Bucs radio voice Gene Deckerhoff returning for 36th season

Having secured their starting quarterback (Baker Mayfield), No. 1 receiver (Mike Evans), defensive anchor (Lavonte David) and All-Pro safety (Antoine Winfield Jr.) for 2024, the Bucs locked up one more key member of the franchise Thursday.

Their voice.

The team confirmed longtime radio play-by-play man Gene Deckerhoff will return for his 36th season and will remain teamed with veteran analyst Dave Moore and sideline reporter T.J. Rives on its flagship station, iHeart Media’s 98 Rock (WXTB-FM).

Speculation has abounded about Deckerhoff’s long-term future with the Bucs since his retirement as FSU radio play-by-play voice after 34 seasons in 2022. He told a Jacksonville TV station in 2022 that he was under contract for one more year with the Bucs, with another option year after that.

He is believed to be the NFL’s third-longest-tenured play-by-play voice behind the Eagles’ Merrill Reese and the Cowboys’ Brad Sham.

The Bucs also have agreed to a multi-year extension with NIA Broadcasting to continue their Spanish-language alternate broadcast of every game on WTMP-FM (96.1 FM-HD-1), with Carlos Bohórquez, former Bucs kicker Martín Gramática and Santiago Gramática returning for their seventh year together.

WFLA News Channel 8 will remain the preseason home of Bucs football, with Chris Myers, Ronde Barber and Dan Lucas calling all three exhibition games against the Bengals (Aug. 10), Jaguars (Aug. 17) and Dolphins (Aug. 23). The Bengals game will be aired locally on WTTA-TV — an affiliate of WFLA — while the final two games will be broadcast on WFLA itself.

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls

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