Dallas Cowboys: Encyclopedia II - Dallas Cowboys - Broadcasters

Dallas Cowboys - Broadcasters

The Cowboys franchise has a rich history of producing well-known sportscasters over the years: the most famous of which is Verne Lundquist, who served as voice of the Cowboys from 1972 until 1984. Bill Mercer and Frank Glieber also were Cowboys announcers from the early days of the organization until Lundquist's arrival as a color analyst. Verne's new analyst, Brad Sham, joined him in 1977, became the new play-by-play announcer in 1984 and has been with the Cowboys ever since, except for a three-year hiatus between 1995 and 1998 (when Dave Garrett was the play-by-play announcer). 2005 will be Brad Sham's 26th year with the organization; 18 of those years as play-by-play announcer. Babe Laufenberg is the color analyst, and Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter.

The Cowboys Radio Network for many years was on KRLD; today it is now on 98.7 KLUV.

Additionally, several former players and coaches for the Dallas Cowboys picked up the broadcast microphone:

• Don Meredith - became a color commentator for ABC's Monday Night Football beginning in 1970. For years, he was paired alongside Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell. Meredith retired from sportscasting after the 1984 season, one year after Cosell's retirement.
• Drew Pearson - has worked exclusively as a sportscaster for such networks as CBS and HBO since his retirement in 1983. He currently hosts the KLUV Dallas Cowboys post-game show.
• Daryl Johnston - aka "Moose" is a color commentator for the NFL on Fox telecasts, teaming with Dick Stockton on the sidelines.
• Troy Aikman - joined Fox's NFC telecasts as a color commentator for the 2001 season. A year later, he was named to the network's lead announcing crew, teaming with Joe Buck and Cris Collinsworth. Aikman received an Emmy Award nomination for his television work in 2004, and worked Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIX in January of 2005. Aikman also hosts a weekly sports radio show which airs on Thursday from 5 p.m.-6 p.m. ET on Sporting News Radio.
• Michael Irvin - co-hosted NBC Sports studio coverage of Arena Football League games in 2003. He now co-anchors the widely-viewed Sunday football pre-game show Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown on ESPN.
• Emmitt Smith - signed on to serve as a studio analyst on the NFL Network show, NFL Total Access in August 2005.
• Deion Sanders - worked as a sports pre-game commentator for CBS' The NFL Today after retiring from the NFL in 2001. He remained with CBS until 2004 when contract negotiations failed. Sanders frequently made guest appearances on ESPN, especially on the ESPN Radio Dallas affiliate, and briefly hosted a show called The New American Sportsman. In 2004, he returned to professional football, playing for the Baltimore Ravens.
• Jimmy Johnson - became a TV analyst for Fox Sports after retiring from coaching in 1999, and (as of 2005) he is part of their pregame show.
• Butch Davis - after a stint as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, the former Defensive Coordinator and coach of the Dallas Cowboys Defensive Line is seen on NFL Playbook, an NFL Network program.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Broadcasters", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki