THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 TAG: 9609100423
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 62 lines
It's a football Saturday afternoon and you can't go another second without knowing whether Penn State pounded Purdue, if Western Maryland, Southern Mississippi and Northern Iowa lost their way, or by how much Saint John's walked over St. Cloud.
Who you gonna call?
Well, not the WTAR college football scoreboard show anymore. A local radio fixture that dates uninterrupted to the 1950s, the scoreboard isn't just on the blink, it's out of business. Permanently, too, unless something like a call-in campaign revives it.
The scoreboard should have kicked off its season last Saturday, but it's been silenced amid logistical disruptions caused by WTAR's sale in June and the station's current studio relocation.
Until recently, ``I had no idea what it was,'' said WTAR's new owner, Bob Sinclair, who owns WNIS AM and a couple local FM stations. ``I never listened to that station. I listened to my stations.''
What he would have heard was a three-hour program hosted by Jack Ankerson, and last year also Matt Tiahrt, that spouted college football scores from across the land, many on demand from callers. Throughout, an ancient tape of brassy college fight music played underneath.
It was a four-person effort - two on the air, one producer, one researcher - that came across as fun, informative and comfortably local-yokel in its loose mix of conversation, opinion, kitsch and technical glitches.
By stages interesting and boring, the scoreboard was genuine, set apart from anything I've heard elsewhere. There was one guarantee: If you needed a score, Ankerson by God got you your score, or burned the phones trying.
``It was one of the favorite things I've ever done in radio,'' said Ankerson, a scoreboard voice since the mid-`80s. ``It was a great way to spend a couple hours.''
Except that Ankerson's preparation, gathering team and game information, league standings, etc., took plenty more than a couple hours. Somebody calls to ask your expert opinion of those Bridgewater Eagles, you can't sit there with your thumb in your ear, after all.
``Sure, we could talk about the ODAC,'' Ankerson said. And nearly everything else involving college football.
Naturally, as sports news cropped up every 20 minutes on cable and scores began turning on bottom-of-the-screen rotisseries, WTAR's scoreboard had to shift from plain results to real discussion.
The news wires remained the foundation, but the scoreboard enlisted correspondents, mostly sports information operatives and play-by-play men, from all over the country who'd call in their scores and chat with Ankerson.
There were 30 of those regulars last year, Ankerson said, including Penn State. For now, they have one fewer call to make. But that could change.
``Stay tuned,'' Sinclair said. ``I'll have to see what the interest is. If we don't get any calls, I'll assume it's not missed.
``I hope we get all sorts of feedback on it, I hope we get a thousand calls. Guess what? If we do, that means a hell of a lot of people care about it and we'll get it back on as soon as possible.''
Could be, though, that Ankerson's given his beloved Ripon College Red Hawks free publicity for the last time. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
FILE
Jack Ankerson has served as the scoreboard voice on WTAR radio since
the mid-`80s. by CNB