Let me take you back to Tacoma, Washington, 1960. I was twelve years old when I received a new transistor radio for Christmas. For those of you who are far too young to know what I’m talking about, a transistor radio was about the size of a cell phone, a little bulkier, and it ran on batteries. It was a big thing back in 1960. It meant I could listen to music while riding my bike and, in my case, I could take it to bed with me and listen to my favorite baseball team, the Tacoma Giants, play games long after my bedtime without my parents knowing it. Sneaky little bugger I was.
The play-by-play announcer for the Giants was a man by the name of Don Hill, and I loved listening to his broadcasts. Like any good sports announcer, he made the game come alive, giving the listener a great experience without having to actually attend the game.
Neither the Giants nor the radio station, KTAC, could afford to send a radio announcer to “away” games, places like Portland or Hawaii or Sacramento, so Don and his wife would “call” the game from the KTAC radio studio. Gail would be on the phone with some person at the Hawaii game, that person would tell her every pitch and all the action, and Gail would relay that information, on notes, to her husband, who would then call the game as if he was seeing it. He would clap two pieces of wood together to imitate the sound of the bat hitting the ball. He had “canned” crowd noises so it sounded like the crowd was really into the game. You could hear vendors yelling out “Peanuts, popcorn, cold drinks,” and I swear, even though we knew Don was not in Hawaii, it was as if he was.
Great memories!
Which got me thinking, the other day while out walking the dogs, that Don Hill’s call of the game was similar to what we do as fiction writers. We create a reality out of practically nothing and, if we do a really good job of it, people will feel like they are actually experiencing the action with the characters.
Just something to think about on this lazy summer day.
Be well, be safe, and do all things with love.
Bill
“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”
Billybuc
Artistry With Words 