Sportscasters, Radio

Development

Sportswriters began to summarize games and report their outcomes in late-nineteenth-century newspapers, slowly evolving their reports into game “stories.” Starting in the 1920s, radio broadcasters began airing quite imaginative “live” game recreations, and as remote radio transmission improved, sportscast-ers began delivering actual play-by-play reports of professional baseball games and boxing matches. In the 1930s, sports over the radio were one of the few affordable entertainments, and sportscasters became easily recognized personalities for thousands and then millions of fans. Some legendary radio play-by-play announcers enjoyed careers spanning 30, 40, or 60 years, making their voices familiar to generations of Americans. Some even moved successfully into television in the 1950s.

Radio sportscasters usually announce alone or in pairs, including guests only during rain delays and other long breaks in the on-field action. A single sportscaster (or pair) often stays with a professional or college team for many seasons, and fans come to associate that voice with the home team. Unlike television, which needs fresh [Page 1316]content beyond what viewers can see for themselves, on radio play-by-play sportscasters fill most of the air time by reporting in detail the action on the on-field or in an arena, leaving color sportscasters to supply limited explanation, speculation, or prediction.

Sports programming remains a mainstay of network radio, and since 2000, the all-sports format has been adopted by at least one local radio station in most large cities. Such stations both broadcast over the air and stream over the Internet a mix of live games, sports talk, and sports news, adding still more voices to the flood of network and local game sportscasting of baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. On radio, telephone interviews with coaches or journalists and audience call-in programs fill many of the nongame hours. Such call-in shows encourage ordinary people to get on the air and comment on sports, coaches, and athletes, making the callers sportscasters of a sort, an aspect of the larger social phenomenon of participatory and user-controlled media. At the same time, alongside its video and audio of games, the Internet carries thousands of amateur and professional sports blogs, adding further commentary and analysis of varying quality.

Initially on radio and later on television, dozens of sportscasters achieved national renown by covering one or two teams for many decades. The most important of them were experienced professionals who changed how sports were experienced by fans and consequently influenced generations of sportcasting successors. Among the celebrity superstars of radio, a few stand out for their extraordinary influence, longevity, and expertise.

Selected Radio Sportscasters