I've had the pleasure of meeting Ron Franklin. When I started in radio, he was the play-by-play voice of the Houston Oilers, and the station I worked at was an Oiler affiliate. I worked most of the games at the station, so I listened to Ron, and learned a lot about doing play-by-play from him. I thought that Ron was an absolute master at painting the picture of the field, and I wanted to emulate that.
Most of my play-by-play calling is due to listening to Ron Franklin, along with Verne Lundquist (when he did Dallas Cowboy games), and Warren Hasse (legendary West Texas State broadcaster). I took what I thought was the best of their calls, and developed my style from them.
Several years after his Oiler gig, I got the idea that I would send a tape to Ron Franklin, and ask him to critique it for me. Much to my surprise, he called me up, complimented me on my p-b-p, and invited me to a Texas Longhorn game. I was able to sit in the booth with him, and learn a bit more about game broadcast management. Ron was demanding, but I never saw him talk down to anyone, and he was always very respectful and professional.
I don't know what happened, but I suspect there is a LOT more to this story than is being released. I just know a very good announcer is out of a job.
J
