Steve Scott (announcer)
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Steve Scott is an American radio broadcast journalist, who currently anchors the afternoon news on WCBS-AM in New York City. He previously spent more than twenty years as a radio newsman in Chicago. He is also a former public address announcer for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association, and currently does fill-in announcing for the New York Knicks, New York Liberty and college basketball games at Madison Square Garden.
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[edit] Background
Steven Scott was born September 7, 1961, in Stockton, CA. His father, Robert Scott, was a carpenter who operated a walnut orchard. His mother, Betty Scott, was a judicial secretary. He attended rural schools, graduating from Escalon High School in 1979. While in high school, he played several sports, but was not a stand-out at any of them. He was cut from his sophomore basketball team, opening the door for his first announcing job: doing the PA for his high school's basketball games.
Following high school graduation, Scott enrolled in San Jose State University, where he had dreams of becoming a sports play-by-play announcer. His mother told friends her son wanted to be the "next Howard Cosell." Scott's first appearance on the radio came quite by accident. As a freshman attending a San Jose State women's basketball game, he was rushed into unexpected duty hosting the halftime show on campus radio station KSJS-FM, when the regular announcer needed to use the restroom. Scott vamped for 10 minutes, then handed it back over to the regular announcer. Scott quickly became a regular on his college station, working as a sports announcer and disc jockey.
While doing radio news in a class required for his Broadcast Journalism minor, Scott caught the eye (and ear) of Professor Ken Blase, the radio news instructor at San Jose State. Blase recognized a glimmer of talent in Scott, and encouraged him to pursue news as a career.
Unfortunately, Scott was a better radio announcer than student. As his broadcasting talents allowed him to take several jobs at commercial radio stations in the San Jose area while he was still in school, those outside activities further eroded his already poor study habits. By the time he left San Jose State in the mid 1980s to work full-time in radio, Scott was fewer than 20 semester credits away from graduation, a shortfall that has, he says, haunted him for nearly 25 years.
[edit] Early Radio career
Scott's first paying radio job was at KRVE-FM in Los Gatos, California, where he was paid minimum wage to run the control board for a Portuguese language radio talk show. He was later "promoted" to host a weekend overnight disc jockey show on the station, playing American adult contemporary music. Scott proved to be a competent disc jockey, but his first love had become news. Scott recorded his reading of an Associated Press wire copy newscast during his DJ shift on KRVE, and sent it to George Sampson, News Director at KLIV-AM/KARA-FM in San Jose. Based on that tape, Sampson hired Scott as a weekend news anchor on KLIV/KARA. Scott was eventually promoted to full-time morning news anchor in 1982.
In 1984, Scott was hired as News Director at Top 40 radio station KWSS-FM in San Jose, where he anchored the morning news for popular morning duo Kelly & Kline. During his time at KWSS, Scott was in the unusual situation of broadcasting his news from the station's city of license, Gilroy, CA, while Kelly & Kline were in San Jose, 25 miles away.
In the summer of 1986, Scott accepted a job as News Director and morning anchor at WRXR-FM in Chicago, a new station that played a Classic Hits format. Within a year, the station was sold, and the format changed. Scott was immediately hired at WCKG-FM in Chicago, where he worked at News Director and morning anchor for six years. Forced out at WCKG in 1993, Scott was immediately hired to not one, but two, new jobs. He became a traffic reporter and news anchor for Shadow Broadcast Services, where his primary duty was anchoring morning traffic reports on WLS-AM. And, WLS-AM hired Scott as a fill-in news anchor and reporter. It was the beginning of an association with WLS that would last for nearly 15 years.
[edit] The WLS Years
Through his traffic reports and frequent news anchoring and reporting, Scott became a regular fixture on WLS. In 1997, he was hired as the station's News Director and handled full-time reporting duties, as well. Upon the retirement of longtime WLS morning anchor Jeff Hendrix in 1999, Scott took over the morning anchoring duties on the Don Wade and Roma morning show. Scott brought the WLS newsroom national prominence, as the station won dozens of awards for journalistic excellence. Scott, himself, won numerous awards anchoring, reporting, and writing. In addition to anchoring and reporting locally for WLS, Scott also worked on major national and international stories, reporting from places like Bosnia, the Kosovo war, and Cuba, where he met Fidel Castro. Scott also provided more than a week of near-continuous coverage from Ground Zero in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks for ABC News Radio and WLS. Scott was a frequent contributor to ABC News Radio throughout his tenture at WLS.
[edit] On to WCBS
On September 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks Scott started a new chapter in his broadcasting career: He joined WCBS-AM as a news anchor. On October 11, 2006, Scott broke the news on WCBS of the plane crash on Manhattan's upper east side that killed New York Yankees pitcher Corey Lidle and his flight instructor. Scott and Wayne Cabot currently anchor the afternoon news on WCBS. Scott goes on the air solo at 2:00pm Eastern Time; He and Cabot are on the air together from 3:00pm - 7:00pm Eastern Time.
[edit] Public Address Announcing
Scott has managed to stay close to his first love - sports - by working as a public address announcer for professional and college sports teams, continuing an avocation he started while still at San Jose State. Scott did the PA announcing for the men's soccer at the 1984 Summer Olympics in California and also announced San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer games. He even announced a handful of Chicago White Sox baseball games in the mid-1990s. But, Scott is best known as a public address announcer for his work with the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association. He joined the team as a backup PA announcer in 1989, and worked dozens of games throughout the Bulls' Michael Jordan-led championship run of the 1990s at both Chicago Stadium and the United Center. He was hired as the team's full-time PA announcer in 2000, a job he held until leaving Chicago for New York in 2006. He was also the PA announcer for the University of Illinois-Chicago men's basketball team at the UIC Pavilion for several years.
Since arriving in New York, Scott has worked as a fill-in PA announcer for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association and New York Liberty of the WNBA at Madison Square Garden. He has also done the public address announcing for several college games at The Garden.
[edit] Personal life
Scott married the former Jeanne Singer in 1994. They currently live in the New York City area. Scott has an older brother, Bob, and an older sister, Judy. His mother, Betty, died in 1993. His father, Robert, died in 1995.
[edit] Trivia
- Attended San Jose State University.
- Won "Best Radio Reporter" from the Illinois Associated Press four times (1999, 2001, 2002 and 2005)
- Won numerous awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association and Illinois Broadcasters Association.
- Was Associated Press's "Newsfinder of the Year" in 2002.
- Is 6'5" tall.
- Is right-handed, but can only shoot a basketball or throw a frisbee with his left hand.
- Is the only three-term president in the history of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.
- Once severely injured his right knee while playing in a media softball game versus member of the Chicago City Council. The injury required Scott to undergo total reconstructive surgery on his patellar tendon, ligaments and cartilage.
