Jim McKechnie
Jim McKechnie was a
famous sports announcer for the Syracuse Nationals basketball franchise in 1953. The National
road games were broadcast by tickertape, which was sent from the visitor's
court to the WNDR studios over a phone line. The National's were sold and
moved to Philadelphia in 1963, McKechnie stayed on at WNDR.
Jim was enshrined in the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall-of-Fame in 2004.
Broadcasting
Enshrined: 2004
Born: May 12, 1924, Wilkinsburg, PA
Died: January 15, 1996, Minneapolis, MN
Syracuse has had its share of classy sports
announcers and Jim McKechnie, the Voice of the Syracuse Nationals, was
one of the most memorable. McKechnie had a sports background as his
father, Bill, managed the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburg Pirates.
McKechnie also played goalie for the Penn State hockey team.
Following a tour of duty as a World War II Air
Corp pilot, he began his broadcasting career in Binghamton. He headed
to Syracuse in 1951 to do play-by-play announcing for the Syracuse
Warriors hockey games. He began doing the Syracuse Chiefs baseball games
in 1952.
In 1953, McKechnie started a decade-long
career calling the games of the Syracuse Nationals on WNDR. His machine
gun delivery and colorful description of the NBA action was unique in
the broadcasting world. The Nationals road games were broadcast via
tickertape, which was sent from the visitor’s court to WNDR over a phone
line. McKechnie would translate the symbols and abbreviations on the
tape to recreate the broadcast. One time the tickertape mechanism broke
down and Jim was forced to create a plausible scenario and deliver it as
if nothing had happen. Finally, the problem was fixed, the tape started
up and Jim found that he was only a few points off with his guessing
game. In a couple of sentences he made the necessary corrections and
finished the broadcast without a hitch.
When the Nats left town in 1963 for
Philadelphia, McKechnie stayed in Syracuse and did daily sports shows on
WNDR. He started his own station in 1958 and worked with some local ad
agencies. In 1966; he became the Sports Director for WHEN Channel 5. He
also did play-by-play for the Syracuse Centennials of the Eastern
Basketball League in 1977-78.
McKechnie, a scratch amateur golfer, was a
board member of the Syracuse Nationals and a charter member of the
Syracuse Press Club.
Career highlights
1951: Play-by-play announcer for the Syracuse Warriors hockey games
1952: Announcer for the Syracuse Chiefs baseball games
1953: Announcer for the Syracuse Nationals basketball team
1966: Became the Sports Director for WHEN Channel 5
Marv Albert: I
remember when I was in college at Syracuse, and the Syracuse Nationals
were still in existence. They had a broadcaster by the name of Jim
McKechnie who would do every game on radio, and he would actually be the
engineer. I mean, he'd bring the board and set it up before the game. I
was fascinated by that. There was a certain charm about it.
