Paul Allen's rise to success in the Twin Cities market is both conventional and unconventional at the same time.
Paul Allen: 'God kind of wired me to be tailor-made for this'
The KFAN personality, Vikings play-by-play voice and Canterbury announcer has built a unique brand across multiple platforms. He talked about how it all fits together on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
December 21, 2022 at 9:30PM
Like many stories, it involves being in the right place at the right time — in his case Minnesota in the late 1990s, as Jesse Ventura was making a surprise run to become governor — and making the most of every emerging opportunity.
But it also involves three distinct jobs that somehow flow together: KFAN morning radio host, Vikings radio play-by-play voice and Canterbury Park track announcer.
On Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast, Allen talked about his style on the microphone, this unexpected 11-3 Vikings season and more.
Here are a few highlights:
- On how he views Vikings fan expectations this season: "The curiosity went to a fascination and then a reserved sense of, 'All right this isn't anything like I thought it was going to be'. The quarterback's numbers aren't as good as they have been but he's making the best throws he's ever made in his life. … When they got mauled by Dallas, the sense from the local fan base it was mostly, 'OK they're going to make the playoffs but I've seen how bad it can look. So I'm just going to follow it from afar and not get super emotionally invested until they get in the playoffs and win a playoff game.'"
- On his trademark play-by-play style: "I didn't travel around the country hearing other people's styles and inherently pilfering styles. A lot of the catch phrases that I use, I pulled from horse racing. There are no play-by-play guys in the NFL, maybe ever, who are also racetrack announcers. A horse race builds a crescendo. Well, every play in an National Football League game builds a crescendo. It's the same, it's just a play is shorter than a race. God kind of wired me to be tailor-made for this."
- On how he deals with the inevitable criticism of being a public figure in sports: "I've done this so long that I'm going to get people who rip me up, call me a homer or Barney the purple dinosaur. Whatever they want to say, they can say because I know I'm not as bad, ever, as what they say. But on the other side it's a majority that's overly rhapsodizing what I do on a microphone calling games. Well, I'm not that good, either."
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
