Courtesy of Seattle Kraken
Las Vegas radio personality Chet Buchanan is pulling double duty these days. He’s the public address announcer for the Seattle Kraken of the NHL, while continuing to host “The Chet Buchanan Show!” from his home in Seattle. He’s pictured with a junior announcer during one of the franchise’s promotions.
Wednesday, April 6, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Chet Buchanan's setup for his radio show at his home in Seattle. Buchanan and his family moved back to Seattle to look after his family's farm (pictured) that's been in the Buchanan name for 60 years.
SEATTLE — Chet Buchanan wakes up, walks about 20 feet down the hall and starts his radio show from the comfort of his home in Seattle.
The Las Vegas radio personality and host of “The Chet Buchanan Show!” since 1999 has hosted his show from his hometown for the past couple of years.
But the move back to the Pacific Northwest had nothing to do with a desire to leave Las Vegas. “We will always have our house in Vegas,” he said.
Buchanan returned to Seattle to attend to pressing family matters.
He grew up on a farm about 30 minutes from Climate Pledge Arena. When his father died in 2017, followed by his stepmother in 2019, the farm that’s been in the Buchanan family for some 60 years needed love and attention.
But Buchanan still wanted to do the radio show that’s been a staple in the Las Vegas community for some 23 years.
His home radio set-up doesn’t have the amenities of the KLUC 98.5-FM studios in Las Vegas — just a couple microphones and a few other simple pieces of electronic equipment. But the view of the surrounding forest, and the 120-year-old farmhouse, is hard to beat.
“So far, everybody’s understood. Everybody gets it,” Buchanan said. “We’ll see how it goes moving forward.”
Buchanan has also been the in-arena voice for many Las Vegas sporting events for the better part of a decade. And he plans to travel back and forth to continue as PA announcer for UNLV men’s basketball, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Las Vegas Aces.
In Seattle, he's added another arena PA gig as the voice of the NHL's Seattle Kraken.
Hockey was Buchanan’s first love. He remembers watching the Seattle Totems — formerly of the Western Hockey League — as a 6-year-old at the site of Climate Pledge Arena, then the Seattle Center.
Buchanan auditioned for the Kraken’s PA job before this season began but didn’t get it.
The job went to Josh Hunter, who wasn’t living in Seattle. The Kraken flew Hunter to games for the first half of the season before realizing the business model wasn't going to work out.
Buchanan happened to be in Seattle when the team asked if he was still interested in the position. His first game was Jan. 1, when the Kraken faced his favorite team growing up, the Vancouver Canucks.
Even after doing radio for more than two decades and in-arena work for half of that time, Buchanan was still nervous.
“For the first 10 games or so, I was, in hockey parlance, gripping the stick. I was tight. I was tense,” Buchanan said. “And honestly, going back to Vegas and doing a couple of events there, I went, ‘Wait, why is this so comfortable and so easy here?’ It’s the NHL. It’s a different show and all that, but I was like, ‘Find your groove man. You do it there, and you’re good.’ I think that helped a lot to come back here and settle in a little more.”
Buchanan said he would not be able to work in two places at once if not for the Kraken being flexible.
“Chet is a performer that can go anywhere he wants, and it would be a disservice to not let creators create,” said Kraken vice president of live entertainment and game presentation Jonny Greco. “He’s the type of talent that can do multiple things, and we celebrate that. The local tie made so much sense. Seattleites want their own. He’s got the worldwide entertainment space in his wheelhouse, but he has a unique skill set that is Seattle, as well.”
Buchanan said he's grateful for the opportunity. "It’s fun and such an incredible challenge every day, and that’s how I like it," he said.
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
