49ers Blog and Q&A: Radio man Joe Starkey to leave 49ers gig

Sign In
Join

Logout

49ers Blog and Q&A

News, notes and reader questions about the San Francisco 49ers

• Ask Matt a 49ers question

December 18, 2008

Radio man Joe Starkey to leave 49ers gig

Joe Starkey, who has been the play-by-play man for 49ers radio broadcasts since 1989, will step down at the end of the season, he announced today. Starkey, who perhaps is best known for his call in the frantic final seconds of the "Big Game" between Cal and Stanford in 1982, has been juggling both Cal and 49ers broadcasts for nearly 20 years. Starkey, 67, said today that the travel burden simply had become too much to handle.

That became clear, he said, following this year's Cal-Stanford game on Nov. 22. That game ended at 4:30 p.m., and Starkey said he couldn't get a flight to Dallas, where the 49ers were playing the next day, until 12:45 a.m. He said he arrived in Dallas, borrowed a hotel room from a team official for an hour and then headed off to the game. "It was that trip," Starkey said, "that I think created the illness that put me out two weeks." Starkey battled a bad case of laryngitis that kept him from conducting the 49ers' broadcasts in Buffalo and against the Jets. They were the first games he ever missed, he said. "I don't want to do this," Starkey said. "I don't want to be somebody who struggles through and stumbles through broadcasts."

Starkey said he would continue to handle the Cal football broadcasts, which he's done since 1975, "as long as they let me." "I think if I drop down to one team," he said, "I can go a long time."

KTVU's Joe Fonzi filled in for Starkey for the games in Buffalo and against the Jets. Team chief operating officer Andy Dolich said the team would begin a search at season's end. "There's obviously talent in this market place," Dolich said. "We're replacing an individual that is very hard to replace." Dolich said no changes were planned for the color position, which has been handled by ex-NFL linebacker Gary Plummer for the last 11 seasons.

-- Matt Barrows

About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.

Please use the form below to submit your question. Because there is a 100-word limit for questions, a word counter is located directly beneath the box where you enter the your question.