History of Broadcasting Blog
Our blog commemorates the history of broadcasting from the Golden Age of Radio to the Early Days of Television. We cover the people and stations who made history especially those from the Cincinnati area.
Claude Sullivan
There's no telling how long Claude Sullivan would have been the primary play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds. When he was hired by Burger to share the booth with Waite Hoyt in 1964, Sullivan was already widely known for his broadcasts of University of Kentucky basketball and football games. In... Continue Reading »
Lee Allen
Not everyone has the good fortune of turning their hobby into a career, but Lee Allen did. Leland Gaither Allen was born in Cincinnati in 1915 and was a regular at old Redland Field as a boy, in part because his father was a lawyer and three term Congressman. The... Continue Reading »
Waite Hoyt
When Waite Hoyt auditioned for a baseball announcing job at Cincinnati's WKRC Thanksgiving weekend 1941, he had already planned with his agent that he would spend only one or two years in the Queen City. Waite had retired a few years before from his (eventual) Hall of Fame pitching career... Continue Reading »
Roger Baker
In December 1938, popular Cincinnati Reds announcer Red Barber turned down an offer to remain in Cincinnati and headed east to broadcast for his old friend Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Left with a hole to fill, WSAI/WLW conducted a national search for an announcer who could take Barber's... Continue Reading »
Dick Bray
By the time Dick Bray got into sports broadcasting, he was already well known in the Cincinnati athletics community. Born in Hyde Park, a Cincinnati suburb, in 1903, Bray was a three-sport star at Xavier University. He played 2nd base for the Comello Clothiers 1928 National Amateur Championship baseball team,... Continue Reading »
Red Barber (1934-1966)
Walter Lanier Barber certainly knew about WLW before he became the Cincinnati Reds announcer in 1934. In fact, “Red” Barber had auditioned several times at the station that boomed into Gainesville, Florida, where he attended the University of Florida and somehow got a job reading news on the school's own... Continue Reading »
Harry Hartman (1931-1943)
It's sad to think that Cincinnati's first contribution to the world of baseball play-by-play broadcasting is largely forgotten, but in his day Harry Hartman was a giant in many ways. Hartman actually stumbled into broadcasting. The son of a Jewish immigrant tailor, young Harry was tabbed to follow his father... Continue Reading »
Reds Broadcasting History
Every spring sports fans have two great traditions to look forward to, March Madness and the start of a new baseball season. If you live around the Queen City you understand the importance and tradition of Opening Day. The Reds are the only Major League Baseball franchise who start every... Continue Reading »
WKRC’s Quiz Bowl
Cincinnati radio listeners of the 1980s, '90s and '00s fondly remember the daily sports segment “Sports or Consequences” on Gary Burbank's WLW program. But did you know Cincinnati was a pioneer in sports quizzing on radio? Back in 1940, a year after the Taft family purchased WKRC, several sports' minded... Continue Reading »
Bill McCluskey and St. Patty’s Day
It's that time of year to remember St. Patrick and all things Irish and, for many older Cincinnatians, thoughts turn to the late Bill McCluskey. It was Bill McCluskey who co-founded Cincinnati's St. Patrick's Day Parade in 1968 and he was often Grand Marshal of that parade when he was... Continue Reading »