NICK NICKSON
Radio Play-By-Play Announcer
In his 35th season with the Kings, Nick Nickson, the radio “Voice-of-the-Kings,” calls the action of every pre-season, regular season and postseason playoff game on KABC 790 and along the Kings Radio Network.
A veteran with 40 years of hockey broadcasting experience totaling more than 3,500 games (including over 3,000 with the Kings), Nickson will receive the 2015 Foster Hewitt Award, as selected by the NHL Professional Broadcasters’ Association. This award, which recognizes those members of the radio and television industry who have made outstanding contributions to their profession and the game during their hockey broadcasting careers, is recognized by a plaque in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. He will become the third Kings broadcaster in franchise history to be awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award joining Bob Miller (2000) and Jiggs McDonald (1990).
On the whole, Nickson’s smooth, fast-paced and accurate delivery of every play allows the listener to “see the game” as the action unfolds. As a tribute to his broadcasting excellence, in January of 2009 he was inducted into the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and in 2011 he was inducted into the Frontier Field Walk of Fame (media) in his hometown (Rochester, New York).
In addition to his Kings broadcasting duties he has also called regular season and playoff games for the NHL Radio Network. In the spring of 2009 he covered the World Championship for NBC Universal Sports. He has been instrumental in developing and maintaining the Kings Radio Network while assisting the Kings Communications department in writing and editing the annual media guide. He is also involved in the Kings Care Foundation and Kings Alumni Association and has written more than 180 stories and articles on the NHL and the Kings. Nickson is a member of the Southern California Sports Broadcasters and the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association, and for seven summers (1983-89) baseball fans may remember his voice as the Public Address Announcer at Dodger Stadium.
In 2006, the Kings held “Nick Nickson Day” at STAPLES Center, and Nickson was honored on the ice for his 25 years of service to the organization as a radio and television broadcaster. The club also then officially announced the broadcast booth area at STAPLES Center had been named the Nick Nickson Broadcast Center.
His broadcasting career began during the 1975-76 season as the voice of the Rochester Americans (AHL) before joining the New Haven Nighthawks (AHL) in 1977. He spent four seasons (1977-81) calling the action for the Nighthawks before his association with the Kings began.
Nickson attended Ithaca (N.Y.) College and served as the Sports Director for the school’s radio station while doing play-by-play for Ithaca’s hockey, football, baseball and basketball teams. After graduating in 1975, he worked as a disc jockey for two stations in Rochester before beginning his career in hockey shortly thereafter.
Nick and his wife, Carolyn, reside in Santa Clarita and have two sons, Nicholas (married to Alexandra) and Timothy. The couple also has two grandchildren, Casey and Avery.