About this episode
Lee Hacksaw Hamilton shares his “Hacksaw History” highlighting his career from Long Island to Ohio University, upstate New York, Cleveland, Phoenix and San Diego. We discussed Lee’s early days doing play-by-play in minor league hockey, minor league baseball, and as a TV journalist. Then it was on to Cleveland to broadcast big time WHL pro hockey, a competitor with the NHL at that time. Then on to Phoenix KTAR where he lit the Valley of Sun on fire. In the late 1980s, San Diego called and invited Lee to be the play-by-play voice of the San Diego Chargers and also to host a sports talk show on XTRA 690. That sports talk show was the very beginning of an innovative all sports talk radio station that featured many names including Jim Rome, Steve Hartman, Chet Forte, Coach John Kentera, Billy Ray Smith, Scott Kaplan, Philly Billy Werndl, Jim Laslavic, Pat Curran and many more.
This episode was originally aired as part of the John Riley Project on July 20, 2022.
The History of Sports Talk Radio
Lee shared his Long Island roots and the start of his radio news/DJ career in his college days on a radio station in Appalachia. After a great run broadcasting pro hockey in Cleveland, he took his talents to the desert to announce Arizona State football and basketball. Hacksaw also hosted a sports talk show on KTAR in Phoenix shocking the locals with critical comments of ASU’s football suspension, the Suns getting blown out in the first round of the 1981 NBA playoffs, and the ineptitude of Bowie Kuhn during the 1981 MLB strike.
This was the start of the “Best 15 Minutes in Radio.” This was the start of “Putting Topics on the Table.” “React!” Lee was determined to grab his listeners by the throat and hold them for 4 hours of compelling sports talk radio.
Hacksaw’s reputation in Arizona led to a 1986 phone call from the Noble Broadcast Group in San Diego to be the San Diego Chargers play by play guy and start a sports talk show on the Mighty 690. At the time the station was broadcasting rock n roll and Wolfman Jack. Little did they know that things were going to radically change in the next few years.
Lee was the only sports guy in the entire station, and he started with a blank slate. How in the hell was he going to pull this off? He started by creating a 9-hour NFL Sunday broadcast with a 2-hour Countdown to Kickoff pre-game show, the live game, and then a post-game show with caller participation.
The Mighty 690 Sports Talk Radio
Meanwhile, every afternoon drivetime Hacksaw hosted his talk radio show using many of his provocative techniques to drive listenership. Lee was a sensation bringing sports facts, stats, and opinions in the late 1980s. He was the internet before the internet was a thing.
After a brief transition to sports and news talk, the station went 100% sports starting in 1989. The Mighty 690 was the 3rd radio station in America to go all sports, and the first on the west coast. 690 had a “blowtorch signal” that carried Lee’s show f
