Radio Neighbors Begin 77th Years in HS Sports
September 6, 2018
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
Local radio coverage of high school sports can still be found in a lot of places these days – and for a couple of stations, they’re celebrating 77 years of service to school sports in 2018-19.
WTCM-AM in Traverse City and WJMS-AM in Ironwood are literally adjacent on your radio dial, but they’re 250 miles apart as the crow flies across Lake Michigan and through a lot of northeast Wisconsin. In 1941, they started their streak of broadcasting the preps into their local communities.
Mind you, there weren’t that many radio stations as you might think back then, when it was the only electronic medium. WJMS had signed on in November of 1931 and was only one of two stations in the Upper Peninsula at the time and one of 19 statewide, according to Federal Radio Commission records. One of the early issues the station faced was interference with its signal because of the density of iron mines in the area.
When WTCM went on the air early in 1941, there were still only 28 radio stations in our state; five were in the U.P., and WTCM was the only station in the Lower Peninsula north of Saginaw.
Les Biederman owned WTCM and was quickly persuaded by the locals to broadcast a Traverse City High School basketball game.
“So he got the equipment ready and got everything set up, they got permission and everything,” said Jack O’Malley, current program director at the station and a long-time play-by-play voice. “The night of the game, the superintendent says ‘You can’t do the game – the local newspaper is not real happy. They said if people listen to the game, they won’t buy the newspaper in the morning. So you can’t do the game.’
“So the town had already been told – they were promoting it; and when 7 o’clock rolled around, they went on the air and they announced they were going to do the game tonight, but permission had been revoked, so we can’t do it. And then they left the microphones open at the gym so that everybody could hear the basketball dribbling, the crowd cheering, the horns honking.
“About 15 minutes later, the superintendent was at Les’ door, saying that the phones had gone crazy, you’ve got to do the game. They started with the game and we’ve been doing high school sports ever since.”
WTCM added football and other sports to the mix over time, which played well with Traverse City High School being the only public school in town. The station’s focus these days is football, alternating between Central and West High Schools.
“The whole idea is that we’re part of the community, and WTCM has always been a community radio station,” O’Malley said. “High school sports are all about community. People say, I remember when this kid played on that team and you watch all the kids as they grow up. It’s really a connection through the ages.”
The Biederman family continues to serve radio listeners in the north, with Ross Biederman as the president of what has become the Midwestern Broadcasting Company with four stations in the Traverse City market and two in the Alpena area. And yes, one of the Alpena stations is involved in covering high school sports.
The paper trail isn’t quite as tidy when documenting the history at WJMS. The station moved from its original frequency of 1420 to 1450 after being on the air for about six years, then to 630 in 1947 and its present 590 on the AM dial in 1968. Veteran observers of U.P. radio concluded that WJMS began broadcasting high school games in 1941, which was confirmed by several newspaper articles in the old Ironwood Times from that year.
The station’s signal footprint, which would eventually reach from Marquette to well west of Duluth, Minn., by day, was the early stomping grounds for some great broadcasters.
“I can remember when I was 9 or 10 years old, listening to Bob Olson and Joe Blake doing high school basketball and football in the early 60’s,” said Rod Halverson, who currently calls games for the station. “We had four local schools, Hurley (Wis.), Bessemer, Ironwood and Wakefield, which were all in the Michigan-Wisconsin Conference; and we covered those four schools. I remember listening and seeing those guys at the basketball games.”
Bob Olson, who died earlier this year, and Joe Blake went on from WJMS to purchase WMPL in Hancock in 1969. Olson would spend 35 years behind the microphone calling Michigan Tech ice hockey games and was legendary for his high-pitched tag going into commercial breaks: “This is Huskie Hockey from Houghton!” Blake would purchase WCKD in Ishpeming in 1971 (which later became WMQT-WZAM in Marquette) and run its operations until his death in 2004, calling Northern Michigan ice hockey and volleyball games. Both gentlemen received all kinds of accolades over the years.
But it was the style of an another announcer who followed Olson and Blake – Harry Rizze – who Halverson has worked hard to apply as he calls the games now.
“Harry Rizze was doing games when I started playing basketball,” Halverson said. “He made the games really personable. He would get to know the players by their first names – and he would use their first names on the air sometimes – that’s how close he got to the program. I thought it was a really nice touch. I’m doing some of that now, and I’m trying to emulate the two guys before me – Harry Rizze and Gary Aho.”
And in a place like the Iron Range of the Western U.P., there’s nothing like local radio covering local high school games.
“Some of the players I broadcast now, I played against their dads,” Halverson said. “You get to know everybody. Up here, we cover all of the schools the best we can. I feel bad for the areas that don’t have radio coverage.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Longtime WJMS broadcaster Harry Rizze conducts an interview. (Middle) Late WTCM owner Les Biederman.
Century of School Sports: These Record-Setters Were Nearly Impossible to Defeat
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 13, 2025
Most days, across Michigan high school sports and athletics at every level, a rare big-time upset is going to grab a bigger headline over yet another win by a usual favorite that comes out on top all the time.
But today, we’re going to celebrate teams that have made winning something of a daily routine over long stretches during the MHSAA’s 100-year run.
For the majority of head-to-head team sports, the MHSAA tracks winning streaks and lists the longest in their respective record books. And while all making those lists are impressive, the longest seem almost inconceivable.
Let’s start with the 192-match winning streak by Marysville from Dec. 10, 1996, through Jan. 15. 2000, the longest by number of victories. That incredible run made up most of the first half of an also incredible eight-straight Class B Finals championship seasons for the Vikings. Three others volleyball teams have won at least 92 straight matches, but none more than 98.
Traverse City Central girls tennis’ 107-dual match winning streak from 1989-2000 is the longest by length of time, and the only other to reach triple digits for total wins – with a seven-year, 71-match run by the Okemos boys tennis team from 1990-97 also reaching toward nearly a decade of similar success.
Several more have approached the 100-consecutive-win milestone. Hudsonville Unity Christian girls soccer won 86 straight games from 2005-08, and actually was 97-0-1 over those four seasons. The Allen Park Cabrini softball team won 80 straight games during the 2006-08 seasons, the Powers North Central boys basketball team won 84 straight games between 2014-17, and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s baseball team became our latest winning streak record-setter with 84 straight victories from May 1, 2021 through May 3, 2023.
Okemos is the one of only two schools with two record winning streaks, having also won 64 straight girls lacrosse games from March 21, 2009, through May 3, 2011. The other is North Central, which also won 41 straight 8-player football games between Sept. 18, 2020, and Sept. 15 2023, with many of the same athletes who played on the record-setting boys basketball team.
Also from the Upper Peninsula, Carney-Nadeau’s girls basketball teams of 1989-91 held on to their record of 78 consecutive wins despite a 76-victory pursuit by Pittsford from 2015-18. Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice won the first 13 Division 1 boys lacrosse championships, and the early years of that run included a 29-game winning streak during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
The record holders in boys soccer and 11-player football require a little bit of explanation. While Genesee Christian owns the boys soccer winning streak record of 33 from 2015 and beginning of the 2016 season, Detroit Country Day easily outpaces the rest for longest unbeaten streak in that sport having gone 69-0-10 between 1991-94.
Hudson football also remains legendary for its record streaks of 72 straight wins (including playoffs) from 1968-1975 and 81 straight during the regular season from 1968-1977 – although that playoff era streak included only one playoff win, as the Tigers won their Semifinal in 1975 but fell to Ishpeming in the inaugural Class C title game. The longest football playoff streak built entirely during the playoff era belongs to Ithaca, which won 69 straight games beginning with its opener in 2010 and ending in the 2014 Division 6 championship game as the Yellowjackets pursued what would have been a fifth-straight title in that division.
The lack of winning streak lists in wrestling and ice hockey are a noticeable gaps in this collection. Those lists hopefully will be constructed in the future.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
May 6: 200+ Representatives Fill All-Time Council Roster - Read
April 29: MHSAA Programs Prioritize Health & Safety - Read
April 23: Patches Signify Registered Officials' Role in MHSAA Story - Read
April 16: Student Advisory Council Gives Voice to Athletes - Read
April 9: State's Storytellers Share Spring Memories - Read
April 2: Sharp Leadership Synonymous with MHSAA Success - Read
March 25: Athletic Directors Indispensable to Mission of School Sports - Read
March 18: 2025 Finals Begin Next Half-Century of Girls Hoops Championships - Read
March 11: Boys Basketball's Best 1st to Earn MHSAA Finals Titles - Read
March 5: Everything We Do Begins with Participation - Read
Feb. 25: Slogans & Logos Remain Unforgettable Parts of MHSAA History - Read
Feb. 19: MHSAA Tickets Continue to Provide Fan-Friendly Value - Read
Feb. 11: We Recognize Those Who Make Our Games Go - Read
Feb. 4: WISL Conference Continues to Inspire Aspiring Leaders - Read
Jan. 28: Michigan's National Impact Begins at NFHS' Start - Read
Jan. 21: Awards Celebrate Well-Rounded Educational Experience - Read
Jan. 14: Predecessors Laid Foundation for MHSAA's Formation - Read
Jan. 9: MHSAA Blazes Trail Into Cyberspace - Read
Dec. 31: State's Storytellers Share Winter Memories - Read
Dec. 17: MHSAA Over Time - Read
Dec. 10: On This Day, December 13, We Will Celebrate - Read
Dec. 3: MHSAA Work Guided by Representative Council - Read
Nov. 26: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory - Read
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: Allen Park Cabrini catcher Amanda Chidester celebrates her team's 2007 softball championship. (2) Genesee Christian's Caleb DuPree (11) controls possession as Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep's Kawika Singson pursues during their 2015 championship match. (3) Shaleene Glombowski sets for Marysville during the 1998 Class B Final. (4) The 1995 Okemos boys tennis team takes a photo after clinching another Finals championship. (5) Carney-Nadeau's Jill Wetthuhn drives against Fowler during the 1990 Class D Final.