Remembering the late Jim Healy, KMPC’s hilarious sports radio host

It’s hard to believe that sports reporter Jim Healy passed away more than three decades ago.

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was in the back seat of my father’s car listening to his commentary on the original KMPC (now KSPN, 710 AM). Healy passed away on July 22, 1994, at the age of 70 from complications of liver cancer, less than three months after his last show.

To the uninitiated, it is extremely difficult to describe his program. Thirty minutes long, it featured reporting, commentary and a bit of rumor, mixed in with the largest selection of sound-bite drop-ins known to man. He would begin each story as a headline with the sound of a teletype machine in the background: “Dateline, Oakland” or “Dateline, Sunset Strip.” Then he would give a quick story followed by a drop-in, usually from a sports-related figure or some other star, which could include anyone from former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda or band-leader/television star Lawrence Welk.

And it was a blast.

He started his radio career at KMPC in 1950 after graduating from UCLA, writing for Bob Kelley, a Rams play-by-play announcer who also did sports commentary for the station. Healey would fill in for Kelley occasionally, and he also acted as a spotter for Kelley during the Rams games. He hosted his own program on KBIG (now KBRT, 740 AM) called “Here’s Healy,” and was heard giving his commentary over the years on KLAC (570 AM), KFWB (980 AM), KABC (790 AM) and KMPC. From 1962 to 1969, he was the sports reporter for KABC-TV Channel 7.

As his radio program evolved, it became required listening for sports enthusiasts looking for the latest information and gossip, some of which was fed to him by sports reporters from around the country. It was comedic entertainment even for those who didn’t follow any teams due to the sheer wackiness of the program; the Los Angeles Times once wrote that “Healy created a new lexicon for his listeners. His show was as unique as it was entertaining, and he produced it like nothing ever seen or done before in radio.”

As I said, you can’t understand it if you never heard it. I recommend searching “Jim Healy” on your favorite search engine, as air-checks abound, giving insight into exactly what made Healy tick.

I recently asked for your memories, and I received quite a few. Here’s a sample:

“My dad was a huge sports fan of all LA sports and listened religiously to the Jim Healy show, and I absolutely hated it!” writes Lanien Delgado. “I wanted to listen to music, and he never let me during the time period of his show. I had no choice but to listen; lo and behold, I started to enjoy the commentary.

“Our family were diehard UCLA Bruins and I couldn’t get enough of Mr. Healy calling USC ‘the Brain Surgeons’ or the recording of the USC fight song in a slow-paced, distorted manner. His many sound bites were hilarious, and I especially loved the laugh ‘hee hee heee.’”

Frank Morrow sent along some of his favorite drop-ins, including Howard Cosell’s “Who goofed, I’ve got to know” and Benoit Benjamin’s “Bad team, bad f——ing team, man.” along with favorite nicknames such as “Silver Tip Stu” for Stu Nahan, “The Golden Domers” for Notre Dame football, and of course, the USC “Brain Surgeons” already mentioned.

“No matter where you were or what you were doing from 5:30 until just past the dreaded 6 p.m. tone, you tuned in because it was Jim Healy time,” wrote “Rockola63,” who mentioned that “if you were stuck in rush hour and noticed a fellow commuter laughing, there was a good chance they were also listening to Healy.”

“I found it to be the most hilarious thing I had ever heard,” writes Brian Lewis. “Needless to say, I invented all kinds of reasons to be in my car at 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday for years to come. Healy was one of a kind. And man, those sound bites. I find myself laughing right now just thinking about Tommy Lasorda’s rants about Dave Kingman and Kurt Bevacqua.”

Many of you mentioned favorite clips that were often played on the program, the curse-word-filled Lasorda rants coming up numerous times. Former University of Miami defensive end Jerome Brown’s quote was another favorite: “Did the Japanese sit down and have dinner with Pearl Harbor before they bombed her?” Healy stopped using that particular drop-in after announcing Brown’s death from a car accident in June of 1992.

Jeff Prescott explained why Healy was not heard on Fridays, when Art Blasky took over the shift during the KLAC years. “I would see him many times at Del Mar race track,” Prescott said, adding that “the best LA newscast ever was Channel 7 Eyewitness News at 11 with Baxter Ward, Rona Barrett … and Jim Healy.”

I wish I could print all of the memories; alas, I received way too many to fit (though I did read them all). Suffice to say, Healy was one of a kind … to have this kind of response more than 30 years after his last broadcast says something.

Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com