Dale Arnold, who spent more than 10 seasons as the Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer, will replace Kathryn Tappen this season behind the desk in NESN's studios. Tappen left NESN to join the NHL Network earlier this year.
Arnold was the teams play-by-play man on NESN until 2007 when he resigned after not being able to commit to announcing road games in addition to his duties at the TD Garden. Arnold chose instead to remain at WEEI and continue co-hosting his mid-day show with Michael Holley. Jack Edwards took over as the full-time announcer following his departure.
Arnold's role with WEEI was significantly reduced earlier this year when, amid mounting pressure from the CBS owned rival sports station, WEEI chose to shake-up its traditional line-up by partnering Holley with Glen Ordway on the afternoon drive program and moving Mike Mutnansky and Lou Merloni into the mid-day slot. Arnold was relegated to fill-in duty and was hoping to get back into business with the Bruins.
The Bruins begin pre-season play Wednesday night when they travel to Ottawa to take on the Senators.