Murray Tucker, author of Screamer, The Forgotten Voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers, answers questions for Sportcasters Talent Agency of America regarding his father, Joe Tucker’s, career in broadcasting, providing tips and perspective for up and coming broadcasters.
Q.1. What would you described as your father’s greatest personal asset?
A.1. Persistence. The Latin phrase that starts the book, ad astra per aspira, summarizes his view to the struggles of life of which he had many. It can be translated “to the stars through ambition.” Having that goal in mind and not letting minor annoyances like constantly being fired, or as many millionaires will tell you, going bankrupt, is all-important in whether or not you will have a chance to achieve your dream.
Q.2. What did he do to become an announcer?
A.2. Preparation. When he came to the States from Canada, Dad’s thought was to study at a university to become an accountant. The Depression intervened and he could not afford tuition. He had several jobs. At fraternity banquets he would hold forth as master of ceremonies. His friends encouraged him to audition for the mainstay jobs of the time, daytime amateur hours on local radio stations. He was never selected.
Baseball was the major sport in Pittsburgh at the time, and dad was in the stockroom of one of the department stores. Personnel wanted to keep posted on the games. Since he was not too busy during mid afternoons, he would recount the games over the store’s loudspeaker to the annoyance of his boss, but the customers loved it.
When the opportunity presented itself, he auditioned for one of the two broadcast spots to re-create Pirate baseball games. He did not get the position, but so impressed the radio station manager with his preparation that later that year he was called in to substitute for the man who beat him out.
Q.3. How important is preparation?
A.3. I would say that the most important quality that dad brought to his work was that he was prepared. Unprepared announcers usually either mispronounced names or, worse, stumble when they read an unusual name on the newswire or the teleprompter. In broadcasting fast moving hockey games he could move from one trisyllabic name to another without losing a beat.
He did not just go into an interview with a sports personality. He would get as much background on the person as he could. There are two examples of this technique in the book. For the short time he was at the University of Pittsburgh, he interviewed one of the immortals of football, Dr. J.B. “Jock” Sutherland. Because he had studied the man and his ideas before the interview, he got into a much longer discussion than either had expected. In one of the earliest interviews he did, he was able to open up “one word responder” Joe Louis, the Heavyweight Boxing Champion by knowing the fact that Louis was nuts about softball!
Interviewees enjoyed their discussions with dad, in a manner similar to Larry King, today. He never crossed the line of being combative and avoided interrupting a response except when a person began rambling off the subject. He did address areas of controversy, but did not interject his own point of view.
Q.4. Joe Tucker was known as a play-by-play expert. What made him a success?
A.4. Aside from preparation of each game, he would interview individuals, off-air, to obtain filler information as well as facts for the game broadcast. He took copious notes and in a few cases wrote out a script. His memory was good, but he did not rely on it. He wrote a lot, but outlines were the most important part.
Q.5. To the extent that you know, how has the broadcast industry change since Joe Tucker’s time?
A.5.There is more formal training for announcers of tomorrow, but ultimate success remains on the keystones dad applied, POP: Persistence, Observation and Preparedness.
