Keith Olbermann opened this piece by saying, “Bill Mazer died today. You probably didn’t know him. Your life as a sports fan, however, was utterly changed by him.”
Find out why from Olbermann, who worked as an intern for Mazer, and others.
Perhaps Mazer’s greatest historical claim to fame was as host of the first regularly scheduled sports call-in show — which premiered on WNBC radio on March 30, 1964.
In what is believed to be his final interview, with Newsday in 2011, Mazer looked back at that day and how it all began.
“The first call was a kid, and he said, ‘I just want to ask you one question,’ ” Mazer said. “I said, ‘OK, go ahead.’ He said, ‘Who’s better: Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle?’ “
It was a question that launched countless more, leading eventually to the first full-time sports talk station, WFAN, in 1987, and eventually hundreds of others around the country.
Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News:
There’s this notion that there was no sportstalk radio before Bill Mazer hit New York City in 1964 to stake his claim as the Christopher Columbus of yakk when he started taking calls on WNBC-AM. That’s sort of a myth, but who’s counting? A cat named Benny the Fan had done a show. Marty Glickman, too.
Mazer did it differently. He perfected and personalized it. The man absolutely made a one-on-one connection, especially with kids. It didn’t matter where you were listening or calling from — Mazer was speaking to nobody else but you.
From Richard Goldstein’s obituary in the New York Times:
Mr. Mazer had been covering sports at radio and TV stations in Buffalo for 16 years when he was hired by WNBC-AM in March 1964. It was unveiling an innovative talk format.
“Here, Go Nag WNBC!” the station said in a March 1964 advertisement. “Listen to the Newest Sound in New York — your own voice and your neighbor’s — on WNBC Radio, 660 on the dial.”
The station invited listeners to pick up their phones and “talk sports with Bill Mazer from 4:30-6 p.m.”
Mr. Mazer held down the sports call-in spot while others, including Brad Crandall, Long John Nebel and Big Wilson, fielded calls on just about anything else.
From the New York Post:
“He had the ability to take sports facts and trivia and relate it to the here and now,’’ his son Arnie told The Post. “He combined the experience of seeing sports of the 1920s and related it to the present day. He could easily relate the past to the present and the present to the past and the past to the future.’’
Mazer’s last stint was as a radio host for WVOS in Westchester until he was 88. His funeral service will be held Sunday in White Plains.
“He was the pioneer of sports talk radio, and what I remember most about Bill was his passion for what he was doing,” broadcaster Marv Albert said. “He just loved being around people talking about sports all the time.”
Absolutely a terrific sports host and a better human being. Much better than pompous a-holes like Francesa and the little twerp Lupica. Respected the caller and let him talk and rather than berate him gently explained why his point of view was wrong.
I got to hear Bill Mazer in the late 1980s and he was just a wonderful broadcaster and interviewer. He also did Milwaukee Braves games for a year, I believe, and in 1954 was a finalist to join the Brooklyn Dodger broadcast crew of Connie Desmond and some kid named Scully.
Like anyone who heard him answer sports trivia, I was impressed by his memory. When I listened to him for several years in the 1990s on WEVD, until ESPN took over the radio station, I really came to admire him for his values and his integrity.
Bill Mazer brought sports to me in the 1950’s & 1960’s on WGR in Buffalo. I so missed him when he went back to NYC. He was so gentle, yet effective in describing play by play, or on the news after the game. Will miss him.
My mother would let me stay up until 11:00pm on Sunday nights before school the next day only because she knew how important Sports Extra was to me. Sports Extra was special because Bill made sports special and no matter what sports season it was, you stopped what you were doing to hear his “take” on recent sports events.
Bill Mazer and Dick Young were titans of sports commentary, but for my money, no one was better than Bill or could deliver facts and commentary in a way that didn’t sound bombastic.
Will there ever be another Bill Mazer? I strongly doubt it.