Radio Ranch II

Earlier I have blogged under the title Radio Ranch I. Now it is time for Radio Ranch II. The radio ranch is just a term I have used to make reference to places, people, I have worked with when I did radio.

I still do radio today calling various games for KMHT radio in Marshall. Matter of fact, I am about to embark on my fifth season in the booth when the Marshall Mavericks play football.

I just got through reading the Facebook wall of an old friend, Mark Waldi. Waldi and I were roomates together while I was a student at Sam Houston State University and he worked for KSAM-KHUN radio. Working together at "Radio Ranch Hunstville" is were Mark and I became friends. Hub Randel, who I graduated SHSU with, asked Waldi on facebook, if he was as famous as Bill Schoening.

Waldi left small market radio to go to Austin. Eventually he round up in major market radio working in Houston at the old KRBE. He also has worked in Chicago with his lastest stop being in Salt Lake City. Mark even put me on the air one time at KRBE as I called in to talk to him one evening. He had me say, "We are listing to KRBE in Bryan-College Station."

If my memory serves correct Schoening started his play by play career of college football at KSAM-KHUN radio. He called mainly the Sam Houston State University football and basketball games but also did softball and baseball when they made the playoffs.

Schoening left Huntsville and worked for a radio station in Austin. This allowed him to be a part to the University of Texas broadcast team working with Texas radio legend Brad Sham. Sham eventually left the Longhorn radio network as the play by play guy and Schoening moved into the spot for many years.

Today, Schoening is the play by play voice of the San Antonio Spurs. In years past, Schoening and I have swapped emails. The best email I have ever gotten from him is when he shared with me about his recommittment to Jesus Christ. Bill shared with me he had it all career wise, but was missing the true meaning of life. The true meaning of life is having a personal relationship with God's son, Jesus Christ.

When Bill was at KSAM-KHUN I ran the board at the station while he called the Bearkats. I remember one particular basketball broadcast in which I caused him some frustration. The audio for the games came through the phone line. During commerical breaks I would talk to Bill and tell him how many seconds to go before he was back.

On this particular game, after I talked to him, I would hang up the phone, thus disconnected the line. It was just a natural thing to do, when you are through talking to someone on the phone, you hang up. Well about the third time Bill said, "Mike, take an audio cart and place it over the cradle where the phone hangs up. This will keep you from hanging up on me."

Bill was right. From that day on, I never hung up again on him.

More stories later on Radio Ranch III.