94 WIP is in Horsham for that annual Birds Town Hall or whatever it’s called, and this happened:

Merrill is 79 years old, so this will take him into his 80s.

Make no mistake, Merrill is the voice of the Birds. You’ve got people turning down the TV volume so they can listen to the radio instead. He’s an institution in this town. It would feel almost criminal to have somebody else call the Birds games on the radio.

I have a quick Merrill story:

When I worked for Eyewitness News, 94 WIP was our sister radio station, because we were both owned by CBS. One night, we were short on photographers, so they asked me to take a camera up to Merrill’s place in Montco, and I filmed him doing flash cards with his wife, the flash cards basically containing all of the names and numbers of the players on the opposing teams. She would say something like “DeMarco Murray,” and Merrill would say “number 29, third round pick in the 2011 draft out of Oklahoma, ran for 1,100 yards last year.” It was pretty impressive, the prep work that goes into each broadcast. He’s also got a sick collection of memorabilia.


There’s also this from Rob Tornoe:

This is all good and well, but we do all have to make sure Merrill goes out on top. You know what I mean? We don’t need this to become a Jason Peters situation. As long as Merrill feels good and can do the job, then no problem, because people love hearing his voice.

In a way, Merrill is kind of like Judas Priest. I’ve been seeing the Priest on every tour for 18 years now. I will come out and see the Priest if Rob Halford is in a walker and someone has to strap a microphone to him. Same with Reese. Just get him a television monitor and give us his voice. But when it’s time, hopefully Rob and Merrill will know when that time is, and won’t have to have anybody call time for them. We can’t risk another Dick Stockton or Al Michaels “mailing it in” situation.