April 15-21, 2004

city beat

Boom! He's Outta Here

Last-second shot: After 44 years on the airwaves, Friday marks the end of Steve Fredericks' radio career. Friends and co-workers say the sports-talk pioneer will be missed. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

A sports-talk radio host pays tribute to a friend who's signing off for good.

by Big Daddy Graham

Steve Fredericks has been on the radio in this town since 1960 and, although he’ll modestly deny it when asked, he practically invented Philadelphia sports-talk radio. To many, Fredericks calls of Big Five and Sixers basketball games will remain an enduring legacy. To me, it’s a struggle to envision a Philadelphia radio landscape without Fredericks, who will turn 65 May 1.

On Friday, that's exactly what I'll have to do because Steve's stepping down. Retiring. Walking away from the game. And while I was honored when City Paper asked me to write a farewell tribute, I'm left to hope I don't screw it up! So, let's start with a true story.

I'd been working at WIP for three years, and in that time I'd been on air with everybody but Steve. Still, I was dying to work with him. Then, one Sunday afternoon, WIP teamed me with Steve for a five-hour shift, live from the lobby of Caesars Atlantic City. Halfway though the show, Caesars wheels out two huge club sandwiches for us, but we don't have a break for another 10 minutes. So, from out of nowhere, a blue-haired biddy walks by. Apparently, she thinks these sandwiches are part of some free buffet so she goes to pick at a tasty piece of bacon.

Without missing a beat of the show, Steve and I almost karate chop this little old lady's hand clear off her wrist. I knew right then this was a man after my own heart.

Last week, I had a chance to sit down with Steve for a farewell Q&A.

Big Daddy Graham: Born-and-raised Philly boy, correct?

Steve Fredericks: 4816 Pine. A neighborhood that, at the time, might have been the most ethnically diverse in Philly. About one-third Jewish, one-third Irish and one-third black. Really made me who I am today. It’s a real shame that kids don’t hang on the corner anymore since computers have come along. Social contact, whether good or bad, makes you grow up real fast. Corners were also great for partying, and Philly corner boys knew how to party.

BDG: What sports did you play as a kid?

SF: Played them all, but basketball was a huge passion. Used to play at the Lea schoolyard at 47th and Spruce because the lights from the hospital emergency room next to the courts [were] lit up all night long. We’d play in 10-degree weather all night long.

BDG: Shoveling snow off the court to get a game in?

SF: You got it. Later on in high school, I played football and baseball at West Philly High. Pretty good little pitcher, I was.

BDG: Yeah, I understand that the great [Philadelphia native and Green Bay Packers hall-of-famer] Herb Adderley hit a home run off you Ö

SF: That’s still going. I know, I know. Will you stop busting my chops over that pitch?!?

BDG: After high school in ’57 you joined the Air Force.

SF: Well, I didn’t have the grades for college and --

BDG: Wait a minute. You’re an extremely bright guy!

SF: Not in high school. I was too infatuated with fast cars and chasing girls! So, I joined the Air Force because a couple of older buddies of mine who had enlisted returned home with wild stories. It seemed like a fun option. I thought my parents wouldn’t sign the permission slip, but to my surprise, they did. My dad said it would make a man out of me, and you know what? He was right.

BDG: So, you end up in Japan and this is where your broadcasting career begins?

SF: Armed Forces Radio. Reading scores and such from back home in the States. Knew right then and there that this was what I wanted to do with my life.

BDG: Three years later, you’re back in the States and you end up in college after all.

SF: Temple communications major, where I call basketball and football games with a fellow student by the name of Merrill Reese. [Today, Reese still calls Eagles’ games on WYSP.] I’m also spinning records on WIFI AM, working for a station in Pottstown and, upon graduation, I’m calling Sixers games for WCAU.

BDG: Then, Boston calls.

SF: I stay in Boston from ’65 to ’78, doing political talk at first, then back to sports.

BDG: You’re also a husband and a father now.

SF: Two beautiful daughters, but the marriage doesn’t work out. And in ’78, WCAU calls me and tells me to come on home.

BDG: And this is where the "sports talk" part of your career begins.

SF: With a show called the Sports Line. Two hours a night and it’s a smash. I marry the gorgeous Nancy Green in ’81, and life couldn’t be better. [During] 12 years of the Sports Line, [I’m] carving out new paths without even realizing it.

BDG: It’s during this period that your "partying" spun out of control. Troubles with alcohol and drug addiction lead to a well-documented arrest while attempting to score some dope. What do you remember most from this period?

SF: That my wife, my friends and, most amazingly, CBS all stood by me. I could have easily been fired. They had every right to, but they put me through rehab and lined up experts to help me. And, amazingly, they put me back on the air.

BDG: How did everything spin so out of control?

SF: Alcoholism and drug addictions are a disease. People must understand that.

BDG: Back on air at WCAU and the Sports Line, you go and then one summer day in ’90 Ö

SF: We have a meeting at noon and, at 2 o’clock, the entire format goes off the air. Everyone’s out of work.

BDG: Do you remember your quote? It’s a classic!

SF: I said, "For this, I went straight?"

BDG: Up to New York you go for a couple years, and then one day in 1992 Ö

SF: [Eagles all-pro turned broadcaster] Tom Brookshier calls me to say that WIP is changing its format to sports-talk radio. [It had gone through phases as Top 40 and adult contemporary, among other formats.] However, they want hosts who are able to talk more than just sports, and that was right up my alley.

BDG: No one weaves The Godfather and GoodFellas into a conversation better than you. If I offered you a part in The Godfather, what role would you take?

SF: Tom Hagen.

BDG: You and Nancy still hit the clubs for some late-night dancing. What’s your favorite slow song?

SF: The Beatles’ "Here, There and Everywhere."

BDG: How close is [former WIP morning-show personality and comedian] Joe Conklin’s impression of you?

SF: He does me better than I do me. I actually was in the car one day listening to me on the air. I thought, "What is this? Why are they playing a tape of me?"

BDG: How did your signature call "Bang!" come about?

SF: Stole it off Johnny Most of the Celtics.

BDG: You dog! You’re still very political, and your shows since 9/11 have been powerful.

SF: How anyone could ever vote again for this current administration is beyond me. The worst ever.

BDG: What’s next?

SF: I’m gonna enjoy my wife, my kids and my grandkids.

If anyone would like to send an e-mail to Steve, send it to bigdaddy295@aol.com and Big will make sure it’s forwarded.