United States Football League on the radio

Local coverage

1983

Team	Play-by-play	Analyst(s)	Flagship station
Arizona	Ray Scott	John Moynihan	KOY-AM[1]
Birmingham	Jim Fyffe	Herb Winches and Dick James	WAPI[2]
Boston	Gil Santos	Gino Cappelletti	WBZ-AM[3]
Chicago	Bill Berg	Doug Buffone	WCFL [4]
Denver	Mike Nolan	Irv Brown and Ben Martin	KLZ-AM
Los Angeles	Tom Kelly[5]	Rich Marotta	KNX-AM[6]
Michigan	Bob Sherman	Dan Follis	WXYZ-AM
New Jersey	Charley Steiner	Dave Herman and Robert Casciola	WOR-AM[7]
Oakland	Joe Starkey	Lee Grosscup and Bob Murphy	KGO-AM[8]
Philadelphia	Harry Donahue	Vince Papale	WFIL-AM[9]
Tampa Bay	Gene Deckerhoff[10]	Vic Prinzi	WFLA-AM[11]
Washington

1984

Team	Play-by-play	Analyst(s)	Flagship station
Arizona	Ray Scott	Bob Buck	KOY
Birmingham	Jim Fyffe	Herb Winches and Dick James	WAPI
Chicago	Duane Dow	Jim Grabowski	WAIT
Denver	Mike Nolan	Ben Martin	KLZ
Houston	John Greer	Ed Biles and Bob Fiscella	KRBE-FM
Jacksonville	Larry Munson	Glenn Fisher	WIVY-FM
Los Angeles	Tom Kelly	Kermit Alexander	KLAC
Memphis	Rick Weaver John Ward	Gary Wyant and Mike Lawhead	WHBQ
Michigan	Bob Sherman	Dan Follis	WXYZ
New Jersey	Charley Steiner	Dave Herman and Robert Casciola	WOR
New Orleans			WNOE-FM
Oakland	Joe Starkey	Bob Lee and Bob Murphy	KGO
Oklahoma	Jerry Webber	Jack Nixon	KRMG
Philadelphia	Harry Donahue	Vince Papale	WSNI
Pittsburgh	Sam Nover	Jack Ham	WAMO-FM
San Antonio	Jay Howard	Bill Mercer	WOAI
Tampa Bay	Gene Deckerhoff	Vic Prinzi	WFLA
Washington			WMAL

1985

Team	Play-by-play	Analyst(s)	Flagship station
Arizona	Gary Bender	John Moynihan	KJJJ-FM
Baltimore	Scott Garceau	Tom Matte and Bob Bartel	WCAO
Birmingham	Jim Fyffe	Herb Winches and Dick James	WAPI
Denver	Mike Nolan	Irv Brown	KLZ
Houston	John Greer	Ed Biles and Bob Fiscella	KRBE-FM
Jacksonville	Larry Munson	Mel Arthur	WIVY
Los Angeles	Tom Kelly	Rich Marotta	KNX
Memphis	Rick Weaver John Ward	Dave Woloshin Paul Hartlage	WHBQ
New Jersey	Charley Steiner	Dave Herman and Robert Casciola	WMCA
Oakland	Joe Starkey	Lee Grosscup	KGO
Orlando	David Steele	Tom Korun and Sam Behr	WKIS
Portland	Ray Scott	Greg Barton	KEX
San Antonio	Jay Howard	Bill Mercer	WOAI
Tampa Bay	Gene Deckerhoff	Vic Prinzi	WFLA

National coverage

On December 9, 1982, the USFL and ABC Radio Networks^[12][13] jointly announced that ABC would do 39 national broadcasts of USFL games, including two playoff games and the league's championship game. ABC agreed to cover two games per week during regular season.

For the Saturday night package in 1983, Shelby Whitefield, Ron Menchine and Steve Grad for the commentators. Other announcers for ABC Radio's USFL coverage included:

• Bob Buck (play-by-play)
• Dick Butkus^[14] (color commentary)
• Don Chevrier (play-by-play, beginning in 1984)
• Johnny Holliday (play-by-play, beginning in 1984)
• Paul Hornung^[15][16] (color commentary)
• Marv Levy (color commentary)
• Dan Lovett (color commentary)
• Fred Manfra (play-by-play)
• Craig Morton^[17][18] (color commentary)

For the playoff semi finals in 1984, Johnny Holliday and Paul Hornung called Los Angeles/Arizona game on Saturday while Fred Manfra and Dan Lovett called the Birmingham/Philadelphia game. Meanwhile, the championship game^[19] the following week (Philadelphia/Arizona) was called by Fred Manfra and Paul Hornung.

References

1. The Wranglers could be heard on KOY-AM 570 in the Phoenix area.
2. The Stallions could be heard in Birmingham on WAPI-AM
3. In Boston, Breakers games were aired on WBZ radio, with Gil Santos doing play by play and Gino Cappelletti doing color commentary.
4. NewspaperARCHIVE.com - Search old newspaper articles online
5. Aug 13, 1983 - Did the fact that Tom Kelly did play-by-play on United States Football League games this year cost him his job as the radio play-by-play man for the Chargers? Kelly says yes. I think the Charger ownership took umbrage," Kelly said, " although no one in the Charger organization told me ...
6. Express games could be heard locally on KNX-AM 1070, Los Angeles
7. The Generals could be heard locally on WOR-AM 710 in New York, with Charley Steiner (later of ESPN and YES fame) doing play by play, and Dave Herman and Robert Casciola teaming up on color commentary.
8. The Oakland Invaders could be heard locally in the Oakland area on KGO radio. Joe Starkey, Lee Grosscup and Bob Murphy provided the action via the "Invaders Radio Network," which included KFBK in Sacramento and KJOY in Stockton, California.
9. Jul 1, 1983 - The Stars and radio station WFIL-AM, which carried their games this season, are near a divorce because of a disagreement over broadcasting of the USFL playoff games. The station has decided to carry the feed from ABC, which has a contract with the USFL, of the two playoff games and the ...
10. Deckerhoff even handled play-by-play for the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL in the mid-80s and is a former sports director at WCTV-TV in Tallahassee.
11. The Bandits could be heard locally on WFLA-AM 970, and pre-season games were broadcast on WTOG, Channel 44.
12. December 9, 1982: USFL and ABC Radio Networks jointly announce that ABC will do 39 national broadcasts of USFL games, including two playoff games and the league's championship game. ABC agrees to cover two games per week during regular season.
13. ABC held the exclusive network radio rights for the USFL's first two years of play at a cost of $1.25 million ("Riding Gain," Dec. 13, 1982). ABC still remains the most interested in USFL, said Simmons.
14. Jun 4, 1983 - States Football league games for ABC radio says It may take about three years to deter mine If the league will make It The onetime great for Illinois and the Chicago Bears recently said of the USFL it's not bad I dont think It's the national Football League right yet But I dont ...
15. Feb 25, 1983 - Former National Football League stars Paul Hornung Dick Butkus and Craig Morton have joined ABC Radio Sports as color commentators for US Football League games. The National Hockey League reportedly is prepared to slap a stiff transfer fee on a Canadian firm if it buys the financially ...
16. Feb 27, 1983 - 3 JOIN RADIO NETWORK. Miami Herald TheFL February 27 1983. Author ASSOCIATED PRESS. Former NFL stars Paul Hornung Dick Butkus and Craig Morton have joined ABC Radio Sports network as color commentators for United States Football League games. Edition FIRST Section SPORTS Page 10C ...
17. May 20, 1983 - He has private business Interests, is doing color commentary for USFL games on ABC radio, and has offered to couch the Denver Broncos' quarterbacks on a part- time busts. Blanding said on Sunday that is "still our No. 1 man." .
18. May 24, 1983 - Craig Morton, who retired after the 1982 National Football League season quarterback of the Denver Broncos, said last night he has been offered the job as head coach of the United States Football League's Denver Gold. Morton, a commentator on ABC Radio's coverage of last night's ...
19. Jul 13, 1984 - 19 against the Los Angeles Raiders. also has the ABC Radio feed for Sunday's USFL championship game. That's one thing that can't be black ed out . Upcoming highlights and announcers, subject to change, are supplied by stations and networks. Events are rated for the casual viewer who ...

Sources

• 1983
• 1984
• 1985
• USFL Local Announcers