When my wife Sue and I decided to sell our longtime home in northwest Wisconsin and move down to the Driftless Region in the southwest, it meant I’d have to leave employment at WJMC Radio in Rice Lake. I’d worked there for more than 21 years (over four different tenures). “Don’t worry,” I told her, “I can assure you I won’t be going back to work in radio down there.”
Sue just gave me that knowing, “I’ve heard this before” look that experienced wives always develop. She knew I wouldn’t be able to stay off the air. She was right. But in my defense, it wasn’t my fault.
It’s kinda hard to give this up…
My love of radio began when I was a kid, listening to Eddie Doucette call Milwaukee Bucks’ games during the team’s inaugural season, 1968-69. I had a desktop Coronado radio (AM only) in my room, a gift from my grandparents. Doucette was only 28 at the time, and the Bucks gig was his first “big time” radio job. He had a smooth voice and a unique lexicon of terms that avid listeners soon figured out, but the casual listener usually had to watch a game on TV while listening to the radio call in order to understand what was happening. The Bucks even published a list of Eddie-isms in their game programs. But in my opinion, then and now, Doucette was the best basketball play-by-play man of all time. I got to talk with him once, and it was like speaking to the Almighty. It was early in my own radio career and he gave me some excellent advice: if I wanted to be a “vanilla” broadcaster, just stay down the middle of the road. But if I wanted to be exceptional, I shouldn’t be afraid to take a few risks.
It’s been nearly 48 years since I got my first commercial radio job, as a weekend announcer at WGLR/Lancaster. It was during my senior year of college at UW-Platteville, where I’d soon get a B.A. in radio-TV broadcasting. The Lancaster gig led to full-time work there and then out to Missoula, Mont. (KYSS-AM/FM) and back to Wisconsin at La Crosse (WKTY/WSPL), then north to Menomonie (WMEQ-AM/FM) and finally even farther north to Rice Lake and WJMC. Over the years I’ve called three national championship small-college football games and some 15 state high school championship games in several sports. My original dream was to be the “voice” of a major college or professional team, but in life some doors open and others don’t. My big chance happened in 1988, during my final years in La Crosse, when the men’s basketball play-by-play job at Wisconsin came open. I’d been calling UW-La Crosse football and basketball for several years by then, so I had the college experience a Big Ten gig would require. Unfortunately, I was dealing with a failing marriage and a shaky situation at my radio station, so I didn’t have my ear to the ground like I should’ve. But then, as I remind myself, had I gotten that job as the next “Voice of the Badgers,” I never would’ve gone up to Menomonie, which led to the Rice Lake job, which led to the love of my life, Sue. So, it’s all worked out.
Honestly, it was my intention to make my last run at WJMC my last in radio for good. After returning to the station in November 2024 following a brief, 7-month retirement (hey, it wasn’t my fault, they asked me to come back), I’d called another state title game in football and semifinal-round games in the state girls basketball, softball and soccer playoffs. I figured that was surely enough.
But…
Not too long after that game in Green Bay, I heard from a friend of mine in the business that the radio station in Prairie du Chien might be looking for a sports announcer. That was intriguing, because Sue and I were planning to move down to Crawford County, where Prairie is the county seat. I knew the high school played in the same conference as Platteville, my parents’ alma mater. As longtime readers of mine know, I’ve always considered Platteville to be one of my “hometowns”; the other, of course, is Potosi, only 15 miles to the west, where I went to junior high and high school. So, I made a call down to WPRE/WQPC Radio and followed it up with a letter and resume.
Shortly after that, my old college friend, Tom Koser, called me and recommended I get in touch with the folks who run WVRQ/WKPO in Viroqua, which also happens to be the same company that owns the Prairie stations. It’s a family corporation, Tom said, good broadcasters and good people, and they could probably use my help. So, I did. Within a couple weeks, I’d met with Jeff Robinson, the 3rd-generation chief exec of the ownership group, and Laurie Wild, his sales manager in Prairie, and we quickly came to an agreement, covering sports work in Prairie and studio duties in Viroqua. Fortunately, Sue had already given her blessing to my return to radio. Make that my continuation in radio; my last day on the air for WJMC was June 30 and my first day at WVRQ was July 20. So, I had about a 3-week respite between on-air stints. Just enough time to catch my breath, as they say.
And another football season kicks off…
The college football season really gets rolling this weekend after a smattering of games last weekend (in what the pundits call Week 0). My college alma mater, UW-Platteville, opens at home against Aurora, coming up from Illinois. UW-La Crosse is closer to our new home and the Eagles open across the river in Collegeville, Minn., against St. John’s. My Pioneers are ranked #6 in the Division III preseason poll, while La Crosse is 10th. Defending national champion UW-River Falls is 7th. The Badgers, whose coach, Luke Fickell, is on the hot seat after four mediocre seasons, open at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Sunday night against Notre Dame, ranked 4th in the major-college poll.
The NFL is giving the spotlight to the college players (who are more like semi-pros nowadays, at least at the Division I level), but the NFL behemoth won’t be far behind. Two nights after Labor Day, the NFL kicks off its regular season with a Wednesday night Super Bowl rematch between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. The Green Bay Packers open at Minnesota on Sunday, September 13, against the Vikings. I don’t have to be still living up north to know that Vikings fans are looking forward to that one and are probably already drawing up plans for that Super Bowl trophy case. (Yes, the trophy case that never gets built.) There are lots of broadcasters who will be continuing their long careers over the next couple weeks:
Oh, and there’s another veteran announcer who’s already begun his 31st season of calling football games:
Prairie is off to a good start this year. After a tough road loss to La Crosse Aquinas, one of the top teams in Wisconsin’s Division 4, the Blackhawks rolled over Prescott, 43-12, in their home opener. A Division 6 team this season, PdC is going after its third straight Southwest Conference title…and with a little luck here and there, come November I could be at the mic for the team’s first appearance at Camp Randall since 1988.
This is almost certainly my final season calling football. I thought that three years ago, too, when I followed Rice Lake all the way to Madison, where the Warriors won the Division 3 title. A perfect way to end my football broadcasting career, I thought. Not too many announcers get to go out by calling their team winning the title. But nearly a year later, the radio station called me out of retirement for the final two games of Rice Lake’s 2024 playoff run, which ended with a one-point loss in the Division 2 title game. I did all but the final game of their ’25 season, and now I’m calling the Blackhawks, who might very well wind up facing my alma mater in the Division 6 playoffs.
If that happens, I will have come full circle. My first actual play-by-play assignment for football was calling Potosi’s 1973 season opener. The school had just bought a reel-to-reel video recorder with a black-and-white camera. My classmate Gerard Winkler ran the camera, and I called the second half of the Chieftains’ game against Wauzeka after a senior, Dennis Schumacher, called the first half.
I had no idea that 53 years later, I’d still be at the mic. It’s been quite a ride, and it isn’t done yet.
A Strenuous Writer's Life 