Veteran Salt Lake broadcaster Tim Hughes will be making his fourth straight Olympic Games appearance next summer in Beijing.
Hughes has been in broadcasting for almost three decades, with a near-perfect, deep radio voice. He continues to work on KSL radio's weekend shows ("The Greenhouse Show" and "Utah Outdoors"), sometimes doing them from wherever he may be in the world. Hughes also does fill-in work from time to time for vacationing KSL radio hosts.
He can also be seen handling the ring-announcing duties for the International Fight League, which airs Fridays on Fox Sports Net at 11 p.m., or Monday nights on MyNetwork TV (KJZZ, Ch. 14 locally), during the two-hour IFL "Battleground" show. (The IFL, a mixed martial-arts team league, stages events every six weeks around the country.)
"The chance to work at Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, Sears Center in Chicago or in the ring in Las Vegas is a treasured life experience," Hughes says.
His Olympic "career" began at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, where he was not only the English announcer for all of the medals ceremonies at the Medals Plaza, but also the voice of NBC Olympics promotions and billboards for their cable stations, and the voice you heard at many of the venues while waiting in security lines.
"I used to apologize to the security workers for having to endure the loop tape of my voice for hours every day of the Games," Hughes said.
He then went on to Athens in 2004, where he was the English voice for all of the boxing events.
Although he didn't physically make the trip to Torino in 2006, his home studio provided the perfect place to record scripts and send his voice-over for ceremonies during and after the Games.
Hughes recently got the call to travel to China.
"It's funny how these things happen once you establish a network of people," Hughes says. "I will be heading over in November for an Olympic test event and then returning for a second time during the Games to once again handle the announcing for all of the boxing in Beijing."
KSOP CLARIFICATION — KSOP AM and FM were apparently omitted on some of the latest Arbitron lists, like the one released by Radio and Records, due to a technicality dictated by Arbitron. The two stations were included in the full listing that stations that subscribe to Arbitron receive. KSOP-FM was 12th place with a 3.5 percent audience share in the age 12-plus listeners ratings for the spring book. Sister station KSOP-AM was 32nd with a 0.8 percent share.
RADIO HAPPENINGS — A resurrection of the old KALL, complete with Tom Barberi back as morning host, isn't going to happen after all. The deal fell through last week, when AM-700 decided to retain its all-sports programming.
—Erin Collard of "Todd and Erin" on KBEE will host another of her "Slumber Parties" on Friday, Aug. 17, 6 p.m.-midnight at the Sheraton City Centre. ...
—KBZN is a sponsor of the Park City Jazz Festival on Aug. 24-26.
—KEGA has a new slogan, "fresh country," and some new jingles.
TEN YEARS AGO IN SALT LAKE RADIO — The all-sports format on KISN, AM-570, vanishes and is replaced by a simulcast of KRKR, FM-105.7 "Timeless music." ... "Kidd Cassidy" is taken off the air at KKAT and is replaced by John Welch and Steve Woods. ... Paul James retires as the voice of BYU sports on KSL radio after 32 years and is replaced by Greg Wrubell. ... KSL fires morning co-host Chere Wood in preparation for the return of Amanda Dickson.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com