Get in the Booth With Merrill & Mike

Their voices are synonymous with Eagles football and we wanted to know what drives the broadcasters who bring Birds football to the masses.

For more than a decade Eagles fans have tuned into the radio team of Merrill Reese and Mike Quick on 94.1 WYSP radio.

We caught up with the guys in the broadcast booth as they prepared for Sunday’s showdown with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Quick summed up perfectly what drives them. “We love sharing what we’re seeing with the fans,” he said.

But, for these guys its not like they just show up and the broadcast magically happens. Don’t you dare call these guys weekend warriors -- calling a three-hour game on Sunday takes days of work.

“I’m down [at the Eagles facility] everyday during the week,” said Reese. He talks to players, watches practices and gets a feel for the game plan -- and he showed NBCPhiladelphia the proof as he had pages and pages of hand written notes ready to go for game time.

He also takes his work home, memorizing opposing player’s names and numbers and dissecting game tape so that he knows what to look for on Sunday, he said.

He even practices some of the more difficult to pronounce names so that he won’t trip over the names come game day.

“Preparation is key,” said Reese. He should know what it takes to paint a picture of a game over the airwaves. He has called Eagles games for more than three decades.

The work during the week is hard but Reese knows why he does it.

“Sunday is my reward for the week,” he said.

But no matter how many game Reese calls he still gets butterflies.

“I’m so nervous… like I’m going into a final exam… I can’t even look at food once I get to the stadium,” said Reese.

So he eats before he comes to the stadium and won’t eat again until after he leaves, he said. Before home games he grubs down on his wife’s homemade pancakes while on the road he, Quick and their producer Joe McPeak all sit down to a pregame meal at the team hotel.

Reese has called so many great moments over the years and he has many favorites but one play in particular sticks out because of its significance to the franchise: Wilbur Montgomery’s rush that put the Eagles up for good against the hated Cowboys in the NFC Championship game on Jan. 11, 1981 (Reese even remembers the exact date).

That is my most memorable call “because of its meaning,” said the Voice of the Birds.

Quick wasn’t there when that play happened because he was in college before playing nine seasons with the Eagles.

During his time on the field did Quick have aspirations to eventually wind up in the booth?

Not really, he said. There was too much going on in the game to worry about anything else.

But, he likes the view he has now perched high up in the Linc.

“You see things from up here that you don’t see on the field,” said Quick.

For all the great moments shared with Birds fans there is a tough part of the job as well. The hardest part of this duo’s dream job comes on the road.

Some of the visiting broadcast booths don’t have the same perfect sight line as Lincoln Financial Field, said Reese.

The worst place to broadcast was Washington because the visiting broadcasters can’t even see the entire field, said Reese, a sentiment that Quick echoed.

To call the game in D.C. the duo must get creative.

“Merrill is great at buying time,” said Quick.

But, no matter where this duo is calling the game from they make sure to remember what it’s all about.

My favorite part of the job is hanging out on a Sunday afternoon and soaking up NFL football, said Reese.

And for fans listening to Mike and Merrill they feel like they are right there with them at the stadium.

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