The TV voice of the New York Islanders will soon be the radio voice of the New York Yankees. Temporarily that is.
WFAN, the radio home of the Yankees, announced that Brendan Burke would call two series for the Bombers while they’re on the road in July. Burke was the latest fill-in that the station has announced since it was revealed earlier this month that John Sterling would be cutting back the amount of travel he does.
Sweeny Murti, WFAN’s Yankees beat reporter, was also tapped to call the June 30 game in Houston.
Burke will call the Yankees series with the Cleveland Guardians beginning July 1 and again during their two-game set with the Pittsburgh Pirates starting July 5. The Islanders play-by-play man had been at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday to sit in with TBS’ baseball broadcasting crew.
“This is my great white buffalo,” Burke told WFAN during a hit on Carton ad Roberts. “This is where I got the spark for being a broadcaster. When I was a kid, my dad was the Yankee beat writer. So I used to sit between Sterling and (Michael) Kay when they were together when I was a 9-year-old and that’s where I got the spark to be a broadcaster.
“So to be able to bring it full circle is something that’s more special.”
Burke has been a rising star in hockey broadcasting since taking the play-by-play job for Islanders telecasts on MSG in 2017. He has added national games to his workload, first with NBC and now with Turner since they took over national broadcasts with ESPN this season.
The 37-year-old previously called games for the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York Penn League and the Lakewood BlueClaws of the South Atlantic League.
