|
George Michael (March 24, 1939 – December 24, 2009)〔 was an American broadcaster best known nationally for ''The George Michael Sports Machine'', his long-running sports highlights television program. Originally named ''George Michael's Sports Final'' when it began as a local show in Washington, D.C. in 1980, it was nationally syndicated by NBC from 1984 until its final installment was aired on March 25, 2007. Michael won a Sports Emmy in 1985 for his work on ''The George Michael Sports Machine''. ==Early life and career== Michael was born George Michael Gimpel in St. Louis, Missouri on March 24, 1939, the son of Margaret and Earl Herman Gimpel.〔http://www.wargs.com/other/gimpel.html〕 He grew up near Tower Grove Park in the city's south side, and graduated from St. Louis University High School. While attending Saint Louis University, he worked as a Midwest promoter for several record labels such as Scepter and Motown. It was also during this time when he made his radio broadcasting debut on a one-hour Sunday night show at midnight on WIL, which invited individual SLU students to be the hosts every week. He earned a full-time job as a disc jockey at the station after he was judged to be the best of the group.〔(George Michael (profile) – Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. )〕 His first radio appointment outside of his hometown was in 1962 at WRIT in Milwaukee, where he worked the 6-to-10 pm shift until he was reassigned to 5-to-9 am morning drive time in early 1964.〔(The New WRIT Right Music Survey, 1340 in Milwaukee – Week of November 18, 1962. )〕〔(The New WRIT Radio Milwaukee (1340 A.M., 102.9 F.M.): The Right Music Survey – Week of May 17, 1964. )〕 His next stop was at KBTR in Denver later in 1964, working under the name "King" George Michael for the first time. He earned the nickname due to his success in "ruling" evening radio.〔〔(Denver's KTBR/71: "Home of the All Americans" – Denver Radio Memories. )〕 He became one of the original Boss Jocks at WFIL in Philadelphia when its new Top 40 rock and roll format debuted on September 18, 1966.〔(Famous56.com – WFIL Radio in the 60s & 70s. )〕 He served as music director and evening deejay for the next eight years. WFIL, which was popularly known as "Famous 56" after the transition, ended WIBG's listener ratings dominance and became the city's most popular station by the summer of 1967.〔 Michael was the first Philadelphia rock and roll radio personality to read the scores of local high school football and basketball games on the air. He also helped to start the career of Howard Eskin by hiring him to be his engineer. Decades later, Eskin would be a contributor to ''The George Michael Sports Machine''.〔(Howard Eskin – Afternoons on Sportsradio 610 WIP (biography). )〕 On George's last WFIL show (on September 6, 1974) he played "When Will I See You Again" by the Three Degrees for the first time ever on any radio station. The playing of this on his show broke the song into the mainstream, and within two months was a huge international hit, reaching number one in the U.K., and number two in the United States. George was personal friends with the owners of Philadelphia International Records and the song's writers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The aircheck of this can be heard on WFIL's tribute site www.famous56.com, where he says,"I don't know if this song will be a hit". Michael, noted for his energetic style, was hired by WABC in New York City; his first on-air stint there was on the evening of September 9, 1974.〔("Hiring George Michael For WABC" – Musicradio77.com )〕〔(WABC Schedule 1971–1975 – Musicradio77.com. )〕 Michael now not only was entering the nation's largest media market; he also succeeded radio legend "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, who had jumped to competitor WNBC.〔("The Cousin Bruce Morrow 'Party Tape'" – Musicradio77.com. )〕 Several incidents from Michael's radio stint there have been chronicled in Morrow's autobiography. Even though he was reunited with Dan Ingram and Ron Lundy (colleagues from his WIL days in St. Louis), Michael's time at WABC, which ended on November 17, 1979, was mostly frustrating because he was no longer a music director who had any influence on a playlist which was much shorter than the ones with which he was more familiar.〔〔(WABC Schedule 1976–1980 – Musicradio77.com. )〕 One of the highlights during his time at the station occurred when he anchored its coverage of the New York City blackout of 1977 after the music format was temporarily suspended for the night.〔(Musicradio WABC Airchecks – Musicradio77.com. )〕 His first experience in sports broadcasting also came in 1974 when he was a television announcer for the Baltimore Orioles on WJZ-TV.〔 He declined an offer to work for the ballclub full-time in order to accept the WABC position.〔 As part of the deal to bring him to New York, Michael also worked for WABC-TV as the weekend sports anchor and a color commentator on New York Islanders telecasts for several seasons, paired mainly with Tim Ryan.〔 He served as an occasional substitute on ABC American Contemporary Network's ''Speaking of Sports'' show whenever Howard Cosell, the primary commentator, was on vacation or assignment.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Michael (sportscaster)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|