified, with an infectious joy and devotion for the home team. Some might say his methods border on “homerism”—a biased broadcasting style in which the announcer is a glorified cheerleader—but there’s a difference between excitement and untruth. Sure, Wheels will explode with a raucous “BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA!” after a Blazer slams a monstrous dunk, but his emotion doesn’t signal a bias. His enthusiastic exclamations and catchphrases—”Yes sir,” “Oooh, that was NASTY!,” “The voodoo that you do so well,” and “Ring it up!”—are what make his broadcasts so engaging.
From a hotel room in Atlanta, late on a Thursday evening, Wheels spoke to the Mercury about his history in radio, his tumultuous introduction to the Blazers, and the future of broadcasting in an era where technology threatens to overpower the radio dial.