Today would have been legendary Chicago sportscaster Les Grobstein's birthday. Unfortunately, Les passed away very unexpectedly earlier this year. In honor of Les, I've decided to re-post a portion of the interview I did with him in 2009. The entire interview is here at Chicago Radio Spotlight.
Rick: I almost don't know where to start with you because you've done so much and been involved in so many interesting radio moments. But there is one thing I don't think I've ever heard you speak about: your first job in the business, with Sports Phone. That wasn't technically radio, it was a phone recording, but it was done as if it was a radio broadcast. For people that are too young to remember that, would you mind talking about what that was, and give us a few of the names of people that worked there?
Les: Dick Gonski, the former Bulls color commentator, was our GM. I had the daytime shift. Ron Gleason was the nighttime guy. Tom Greene, who later did sports huddle on WMAQ, was also there. Pat Benkowski was there. Ted Robinson, who went on to be a big time play by play guy, was there. We also had George Ofman, David Schuster, Fred Huebner, geez, I know I'm leaving some people out, but the list goes on and on.
I was on the daytime shift by myself and didn’t have to alternate like some of the other guys. I got to do quickie quizzes every day, which I’ve always been good at it. We even had a quickie quiz hall of fame. The others at nights and weekends were basically a scoreboard. During the daytime there wasn't as much going on, the Cubs were the only ones playing day games, everyone else played at night, so I was given much more leeway.
Some days I would go to the game and do the updates from the game, but what really helped me was I was allowed to do creative stuff. It really was more like a show. When Rick Talley left for the LA Times, they went looking for someone to replace him at WLS, and Bud Miller said that hearing what I was doing on Sportsphone helped me. I also knew two people at WLS--Bob Sirott and Tommy Edwards, who was already doing the Bulls public address. So, they asked me to come into the station. I met everyone else there, including the program director John Gehron, and they all liked what they heard, but Bud told me, yeah, we’ll get back to you. We’re looking at 50 other people.
I didn’t think I had a chance. In the interim, I was called in by Reed Pence at the Loop and a couple of other people over there, and they were interested in having a sportscaster too...and we were in the same building as they were (the Hancock)...so that seemed like it could really happen. That chance died when they put together their deal for Disco Demolition. Part of the deal was Mike Veeck would come in and do what was basically nothing more than a promotional announcement for the White Sox. He did that for about a week and a half before the actual event. Obviously after it blew up in their faces, they dumped the idea. Mike Veeck was out.
Now we're in early fall, and I'm traveling to cover the 1979 World Series; the Baltimore Orioles against the "We are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates. I got a call from Bud Miller saying "we want to put you on the air tomorrow with Lujack and Sirott, and we’ll see how it goes for a few weeks." I did those first few reports from the World Series. When I got back from the World Series, the very next morning my son was born. At his wedding a few years ago they played “We are Family," as a sort of remembrance of what was happening when he was born.
As for WLS, I did my first in-studio thing with Bob Sirott (photo), and they called me into a meeting right after that, and offered me a 5-year-contract. I stayed there for the next ten years.
Today, by the way is officially Les Grobstein Day in Chicago, in case you missed this item in yesterday's Robert Feder column...
Les Grobstein would have celebrated his 70th birthday this Friday. To honor the incomparable Chicago radio sportscaster who died in January, Mayor Lori Lightfoot this week officially proclaimed March 11 “Les Grobstein Day in Chicago.” (Here is the link.) The tribute recalls that Grobstein “was known as a walking sports encyclopedia who had an ironclad memory of even the smallest details and who equally loved all Chicago sports from high school, college, professional and everything in between.” It even mentions Grobstein’s historic role in recording Lee Elia’s infamous eruption at Wrigley Field in 1983. Capping a legendary 50-year career in his hometown, “The Grobber” hosted overnights on Audacy sports/talk WSCR 670-AM.
