[Husker] Ray Scott, et al

[Richard K Alloway]

husker-bounces at tssi.com wrote on 07/06/2007 07:33:53 PM:

> By the time that Ray Scott did the Huskers games for one season (1992, I
> think), he hadn't been doing Packers games for quite a few years.  I
think
> CBS replaced him with Pat Summerall in about 1974.  He did Tampa Bay
games
> for a few years, including their infamous 0-26 streak.

Yes, Ray only did the games on KFOR for only one season - the last in which
multiple originations of the broadcasts were allowed.  The bidding for a
single flagship station took place following that season.  As I understood
it at the time, Ray was brought in partially to demonstrate the local
stations' desires to continue on in the multiple station configuration, but
also to demonstrate KFOR's interest in being that flagship station if that
was the way things headed.  I worked at KFOR from 1972 to 1984 (during the
Dick Perry/Tim Moreland/Ray Scott years).  I was fortunate enough to be one
of KFOR's network producers for the season Ray called the games.  Talk
about a thrill....I, too, had grown up listening to him, and meeting him
was quite the rush.

A couple of quick stories:  Ray would come into the station at the end of
each week, as Mike recalls correctly.  After his first week there, he
remembered the names of everybody on our staff, from our receptionist up to
our general manager, and would greet each by name and chat with them.

One of his first duties each week was to record commercial copy for local
clients who had requested and paid for his voice on their spots.  The first
time he did that, I was asked to engineer the session for him.  He stepped
into our guest announcer booth, picked up the written script for a local
hardware store, and recorded his first "take" with no rehearsal.  Not only
did he nail the inflection perfectly his first time reading the copy, but
he brought the 30-second spot in at 29.9.  After which, he asked me "what
did you think?"   Um...how was I supposed to give Ray Scott direction?  But
that was Ray - he asked for and respected your opinions.

This discussion has been very interesting, since I am currently working on
a radio documentary about the voices of Husker football during the
Devaney/Osborne years.  Thanks for the recollections - they are enjoyable
and helpful.  I am also trying to gather audio from some of those classic
voices to incorporate into the documentary - if you have clean recordings
of any of those broadcasts, I would be interesting in communicating with
you.

Rick
---------------------------------
Rick Alloway
General Manager, 90.3 KRNU
Assistant Professor of Broadcasting
147 Andersen Hall
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE  68588-0466

(402) 472-6856 (office)
(402) 450-6025 (cell)
ralloway1 at unl.edu