“You Better Listen to the Radio”

It brought back a flood of memories of the impact that radio has had on me personally Iamp8217ve shared with you the moment my 17yearold self from a tiny farm town in Northern California wired his first FM antenna and tuned in KSAN 947 opening the door to a new world of music beyond Kasey Kasemamp8217s Top 40 amp8211 Elvis Costello and the Attractions being one of those newly discovered bands And Iamp8217ve also shared how we rural kids would park our cars in a circle in a cattle pasture open the doors and tune into KFRC for our legendary amp8220road partiesamp8221But my discussions with folks at NAB triggered even older memories of listening to San Francisco Giants and then San Francisco Warriors games on KNBR sometime between 1966 and 1971 amp8211 during my grammar school years when the players on those teams were my heroes and the outcomes of their games really matteredAnd as much as how well Willie McCovey Willie Mays Juan Marichal Nate Thurmond Rudy LaRusso and many others played it was the relationship with the broadcasters and their incredible ability to paint vivid pictures of what was happening on the field with their words amp8211 and sometimes their silence amp8211 that affected me even moreI came of age listening to legendary Giants playbyplay man Russ Hodges His most famous call of Bobby Thompsonamp8217s amp8220Shot Heard Round the Worldamp8221 amp8211 amp8220THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANTamp8221 amp8211 happened before I made my entrance into the world But his signature home run call of amp8220Bye Bye Babyamp8221 still echoes in my earsHodges was succeeded by the great Hank Greenwald amp8211 dry sardonic and absolutely hysterical amp8220Three more saves and heamp8217ll tie John the Baptistamp8221When it came to calling NBA basketball there was no one better than Bill King Long before headsets and miniscule microphones were invented King juryrigged a contraption that looked like a backpack worn on his chest with a platform holding a large mic that seemingly sprouted from his chest When he described a missed shot amp8211 like amp8220LaRusso pulls up for a 19footeramp8230goes 18amp8221 amp8211 you could almost literally see what was happening on the courtI stayed up late with my athletic heroes and the announcers who described their feats and failures And as you can see it made an indelible impression on me and no doubt millions of others With almost every game now broadcast on TV fewer fans listen to games on a regular basis But I still love to tune into a game when Iamp8217m on a long drive amp8211 the magic of Sirius Satellite radio still allows me to listen to my beloved Giants though I now live in the Midwest amp8211 and visualize whatamp8217s taking place at the ballpark based on the amp8220word picturesamp8221 of skilled radio announcerIamp8217m with Elvis Costello You better listen to the radio Itamp8217s a medium that still instills magicPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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“You Better Listen to the Radio”

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Joe Annotti

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