Jim Healy Stories found on the web:
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From a Gene Autry mini-bio:
http://www.tvla.com/autry.htm
"Gene was pretty much hands-off. Still, if Gene gave you a decision, you didn't act on it right away. You waited three days. Sometimes he would say yes to be nice, then he would think about it. So you'd go back to see if he had second thoughts.
"The exception to that was (sportscaster) Jim Healy. Healy was at KLAC in 1984 and wanted to leave, and I wanted him over at our station, KMPC. At the time we were carrying the Angels, the Rams, and UCLA basketball. Gene and I were at the ballpark and I asked him in his suite. He said, 'Hire him' without hesitation."
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Beverly Hills High School Alumni
http://www.bhhs.beverlyhills.k12.ca.us/alums/hall/famers/healy.htm
Jim Healy, S '41 (James Patrick Healy) - Television and Radio Sportscaster
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IS IT TRUE Jim Healy was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? Of course it's true! On November 7, 1991, Healy's star was dedicated for his achievement as a sportscaster, one of only five sportscasters to be so honored.
Healy's catch phrase, "Is it true?," alerted his fans that he was about to announce a sports exclusive. In 1988, a horse named Is It True won the $1 million Breeders Cup Juvenile race at Churchill Downs; the horse's owner explained the name: "For years I've turned on my car radio in Southern California at 5:30 every night and listened to Jim Healy scream 'Is it true?' about this sports story and that. I figured if the horse had as much energy as Healy, he'd be a champion."
Healy was a sportscaster with a unique flair. His nightly half-hour broadcast on 710 KMPC had a loyal audience; Healy fans departed from work in time to reach their cars when Healy's show commenced.
Los Angeles Times columnist Larry Stewart describes Healy's show: "Healy created a new lexicon for his listeners. His show was as unique as it was entertaining…Over time, he had compiled more than 500 tapes…He would use as many as 50 on a half-hour show. And Healy did everything himself. He had no researchers, producers, engineers, writers, or even a secretary. When he was on the air, he ran the show himself, right down to punching the buttons that triggered the tapes."
Born in Spokane, Washington, Healy moved to Beverly Hills with his family when he was six years old. While at Beverly High, he covered sports for the Highlights. A 1946 graduate of UCLA, Healy was sports editor of the Daily Bruin. At UCLA Healy met the woman who would become his wife, Patricia Campbell, the editor of the Daily Bruin. Their son Patrick Healy, a television reporter for KNBC, is also a UCLA graduate.
Upon graduation from UCLA, Jim Healy became an assistant sports editor for the now defunct Hollywood Citizen-News. Healy's illustrious radio career took off in 1951 when the late Bob Kelley, the Los Angeles Rams announcer who had a sports program on KMPC radio, hired Jim to be his writer for $75 a week. On days when Kelley wouldn't show up, Jim filled in for him on the air. Jim Healy has said, "I'm probably the only kid who went to radio school on a 50,000 watt station."
From 1962 until 1969, in addition to doing a sports show on radio, Healy was the sports anchor for television station KABC. He also worked as the ringside announcer on boxing broadcasts from the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. Healy had countless roles in film and television in which he played himself as a sportscaster.
Healy passed away in July of 1994. His loyal listeners have been unable to fill the 5:30 p.m. void.
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Following posts reproduced in full in case they disappear.
(Yes, they're from the Google archive, but you know how the web works.)
Date conflict; when did the Jim Healy Tribute show air?
Aug 24, as in this next post?
Aug 26, as in the long post? [wacky business]
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OR
http://tinyurl.com/2fshm
From: Rob Spencer (rspencer@netcom.com)
Subject: Jim Healy Tribute
Newsgroups: rec.radio.broadcasting
Date: 1994-08-20 21:46:06 PST
The tribute to Jim Healy, previously mentioned in this group, will air
this coming Wednesday, August 24 at 5:30 P. M. (Healy's traditional air
time) on KMPC 710 AM. It will run 90 minutes.
Rob Spencer
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OR
http://tinyurl.com/2g3yu
From: Rob Spencer <rspencer@netcom.com>
Newsgroups: rec.radio.broadcasting
Subject: Jim Healy tribute
Followup-To: rec.radio.broadcasting
Date: 26 Aug 1994 03:38:44 GMT
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The Jim Healy tribute aired today, cutting short Tom Leykis' sparkling
commentary re something or other. It was a warm and heartfelt tribute by
longtime KMPC colleague Steve Bailey, ably assisted by Bob Rowe. Billed
as a 90-minute program, it actually ran 106 minutes after commercials
were inserted.
Even at that extended length, the show could only scratch the surface of
Healy's nearly 50-year career. Healy's network of informants was second
to none, which enabled him time and again to beat the competition to the
big stories. His reputation for intelligent analysis made him one of the
most respected sports commentators in Los Angeles (perhaps second only to
Jim Murray).
He was however most beloved for his on-air style. It was reminiscent of
Walter Winchell's, with its telegraph-beep transitions and rapid-fire
delivery. But Healy's true genius showed in his ability to mix simple yet
literate prose with appropriate, well-timed sound bites. Many of these
bites became popular sayings in this town, such as "Who goofed? I've got
to know!" (from Howard Cosell) and "She is a lovely lady, and my
apologies to her" (from Victor Kiam). Readers outside of Southern
California may have heard such utterances coming from longtime Healy fan
Al Michaels, and wondered what the joke was. Well, now you know.
The show was very complete in covering Healy's career, and in providing
comments from many people involved with it (including some of the
utterers of the more famous sound bites). There were also some
entertaining airchecks from KMPC, KLAC and KABC (now KMPC's sister
station). There were however far too few actual clips of Healy at work
for my taste. I would have liked to hear more examples of the man whose
genius was so rightly being celebrated.
I suspect that this dearth of actual Healy material may have been due to
his son Patrick's reluctance to have it aired. This suspicion is fed by
Patrick's comment in the August 19 _LA Times_ that he doesn't want to use
his father's name for monetary purposes (this in response to questions
whether he would market any of his father's work). One can certainly
understand this feeling, especially since his father passed away only a
month ago, but one hopes he ultimately changes his mind. His father's
long and brilliant career merits documentation, and a fitting tribute
would be to donate all proceeds to cancer research. One can only hope.
Rob Spencer
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From: Rob Spencer (rspencer@netcom.com)
Subject: Re: JIM HEALY
View: Complete Thread (3 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: rec.radio.broadcasting
Date: 1994-08-03 06:14:36 PST
davemackey on BIX (davemackey@BIX.com) wrote:
: On my visits to Los Angeles, I always went out of my way to listen
: to Jim Healy's half-hour sportscasts on KMPC, which were at the time
: part of Jim Lange's show. He used to tip in all those crazy sound bites
: including Earl Scheib's trademark "Riiiiiiiight!" and some guy
: saying "Get to the point, will you Jim?". It was fresh and irreverent'
: and very entertaining. There was nothing else like it in radio.
. . .For the record, that was Tim Conway saying "Get to the point. . .".
Conway did several other such sound bites, including a parody of Victor
Kiam's "She is a lovely lady and my apologies to her" in a mock-Norwegian
accent.
The loss of Jim Healy is incalculable to radio. He was the last of a
breed. Sadly, I have seen no fitting tribute to him anywhere in the
local press, except for his friend Dwain Esper's column in the Glendale
News-Press. He was the highest-rated show on KMPC during his last stint
even before the fatal switch to sports-talk (at least, according to
Jackie Autry).
I could talk for hours about Jim Healy. . .Jim Healy, goodnight.
Rob Spencer
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