Chris King and Greg Picker let go as Islanders' radio broadcast team, sources confirm
Islanders radio announcer Chris King at Nassau Coliseum in 2014. Credit: Richard T. Slattery
The Islanders’ on-going organizational changes have extended to their radio booth.
Longtime play-by-play voice Chris King and analyst Greg Picker were both let go on Wednesday, Newsday confirmed. This comes a day after the organization announced president/general manager Lou Lamoriello would not have his contract renewed after seven seasons.
King has been a member of the Islanders’ radio team since 1998 and Picker joined as his partner in 2013.
Instead of a separate radio team, the Islanders confirmed they would simulcast the MSG Networks television broadcast — with play-by-play voice Brendan Burke — to replace King and Picker.
The team said it was still examining potential options for the national games on ESPN or TNT that MSG Networks does not broadcast.
“I have lots of thoughts on today’s news,” Burke said on his X account. “What I will say here is Chris King and Greg Picker bleed blue & orange. Their Isles passion and knowledge is what made them special and they are wonderful people.”
King and Picker spent the last two seasons not traveling for road matches — except for nearby games against the Rangers, Devils and Flyers — instead calling them from a Hofstra studio.
The Islanders’ games have been primarily broadcast on Hofstra’s student radio station WRHU (88.7 FM) with students helping to produce and provide audio from interviews. The Islanders confirmed the Hofstra station will produce the simulcasts.
There is a precedent around the NHL for television simulcasts sufficing as a team’s radio offering as the Hurricanes, Sabres, Kings and Stars have all gone to that model.
The Athletic first reported the news on King and Picker. King is also a radio voice of independent baseball’s Long Island Ducks, a post he’s held since 2000.
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Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
