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Len
Johnson
Announcer/Newscaster/Sports Play-By-Play Announcer
Biography
| Photo Gallery
Career
Highlights:
- Joined WGN
Radio & Television in 1962 as Staff Announcer.
- Radio newscaster
for the Wally Phillips morning
show, 1967-1975.
- From 1965-1976,
handled numerous Cubs baseball games on both radio & TV (primarily
the latter) as play-by-play fill in working along side Jack
Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd and
Lou Boudreau. Len’s “It’s
Gone” saying became widely known when a home run was hit.
- Fill in
play-by-play announcer for Bears football on radio throughout
the years.
- Play-by-play
announcer on Bulls basketball when the team was new in 1966 on
both radio and television.
- Announcer/director
for Ray Grey on The Great Outdoors show on Saturday mornings,
1975-1981.
- Daily announcing
duties such as dozens of commercials and newscasts
on both radio & television.
Biography:
Following service
in the U.S. Army during World War II, Len Johnson began his broadcasting
career working at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago on the studio
set-up crew for NBC Radio and occasional work with the ABC Radio
Network. Len's on-air career began at WLPO Radio in LaSalle/Peru,
Illinois. From there, stops included WFDF Radio in Flint, Michigan,
WLAP Radio and WLEX-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, WTOP-TV, in Washington,
DC, and KDKA-TV and WIIC-TV (now WPXI-TV) in Pittsburgh.
In 1962 Len
returned to his home town of Chicago accepting a most sought after
position as Staff Announcer at WGN Radio & Television. After
his very successful 19-year career at WGN, Len held various announcing
duties at WAIT Radio in Chicago from 1981-1986 mainly as music host
handling afternoon drive at the Big Band/Adult Standards formatted
station.
Photo
Gallery:
|
Len
Johnson with Ernie Banks and Billy Williams at Wrigley Field
before a pre-game interview. |
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Len
doing play-by-play for a Chicago Bulls game. |
Thanks to
Kevin McCarthy for the photos and biographical information.
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