"Mr. Clutch" nickname. He was a part of the team's "inner sanctum" when Cooke was owner, and was consulted on basketball decisions. Paul Sunderland, who had filled in for a couple of games while Hearn recuperated in the 2001–02 season, was named the permanent play-by-play announcer. Stu Lantz was retained as the color commentator. When Sunderland's contract expired in the summer of 2005, the team chose not to renew it. Then, Joel Meyers moved in alongside Lantz as the television announcer, with Spero Dedes and former Laker player Mychal Thompson on the radio. For the 2011–12 season, Bill Macdonald became the new television play-by-play announcer, joining Lantz who remained as the color analyst. Meanwhile, John Ireland joined Mychal Thompson to call the games on radio. Beginning in the 2009–10 season, Lakers radio broadcasts were heard on KSPN (Los Angeles ESPN Radio affiliate) in English and KWKW in Spanish. KLAC had the team's radio broadcast rights from the 1976–77 season until the 2008–09 season. Until 2011, telecasts had been split between KCAL-TV (road games) and Fox Sports West (home games), unless they are chosen for national broadcasts on ABC. KCAL had been the Lakers' over-the-air television broadcaster since 1977, dating back to when the station was the RKO General-owned KHJ-TV, the longest relationship between an NBA team and a television station. Prior to KHJ, Laker games were televised on KTLA. The Lakers had been on Fox Sports West since 1985, dating to when it was the original Prime Ticket and owned by Buss. On February 14, 2011, Time Warner Cable and the Lakers announced the formation of two new regional sports networks (one in English, one in Spanish) that would exclusively televise the team's games and related programming for 20 years starting with the 2012–13 season. The said networks were originally known as Time Warner Cable SportsNet, before it was renamed Spectrum SportsNet in 2016 upon Charter Communications' purchase of Time Warner Cable. References Further reading (available online) External links National Basketball Association teams Lakers Basketball teams established in 1947 1947 establishments in Minnesota Relocated National Basketball Association teams 1960 establishments in California