Saturday July 14, 2012
My College Years
University of South Dakota
Special Story Insert from my Sophomore Year
I mentioned in a prior Blog (B4 – 19) about my roommate, Denny Williams and I training on the college radio station KUSD. Denny and I did well and I was promoted to the AM radio programs in a short time. I gave the 5 minute farm markets at noon everyday. I got 60 cents an hour and as you can deduce, I wasn’t getting rich with 6 five minute newscasts per week.
One very interesting thing that stands out in my memory of the KUSD radio experience was one of my co-radio announcers was a fella that was a year older than me and had been acting as the Sports Director on the station for a while. His name was Tom Brokaw. Here is a short clip from a biography on Tom that I copied from “BIO.True Story web site” I give them total credit because I just cut and pasted the clip directly from their site.
Tom Brokaw Profile from “Bio.true story”
Television journalist. Born February 6, 1940 in Webster, South Dakota. The eldest son of a construction worker and a post office clerk, Tom Brokaw graduated from the University of South Dakota with a degree in political science in 1962. He started as a radio reporter in college, and after graduating he found work as the editor of a morning news program in Omaha, Nebraska. He also served as a news anchor and editor in Atlanta, Georgia, before becoming a KNBC late-night presenter in Los Angeles (1965-73).
Television journalist Tom Brokaw was the anchor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 until 2004. He covered almost all of the top stories, including the Watergate scandal, the live opening the Berlin Wall and the 2000 Presidential election. After September 11, 2001, he postponed his retirement to cover the attacks. Brokaw retired from NBC Nightly News in 2004 but is still an active journalist.
Young Tom Brokaw at USD
Tom Brokaw
Guess Who!
I gave you Tom’s profile because he went on to become one of the nation’s leading news anchors on NBC Television. I just went on and that was all!!! ( Ha! Ha!)
I have a very good and humorous story that happened to me one time when I substituted for Tom on his 15 minute evening sports broadcast.
I had been hanging around the radio station watching the different things that went on in the broadcasting studio and reading the raw news as it came off the teletype machine. AP and UP (Associated Press and United Press).
The raw typing was then removed and edited by the radio broadcasters. There was the control booth that an announcer controlled the microphones, tape deck and record players from to each of 3 studios (A,B and C) where the announcers would broadcast from and waiting for their “Que” from the announcer in the Control booth.
I had decided to leave and go back to my dorm room across the street when I was met and stopped at the door by the station manager.
He had some raw news in his hand fresh off the teletype. Shaking it at me, he said “Logan, Tom just called in and said he had a very bad soar throat and didn’t think he could do his sportscast” . The manager through the raw sports news at me and said, “ Get in Studio A and do the sportscast.!”
I was taken completely by surprise and knew I could do nothing but stick to the basic radio announcing principals I had learned….Relax, Speak Slow and if you think you mispronounce a word, don’t stop just Keep Going!
I entered Studio A, very nervous, sat down, adjusted the mike and pulled the “cough” button to clear my throat and heard the control room announcer say……” And here in Dave Logan pinch-hitting for Tom Brokaw with the evening sports.”
I had nothing to do but start in. I read as slowly and distinctly as I could and was beginning to feel pretty confident until I ran into some boxing results. There were a number of boxers with very difficult names to pronounce. I didn’t stop but kept on reading what seemed to be an eternity. I looked up at the control booth and saw the man holding up one finger which meant I had one minute left.
My body was trembling from the fright I had inside me as I opened the door of studio A and proceeded out to the main door out of the station when I heard uncontrollable laughter coming from the manager’s office. Then I heard, “Logan Get In Here!” The manager was laying on the floor in hysteric laughter as he commented, “ Logan, I have never heard so many mis-pounced names in all my life so consistently and you did so well in covering it up!” “Now get out of here and come back tomorrow.”
That is what I call my “Claim to Fame” when I pinch-hitted for Tom Brokaw and his Sports Broadcast on KUSD-AM!
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