Also this issue: Cable Excess A channel-flipping journey through Philadelphia's vast TV wonderland. -Debra Auspitz, Lori Hill and Patrick Rapa Larry Kaspar, PCN Tours -Interview by Debra Auspitz Squeal Like a Wombat On La Salle University's TV game show Q&A, making animal noises is just part of the fun. -Debra Auspitz Bridget Small and Steven Horn, Scene 8 -Interview by Lori Hill The Hours Steven Horn, The Review -Interview by Lori Hill

March 13-19, 2003

cover story

Steve Coates, "Coatesy's Corner"

Interview by Patrick Rapa

Technically speaking, "Coatesy's Corner" isn't a TV show, it's just a small part of one. But after watching red-haired, red-faced Steve Coates do lively opinion and skits segments between the first and second periods of every Flyers broadcast for the past four years, it's hard not to think of the Corner as a separate institution, where the icy game of hockey gets some much-needed personality. Unfrozen caveman defenseman Chris Therien comes off like a big bully in the rink, but on "Coatesy's Corner" he's a pie-throwing prankster.

Coatesy spent most of his playing days picking up penalty minutes in the minors. As an announcer he did stints with the Philadelphia Phantoms on TV and the Flyers on the radio, before joining the Flyers' three-man television broadcasting team -- with the straitlaced Jim Jackson and esteemed Flyers alum Gary Dornhoeffer. The rare three-man setup allows Coatesy the freedom to play the role of the boisterous, home-team cheering observer who puts on no airs of impartiality and loudly, proudly asserts his pro-fisticuffs stance. (NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman seems to be trying to phase fighting out of the game). Recent "Coatesy's Corner" segments include deking out back-up goalie Robert Esche on a breakaway (using the old puck-tied-to-the-stick-with-fishing-wire trick) and getting chased by one of the First Union Center's older elevator operators.

City Paper: As an announcer you love the fights and the checking; were you a rough player?

Steve Coates: I was a little stupid, yes.

CP: How often do you film "Coatesy's Corner"?

SC: We put it together two hours before every game.

CP: You just head down to the ice --

SC: It all depends on which way the wind's blowing one day. There is no plan. You can't have [one], because you want to try to stay with the current events, things that are happening in the NHL. You try to be sometimes controversial, sometimes educational, sometimes humorous.

We try to keep everything geared to the players, people want to see the players.

CP: Chris Therien got you with a pie last week --

SC: I'm gonna get him next week. That's what we do, we're building up for it.

CP: What kind of budget do you have?

SC: Probably zero. [laughs] I never even heard whether we have a budget, that's an interesting question. That's what's unique about it, we just take a game camera the night of the game and we just do it. We're kind of low-budget.

CP: And it's fun?

SC: I think that the day that I stop having fun is the day that I gotta get out of the business.

"Coatesy's Corner" can be seen on Comcast SportsNet and Channel 17, between the first and second periods of Flyers games.