This business of skipping radio broadcasts, Mark Stephen quickly assures us, will not become a habit.

This coming Friday when the Red and White are in Edmonton to face the Eskimos in the Labour Day rematch, Stephen — the voice of Stampeders football for a generation — will miss his first QR77 broadcast since becoming play-by-play man in 1996. Stephen has a pretty good excuse — his stepson is getting married — but he’s still apologetic about his absence.

“It’s not something I intend to make a habit of,” Stephen said before adding with a chuckle, “In fact, I don’t plan for the subject to come up again until 2025 until I’ve broken this streak.”

The streak he’s talking about is the 261 consecutives games he’s called since taking his position behind the microphone 14 years ago. The streak would be even longer if you factored in pre-season and playoff games as well as the years he served as host for the Stampeders broadcasts.

“I feel quite torn, obviously,” he said. “The wedding is going to be an exciting moment and it’s great, but to not be able to even see the game . . . it’ll be highly unusual.”

Pinch-hitting for Stephen on Friday alongside colour man Greg Peterson will be Dave Rowe, who is already familiar to anyone who listens to U of C Dinos broadcasts. But for Stamps fans, hearing any voice but Mark’s will take some getting used to, even if it’s only for one game.

“I knew that somewhere, sometime, this would happen,” shrugged a philosophical Stephen, who said he really didn’t pay any attention to the streak until he realized it was coming to an end.

“I never thought of it,” he said. “You plan for every game and prepare for every game and then you move on to the next week. Then suddenly, it’s next year and then it’s next decade.”

Stephen has, so to speak, played hurt over the years by doing the occasional broadcast while under the weather.

“There a was time a couple of years ago when I kind of limped to the finish line, if you get my drift,” he recalled. “I’m glad it wasn’t a hockey schedule because there wouldn’t have been a next night for me. There was another time in 1997 when, again, I was limping to the finish line but there’s never been any serious situation where I just couldn’t do it.”

And he plans to show that same dedication when he returns to the broadcast booth for the Stamps’ Sept. 17 game in Regina.

“It’s the start of a new streak,” he smiled, “and like I said, we won’t have to talk about me missing a broadcast until 2025.”