American Football League on NBC

History

In 1964, NBC took over AFL broadcasting from ABC with a five-year, $36 million deal. During the 1965 season, NBC's Sunday October games sometimes moved to local stations because of baseball playoffs. For instance, the Week 5 Kansas City-Denver game aired on Kansas City's WDAF 4, with Charlie Jones and Ken Case announcing. That same week, the San Diego-Buffalo game, called by Curt Gowdy and Paul Christman, likely appeared in black and white since NBC's color cameras were at the World Series in Los Angeles.

The 1966 season saw about 40 color broadcasts, including three postseason games. The Week 2 New York-Miami matchup, with Gowdy and Christman, is thought to be the first pro football night game in color, thanks to bright Orange Bowl floodlights. In Week 14, Gowdy and Christman called a late Saturday afternoon game in Oakland, then flew overnight to Boston to announce the Buffalo-Boston game the next day at 1 p.m.

List of commentators

Curt Gowdy moved from ABC to NBC in the fall of 1965, having already called the first five seasons of the American Football League with Paul Christman. Over the next ten years, he served as the network’s primary play-by-play voice for both AFL games (and the AFC after 1970) and Major League Baseball, while also covering many other sports, which earned him the nickname “broadcaster of everything.” His football broadcast partners included Christman, Kyle Rote, Al DeRogatis, Don Meredith, John Brodie, and Merlin Olsen.

During Week 1 of the 1968 season, Gowdy, Rote, and DeRogatis each worked two games. All three called the Thursday night matchup between Cincinnati and San Diego. DeRogatis paired with Charlie Jones for Saturday’s Boston-Buffalo game, while Gowdy and Rote handled Sunday’s Kansas City-Houston contest. The same trio also broadcast Super Bowl III.

Later that season, announcers frequently pulled double duty. In Week 14, Jim Simpson and DeRogatis called the Buffalo-Houston game on Saturday; the next day, Simpson called Denver-Oakland and DeRogatis called Cincinnati-New York Jets. The following week, DeRogatis worked Saturday’s Kansas City-Denver game with Charlie Jones, then joined Simpson for Sunday’s Oakland-San Diego game. That same week, Jones called Boston-Houston with George Ratterman.

In Week 11, DeRogatis called “The Heidi Game” with Gowdy, while Rote worked the San Diego-Buffalo game with Simpson. Charlie Jones filled in for Gowdy during Week 5 of the 1969 season, as Gowdy called Game 2 of the World Series. DeRogatis substituted for Rote in Weeks 9 and 11, with Rote teaming with Simpson both times. The 1969 season marked the last AFL campaign before the merger, and the final year both leagues held Thanksgiving doubleheaders.