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Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Hi there, welcome to this communication Show. I’m your host, Bill Lampton the biz communication guy, bringing tips and strategies that will boost your business because my guest and I will share winning words and ways with you. A terrific privilege today to have as our guest, Jeff Dantzler. This show, as you know, is about business communication. And today we’re going to talk about one of the very big American businesses and that’s college football. If you mentioned University of Georgia football, you’ll soon be talking about Jeff Dantzler from the University’s Radio Network broadcasting and I do mean superlative broadcasting has been his life for more than 30 years. You know, I’m guessing that Jeff Dantzler did not have a pacifier in his crib. I think he probably had a tiny microphone. And that’s what it did is teething on. Just to give an overview of some of his fascinating broadcast activities. Jeff dancer hosts George’s footballs pregame and postgame shows along with his sidekick Kevin Butler, Kevin Butler, the famous place kicker from University of Georgia and also the Chicago Bears. Jeff is a play by play announcer for Georgia men’s baseball and women’s basketball, the basketball and soccer announcer for the SEC neat network. He was an analyst for the 2012 and 2014 Olympics. And He’s even been a Master of Ceremonies at very important events. For example, He was master of ceremonies at the memorial service, a celebration of life for the revered coach, longtime Georgia coach, Vince Dooley. And also Jeff was emcee of the Georgia governor’s inauguration. All of this tells you the caliber of who’s joining us now. So join me in welcoming Jeff dancer. Hello, Jeff.
Jeff Dantzler
Mr. Lampson I appreciate you having me on. It’s always an honor. And I appreciate that glowing introduction that you gave me. And in fact, he’s I think Kevin prefers that I’m his sidekick. But this is a picture of him his stock photo from the files of the great Claude Felton and Kevin autographed this for me back in 1983. So I had written a letter to declawed who went the longtime sports information director at Georgia, and he went to high school with my parents, and asked him for some autographs. And so I got a Kevin Butler autograph. And it was funny the first time, the night before a show that he stayed in our condo. I pulled out that autograph photo and put it on his pillow. come full circle.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
I would I was one of the probably 70,000 at that time who was at the game where he kicked that famous 60 yard field goal. What was it? 13 seconds left against Clemson, I
Jeff Dantzler
believe? Yeah, sure. Was that back in 1984.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
And I remember, I’ve seen of course, a video of it several times. And I remember learning Munson announcing that when Kevin Butler made that kick that he didn’t even watch it go through he knew it was going through and he just turned around and started celebrating.
Jeff Dantzler
Yeah, I think he fell out of his chair and the for the Masters. There are things I don’t think he ever said it was good. It’s just Oh my god, oh my God. And I was listening at home and Statesboro Georgia pacing and nervous. And in the crowd. I still say I think that’s that’s the loudest Sanford stadium has ever been at least it in one moment. And that was such a big upset. And Kevin provided so many great moments at Georgia and that’s definitely one of them. But they’re just so many stories, friends that I got to be friends with later who were at school, they’d say they were in he would wind up everybody was jumping around so much. You might be three or four rows and four or five seats over from where you were in the start of the class. So that was definitely a great moment. And you know, that was cat always say that the end of the glory days of the early 80s. And it was such a special time that 80 through 83. And then always go to games in for 84 because of that kick, but, you know, to be going through another Golden Era right now it’s really, really special, especially for those of us like, like me and you who were who were there. I was very young back in the early 80s. But to get to experience it’s again, it’s really awesome.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Yes, and one thing when you when both of us are talking about Kevin Butler, it brings up something I want to mention, and that is I mentioned in the introduction that you and Kevin Butler, co host the pregame show outside the Georgia bookstore. And you you do it for several hours, there are many, many 1000s of people who come by, and I made a note of some of the people who are helping you with the hosting is Hondo Williams, Kevin Butler, DJ Shockley, Eric zire, Lauren Smith. And for a fan. And I’m, as you know, I’m a former faculty member there at UGA. And both of my daughters Finnick have finished their degrees there and had wonderful experiences there. I’ve got a granddaughter there now. And every one of us has great appreciation for the fact that here are these great names, including yours, associated with Georgia football. And instead of your being off secluded some plays for the pregame show. Not only do you do the broadcasting there, but every few minutes when it’s time for a commercial, you take that opportunity to invite people up to the stands to, and you have a photographer and we’re hand gr camera and I’ve had that, that privilege of being photographed with that group several years. And when I when I do Jeff and I put that on Facebook, all my friends say how did you get so lucky? So what I wanted to ask you is I think that started 14 years ago, if I’m correct. And I remember maybe before that you were in the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. But what do you what do you feel that that achieves being that close to the fans for that long time?
Jeff Dantzler
I agree, I think it’s great to be visible. And that is such a terrific thoroughfare, where we sit that the stadium is over to our left and we’re looking at the bookstore to our right, and the Tate Student Center straight ahead, trying to say Tate Student Center in Sanford stadium kinda in the same breath. I stumble over that a good bit. So I have to go slowly. But it it’s great. We get to see the band come by, and just the pageantry of it. But I know for me before anything else, I’m a Georgia football fan. I’ve said so many times, outside of my parents who think God are still with us that I’ve loved Georgia longer than anything in my life. That’s, that’s still with us here. And, and I think for so many of us, it’s that great unifier and it brings us back together. And definitely for a university. It’s is the old saying goes it’s the front porch for a university people come back to campus to watch games, especially football games. So I think it’s extremely important to be visible and to be accessible. And it’s pretty easy for me usually when he talks about people wanting pictures and autographs. My number one job when Kevin and I are up there is just to get out of the way. So people can have their picture and autographs with kB and I just kind of move to the side because 90% of the people just want him in there. They don’t want me messing up the picture.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Well, I don’t usually disagree with somebody during I don’t like to call this an interview. I like to call it a conversation. But I’ll have to disagree with you on that there are many fans who want to be with JD as you’re affectionately known, and they want their photo taken with you as well. Something that crossed my mind. Also, I’ve given her an overview and it’s just an hope of you because your stellar broadcasting career covers so much. And I want to ask and I’m sure many of our viewers and our podcast listeners would like to know I mentioned that You started out probably with a mic in your crib. Who were some of your early role models and maybe even mentors, you don’t get to the position that you’re in Jeff, without having had some great role models and influencers. So, who might be some of your sports broadcasting heroes?
Jeff Dantzler
On Larry months and Larry months and Larry months, you know, he’s the greatest ever and for, for me, Larry Munson, and Dan McGill, who was the greatest Bulldog ever those guys were at the top of the list, but I’ve always enjoyed Vince Kelly and Al Michaels and Keith Jackson. You know, the thing about it was sports casting. I know for things we do, like for me if I was playing tennis or baseball, I would try and mimic I think as we all do as kids what our favorite players are doing. John McEnroe is my favorite tennis player. So he was a lefty and I was a righty, I would try and serve in the same fashion he did. Tom Watson was my favorite favorite golfer. So try and line up putts like he did at Reggie Jackson was my favorite baseball player trends swinging like he did a certainly couldn’t run like Herschel and you know whether it was a taking a jump shot. The my favorite basketball player was Dr. Jay getting jumped like him but but I think we all do that growing up when it comes to sports. But one thing for sports casting there guys you admire. But for the greats like Larry months and a Keith Jackson and Al Michaels, we those guys are artists, they’re poets. So you don’t really want to try and and mimic them. You might could take certain things from them. But, you know, I grew up imitating Larry Munson and you know, just going around and I can recite all of his famous calls. But when you’re actually doing a broadcast yourself, obviously you’re wanting to, to honor and pay tribute to but I think you have to have your own style. And I’m sure a lot of rock and roll artists would tell you Yeah, we’d love the Beatles love Led Zeppelin coming up, you know, you’re never gonna be able to play like Jimmy Page. Good. So he’s somebody who’s an inspiration. But when you get somebody who’s really great, I think you aspire to be at a certain level there. But when it comes to an original like the mighty Munson, there’s only one
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
some of our viewers some of our listeners might, if they’re if they’re not connected with the University of Georgia might not know about Larry Munson’s career with UGA. Tell us give us a summary of that please.
Jeff Dantzler
Well, months was hired. It was actually coach McGill, who suggested coach McGill and Coach Dooley brought him in those guests had great eyes for talent. He had called Vanderbilt games for 11 years. I believe it was in Nashville, he had a fishing show up there, he would say, and he had actually replaced the legendary Kurt Goudy is the voice of the Wyoming cowboys. Before that, and Munson Larry came down when the Braves moved to Atlanta, the Braves and the Falcons and 66. And he came down to call the Braves games and he did the games for a year. And as legend has it. Milo Hamilton, who was a famous announcer who had the 715 Hank here and home run call. Milo did not like months, and he was probably threatened by and guys in my business have huge egos. And at that point at the Linnaeus who was the longtime voice of the Bulldogs had taken the Falcons job to call the Falcons so there was an opening. And Coach McGill had had heard Munson and you know, between Vanderbilt and doing the Braves. And so he and Coach Dooley made the decision to hire him in 1966. And the rest is history. I mean he is that that link that lasting link for so many people. And I think one thing that’s that’s changed and And this doesn’t just go for Georgia, there are so many famous announcers at different schools, I think about John Ward at Tennessee and Bob Kessler who succeeded him was great and Bob Fulton at South Carolina for so many years, that so many of the iconic calls came back in the 70s and the early part of the 80s when there just weren’t that many games on TV. I mean, the rules of the day used to be you could be on TV only two maybe three times in the regular season. So when you think about summer months and most famous calls like Herschel’s debut at Tennessee in 19 at the Wynn at Auburn when we were nine and out number one and they were seven and 219 82 Sugar falling from the sky. That was Herschel Walker. Bo Jackson, that game wasn’t on television. And that’s hard to imagine these days and, and I say thank goodness because for those of us who weren’t there, your your your link your visual, it was provided by Larry Munson. And that was really the end of a golden age of radio.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Well, as the saying goes, and I’ve had the opportunity to freelance and radio for many years, and of course, the same goes about radio is the theater of the mind. And I remember so well, when before football games, college football games, as you said, they were limited how many times but I can remember, even before they were on television, so we’re to get our picture of what was happening with a game way dependent entirely on the announcers. One of the interesting things, Jeff, I don’t know if people have commented on it to you. But one of the things I experienced was when television came along, it seemed to me that the excitement that you felt listening to radio was a little bit stronger than even watching the game because you could picture it in your mind. Have you ever had anybody mentioned that contrast to you?
Jeff Dantzler
Yes. I think a lot of that goes on radio a great announcer can fill in the gaps I think especially for football. Now the game is face being paid at a fast playing at a faster pace. Now. There’s not as much time between plays with a lot more teams go and hurry up. But definitely for baseball, where there’s a good bit of time between pitches, the great announcers, I think about Vince Kelly, he was the master it called them a game. Well, I’ll tell him a story. Marv Albert Al Michaels, Keith Jackson, the great ones could do that. And of course, Harry Kerry’s one of the best ever. And there was a story that was related one time I can’t remember who wrote about it. And back in the day, before the Braves came around the St. Louis Cardinals were the closest team to the southeast. And they had a booming radio signal KCMO x, which I believe is 1510 out of St. Louis, that would reach all into the southeast kind of similar to ws be out of Atlanta,
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
probably a 100,000 watt station at the time.
Jeff Dantzler
Yes, sir. So there were a lot of people in the South who grew up Cardinals and I’m talking about in the 40s and 50s. Before there were games on TV or into the 50s when there was I guess you’re remember Dizzy Dean when there was just one game? Oh, yes. TV. That was my dad’s favorite. And I’ve been asked Coach Dooley, when tested coach who was your your baseball team, because I loved the St. Louis Cardinals. I grew up in mobiele. And we could get the broadcast, Marty Baron and Stan Musial. But Jack Buck and Harry Carey were the announcers. And that was a story one that someone from I don’t know, Alabama, Mississippi, had gotten to go up and watch the Cardinals one weekend in the summertime. And then they got back home. And we’re asking, Well, how was it? You saw Musial or Bob Gibson, and Lou Brock, it just heard, it was great. But you know what, it just wasn’t as exciting as listen on the radio with Harry Kerry. And I just thought that Harry might have made that up. I don’t know. The late great skip carry too. But But I think that is one of those things if you do have a great announcer especially you know, when you think about baseball, when there’s so much downtown to be able to to weave the stories in there. And then Skelly was really the master of that. And, and he his broadcasts were simulcast radio and TV for the Dodgers. And he would tell a story while calling the game and, and he always knew what was going on in the game, too. So I think that is just that’s just have that God given ability that that you work out every day. And those guys were the masters?
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Well, that that underscores the point that I made. Jeff, we’re going to be back in just a few seconds. And I want to make a comment then, about what you said about not imitating the experts be back shortly. Do you wish
Speaker 3
you felt confident about giving speeches? Do you want to deal with difficult people constructively? And what about becoming more persuasive and sales, then keep listening now to Dr. Bill Lampton, he spent 20 years in management, so he knows the communication skills you need for success. I urge you to call the business communication guide today for a no cost, but very valuable 30 minute discussion about your communication challenges. Call now. 678-316-4300 Again, that’s 6783164 300
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Jeff, getting back to the statement that you made about, you watched some of the best broadcasters the best that you could watch and hear. But you didn’t imitate them, I’ll have to emphasize that as a speech coach. That’s exactly what I tell my, my speech coaching clients because they will see somebody that is absolutely compelling with an audience. And it’s okay to pick up some cues from that person just as you would from broadcasting. But when they start to imitate, and one of the one of the things that I heard quite a while ago, and I, I think I repeat it quite often is, be yourself. Everybody else is already taken. You know, imitations don’t really work. If you think back to some of the most famous speakers in American history, such as John Kennedy, rr, Martin Luther King, Jr. There were they had many, many imitators, but the imitators were not using their own innate talents which they could develop. So I just want to underscore that let’s talk now, about the new radio show that you launched. Recently, I had the privilege not only of listening to the first edition when you interview that longtime broadcast companion of yours, Kevin Butler, but you even took Collins and I got lucky enough to be one of the callers tell us about your show the format and what you attempt to accomplish with it. And even most importantly, how we can hear it daily. Yeah,
Jeff Dantzler
it’s a friend of mine, Bill Shanxi in a group. They’ve got nine stations in Central and South Georgia all the way over to Southeast Georgia got a pretty big footprint of the state and they had had some turnover and Bill called me back in the spring and asked if I’d be interested, maybe do it an hour. I had done the daily thing for a long time here in Athens and I tried to talk him out of hire me about four or five times Bill’s Craig got a good friend. And he said, Listen, it’s just an hour a day, if you need days off, that’s fine. If you if you need to tape something, that’s fine, too. So I agreed to do it. And it was, it’s been a lot of fun getting back to the Monday through Friday, especially leading into the start of football season. So usually have a guest on and take a couple of calls and and look at a couple of tweets. And it’s interesting. And Bill, you can certainly speak to this. You’re talking about some of the great speech makers of all time, that whether you’re talking about an hour, or whether you’re talking about five minutes, if somebody tells you Well, I gotta give a five minute speech that can either be really long, or really short. So when and I’ve had great guests get friends on when you get good collars go in an hour zips by. But I would say one piece of advice. I’ll always say to people, if you have to give a speech. I think it’s important to make it good. It can be two minutes in good. That’s great. It can be if you’re 14 minutes and good. Boy, that’s, that’s really good. But then the problem is that there’s another speaker who might not have 14 minutes, they often think Well, gosh, I gotta go long to here’s a tip. You don’t because it a banquet of awfully. I’m always reminded when I’ve gotten the honor of emceeing some, some Georgia banquets or Josh Brooks our ad use just great. Just said, Remember JD nobody ever left a banquet going, Wow, I wish that would have really gone longer. But I’ve been to some events before, where a first speaker might be really good and go 10 to 12 minutes, they’re gonna be four or five more than you’re thinking, oh my gosh, if you’ve only got two minutes worth of material, that’s fine. Two minutes of good is a lot better than two minutes of good trying to be stretched into 10 minutes. So that’s my big kid no matter how long it is, if you gotta get up and talk to a group or is it a banquet, if it’s a professional seminar, if you just have to give a presentation for your company. Don’t worry about the time of just make it good.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
I agree fully and historically. There’s there’s a great confirmation for that because Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, as I remember lasted a little over two minutes. The other speaker that day spoke for more than two hours. Which one do we remember? That is absolutely great historical illustration there. You mentioned to go my friend that time moves along. And time especially moves along when you’re having fun. It’s such fun to host you always. And I’m already looking forward to the next time. And I know that our viewers are and our listeners are as well. So I know to Jeff that there are many who would like your contact information, you’re a fabulous resource. And I also want to say that keep your calendar ready. I want you on here again, arrange that so please give us your contact information.
Jeff Dantzler
I think the best way to reach me on my social media thing, I’m on Twitter. So at Jeff Dantzler TV. That’s the best way just just tweet at me I try to respond to to all of them, it can get a little busy on game day, but I try and hit them all. So I think that’s that’s the best way to do it.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Okay, thank you for that. And we’ll be tweeting you, I’m sure. And now that you’ve given your contact information, I’m very happy to give mine I invite you to go to my YouTube channel. When you get to YouTube, you see the search bar type in my YouTube moniker which is Bill Lampton PhD. And when you’re there, you will have access to more than 450 this is free 450 instructional videos. Many of them are solo presentations. But in the last five years when I’ve hosted the biz communication show, I have great communication experts like Jeff Dantzler that you can learn from so I invite you to subscribe to my YouTube channel. And then of course, my website. Since I’m the biz communication guy, my website quite logically is biz BZ biz communication guy.com. And while you’re on the website, notice that there’s a place that you can sign up to subscribe to the podcast wants you to do that, please. And then very naturally after you see my services for corporations, and for leaders, I want you to give me a phone call. And my number is 678-316-4300. And again, I’ll repeat that 678-316-4300. Jeff, I thank our viewers and listeners for being with us. And certainly I thank you again for being here. And so I’m wondering, Jeff, are there any closing words you have that would sort of pull together the high points that we hit today or whatever advice you’d like to leave with us?
Jeff Dantzler
Well, I always enjoy being with you. It’s an honor. And hopefully we can do it again. But I think when it comes to communication in any form, just honesty and authenticity are the best ways to go. And when people have asked me amongst the the many traits that make Kirby smart, such a great football coach and leader at the University of Georgia, I think number one is the authenticity he and his wife, Mary Beth, they played here. They were great students here. And when Kirby got into coaching, this is where he’s always wanted to be when they got married. This is where they’ve always wanted to be. And I think that’s that little extra because there are a lot of good teams or a lot of good coaches out there. But I think that authenticity is the most important thing. And I like what you said about BE YOURSELF was that everybody else is taken. I think in anything you do. Just just being yourself and letting it show through. And if people like you great if they don’t, not everybody’s gonna like you. But that’s all right.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
And of course, as we said, you can and you should, and you will want to watch experts in your field. But again, I’m I’m so happy. You mentioned the word authenticity being authentic. That’s a very important part of not only our professional life, but our personal life as well. Again, thanks so much to Jeff Dantzler. That great voice from the University of Georgia thanks to those of you who joined us on video and on the podcast. We know that through Jeff Dantzler and our conversation you learned winning words and ways that will to boost your business, I’m Bill Lampton, the biz communication guy, inviting you to be with us again for the next edition of the business communication show
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
