Jason Benetti = Mario Impemba

[gehringer_2]

6 hours ago, chasfh said:

I will say this about the Benetti hire: I think he has done as much as anyone to rekindle interest in the Tigers among the non-diehard part of the fan base. Most people regard it as a pleasure to tune him in, and I can’t help but conclude that he is a key reason the Tigers more than doubled their TV ratings in 2025 over 2024, as more causal Tiger fans discovered him. From that standpoint, it was a genius hire to bring him on.  

 

6 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

He was a good hire, but their ratings are up because they are winning.  Fans will tune in to see a winning team regardless of the announcer.  A good broadcaster can improve ratings a bit, but I don't believe that Benetti doubled the ratings.  

Don't forget the converse. The broadcast with Shep was getting so bad you were going to lose fans even if the team was winning.

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

 

Don't forget the converse. The broadcast with Shep was getting so bad you were going to lose fans even if the team was winning.

Fair point 

[oblong]

I’m pretty sure Dan prefers radio and agreed to do the TV splits when necessary if it meant getting Jason on board most of the time. That how I interpreted his comments last year when they discussed this. 

[Tenacious D]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

I’m pretty sure Dan prefers radio and agreed to do the TV splits when necessary if it meant getting Jason on board most of the time. That how I interpreted his comments last year when they discussed this. 

Are they still doing their podcast?  It was a bit fluffy, but always on the lookout for Tigers content.

[Biff Mayhem]

I’m no casual fan and I love all things Bennetti. Did he really double the fan base? Unprovable but I seriously doubt it. That said, I think his videos to promote understanding of CP certainly helped win him favor and make some casual fans tune in to root for him. I do side with the opinion that winning brought the vast majority of the fan base back. 

[NorthWoods]

19 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

True but does he WANT to do it until he’s in his mid to late 70s or later

My guess is yes.   Based on:  Ernie - Blaha - Scully - Michaels - Raftery - Vitale - etc  the great ones seem to go forever.  It's a pretty sweet gig and you have an offseason to relax and recreate.

[oblong]

I don't think Benetti's national aspirations affect his willingness or ability to still do Tiger Games unless he wants summers off or to work less in the summer. The overlap with football and college BB is a short window.  

[DTroppens]

On 4/5/2026 at 9:58 AM, chasfh said:

I will say this about the Benetti hire: I think he has done as much as anyone to rekindle interest in the Tigers among the non-diehard part of the fan base. Most people regard it as a pleasure to tune him in, and I can’t help but conclude that he is a key reason the Tigers more than doubled their TV ratings in 2025 over 2024, as more causal Tiger fans discovered him. From that standpoint, it was a genius hire to bring him on.  

That may be true, but I think what probably rekindles interest is the team doing well. That's what brings casual fans back.

For example, people loved Mario and Rod and they embraced them. But, if 2006 doesn't happen like the way it does the fan base doesn't return to make that summer the high ratings the Tigers' broadcasts were. 

There may be an element of what you say is true, but I'd argue it's 80% winning baseball, and now that it's happened that makes people associate them with good times and makes people probably enjoy them more. That doesn't really happen when a team goes 70-92 every season.

[DTroppens]

On 4/5/2026 at 10:09 AM, Tiger337 said:

I like Benetti even with his forced humor.  I like Dirks.  They’re difficult to listen to when they’re together.

BINGO! I can deal probably with one of them on the booth because both like having fun. But when they are together, it just gets too crazy. The snowball keeps rolling and sometimes they seemingly forget there is a game going on four three innings. Sometimes I think they do this purposely when they are on droughts for weeks. 

But here's the problem. Let's say the snowball is rolling on a 1 out of a 100 at the end of a game (100 being never stopping the snowball). By the end of this game they may be a 10. They don't start the next game at a 1 or even drag it back to a 5. You feel like it's a season-long battle to keep one-upping the other and so they start the next game at a 10 and before you know it they are at 100 and it just gets too crazy. And their only way to break it up is by bringing the same special guest booth member they've already had 10 times during the season. 🙂

When I see Dirks in different scenarios when Benetti is gone, I think he has the right blend. That's even true with Benetti. He's still going to force some silly pop culture thing he wrote down four hours ago if it fits or not, but one or two of those are fine. 

I get the feeling if I personally new Benetti, I'd think he's a great guy. He probably is. But in the broadcast, it just taxes me. And Dan Petry still can't cope with it all. Petry probably needs someone there to carry the broadcast because he is kind of bland to say the least, and Benetti does do that. But even then he needs to do it in doses. When he says something and you get the feeling Petry is clueless about what he's talking about, it doesn't help Dan.

[DTroppens]

On 4/4/2026 at 1:26 PM, guy incognito said:

I don’t have a problem with Benetti, but I’ve long been of the opinion that all other things being equal baseball is a sport better enjoyed on radio than TV. Even side from the announcers, the game and the medium fit so beautifully.

And Dan D. is such a good, comfortable listen. Really, the only complaint I have is when he forgets he’s doing radio and gets so deep into conversation with the analyst that he forgets to paint the word picture or give the score. (I’m also of the opinion that analysts are superfluous on radio. Give me the old Ernie/Paul days of the pxp guy talking directly to the listener and the other *maybe* chiming in on an occasional basis.)

Dan D is a very comfortable listen. Out of anyone we have doing radio or TV for the Tigers, I'd consider him the most solid and consistent. And he doesn't dominate the airways. He lets whoever is in the booth with. Bobby Scales doesn't do anything for me. For a bit, I thought it was Bobby Higginson. I think their voices are reasonably similar if I remember correctly.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, DTroppens said:

Dan D is a very comfortable listen. Out of anyone we have doing radio or TV for the Tigers, I'd consider him the most solid and consistent. And he doesn't dominate the airways. He lets whoever is in the booth with. Bobby Scales doesn't do anything for me. For a bit, I thought it was Bobby Higginson. I think their voices are reasonably similar if I remember correctly.

I noticed the other day that Bobby tends to spend a fair amount of time echoing Dan a lot. Don't need that. If you have something to add, add it, otherwise calm and quiet is OK during a baseball radio cast.

[Dan Gilmore]

I don’t think Benetti forces his humor. I think he’s just got the kind of mind that makes associations very quickly and is glib in a playful way. I hear him make a pun that no one picks up on and he lets it go. If he didn’t let it go, that would seem forced to me.

I got the opinion that he and Dirks can be too much, and too tangential. It just doesn’t bug me much.

 

[Tiger337]

38 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I noticed the other day that Bobby tends to spend a fair amount of time echoing Dan a lot. Don't need that. If you have something to add, add it, otherwise calm and quiet is OK during a baseball radio cast.

Scales needs to calm down.  His commentary has actually gotten better with time, but he does not sound really comfortable as a broadcaster.  He doesn't know when to stop talking and he talks too fast.  

[oblong]

43 minutes ago, Dan Gilmore said:

I don’t think Benetti forces his humor. I think he’s just got the kind of mind that makes associations very quickly and is glib in a playful way. I hear him make a pun that no one picks up on and he lets it go. If he didn’t let it go, that would seem forced to me.

I got the opinion that he and Dirks can be too much, and too tangential. It just doesn’t bug me much.

 

yeah I think his mind is just so quick.  It reminds me of morning radio when they would do drops.  He probably grew up on that stuff so it's second nature.  I do the same thing, not as funny, but I could be in a work meeting and someone will say something that reminds me of a movie I love.  That's where my mind goes.

I don't think he has a list of funny things to say.  

[DTroppens]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

I noticed the other day that Bobby tends to spend a fair amount of time echoing Dan a lot. Don't need that. If you have something to add, add it, otherwise calm and quiet is OK during a baseball radio cast.

That's probably fair. I don't hate him. Just most of the time he doesn't really add stuff. Or maybe with your point DanD should allow him to present those comments. DanD is supposed to be the play-by-play man after all. But, would he if DanD didn't make them? Maybe give him the chance. 

[DTroppens]

44 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Scales needs to calm down.  His commentary has actually gotten better with time, but he does not sound really comfortable as a broadcaster.  He doesn't know when to stop talking and he talks too fast.  

I think he feels like he needs to say something sometimes, and really doesn't know what he's going to say until he actually says it. And then it's just a bunch of words that don't really mean anything most of the time.

I'm sure he knows baseball, but it doesn't come across that way. Knowing the sport and presenting it on a broadcast obviously aren't the same thing. But Al Kaline was horrible FOREVER! Then one day it seemed like he decided he was going to be more critical of the team and he got a lot better his final few seasons. It's too bad he didn't do that 15 years earlier. It cracked me up how Al's analysis of a few pitcher was just reading the stat line we saw on the TV screen while he just repeated those numbers.

[CMRivdogs]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

yeah I think his mind is just so quick.  It reminds me of morning radio when they would do drops.  He probably grew up on that stuff so it's second nature.  I do the same thing, not as funny, but I could be in a work meeting and someone will say something that reminds me of a movie I love.  That's where my mind goes.

I don't think he has a list of funny things to say.  

Jason is 42. He probably spent a bit of his younger days listening to the likes of Brandmeier, Steve Dahl, and others in Chicago media. I think he cut his teeth so to speak interning and working at the SCORE (Sports Talk).

It's probably second nature to him