Golden Voice
i
I GOING PLACES I
WEEK OF FEB. 3-9
SPECIAL EVENTS
DETROIT PISTONS
Booth announcer Alan Pinter is one of Detroit's
unknown celebrities.
The Palace, 3777 Lapeer Rd.,
Auburn Hills, Sunday vs.
Chicago, Wednesday vs.
Milwaukee, admission. 377-8200.
EURO-AMERICA CUP
TENNIS
The Palace, 3777 Lapeer Rd.,
Auburn Hills, players include
Steffi Graff, Pam Shriver and
'Tracy Austin, Thursday through
Feb. 12, admission-377-0100.
COMEDY CASTLE
oodvvard, Berkley, Willie
Tyler and Lester, today and
.
1 Tuesday
Wuhl,
ur
11,
`ddrnis.s
oney, now fhrou
ch 4;, The Scarlet Pim
through April 15; When t
trtbie Bird Calls, (Bonstelle,
now thro ugh--
• 4.: odward)
.
.
'admission. 577-2972:;,-
-
Alan Pinter waits for his cue from the director.
ADRIEN CHANDLER
Special to The Jewish News
lan Pinter admits he's a di-
nosaur. While that may not
be a flattering description,
it's an accurate one. In
broadcasting, a "dinosaur"
refers to someone who is a member of
a vanishing breed and that describes
Pinter. "I'm the only one in town who
still earns money as a staff booth an-
nouncer," says Pinter.
Pinter, 39, is the golden voice
heard every night, over the hard-
driving music introduction to WXYZ-
TV's 5 and 6 o'clock newscasts, and
those are the only times and it's the
only TV station where the announcer
is ever live.
Pinter can be found every after-
noon at Channel 7, pre-recording
other material on the air, but shortly
before 5 p.m., you can find him
ensconced in a tiny, glass enclosed
cubicle on the second floor, head-
phones on, script ready, microphone-
switch finger poised.
In the "announce booth;' Pinter is
just a heartbeat away from the TV
news control rom, waiting for his
"cue" from the director. At the right
moment, "a little voice out of the
intercom box says 'announce', and
away I go!" And over the air comes
the warm, polished sound that Chan-
nel 7 viewers have been hearing for
18 years.
Pinter, like most broadcasters, got
his start in the business on a small
scale, at Michigan State University.
He recalls rooming with a fellow who
worked at the dormitory radio sta-
tion, a hole-in-the-wall operation
"right behind the Coke machine in
the basement of West Fee Hall.
"I used to go in and sit in on his
show and pretty soon I started to run
the control board," he says. "Then the
general manager said, 'Would you
like to start working here?' " A year-
and-a-half later, Pinter was the
general manger.
In his senior year, Pinter landed
a job as a disc jockey at WIBM in
Jackson, the place where TV and
radio personality Jack Paar got his
start. The station offered Pinter a
part-time job after he graduated, but
he was living in Southfield, so he
began to look for employment in
Detroit.
Broadcasting is a tough business
and trying to enter at the top, in a city
the size of Detroit, is very difficult.
Pinter met with his fair share of dis-
couragement. One general manager
told him he'd "never get a job in this
market." But as happens in show
business, Pinter, a kid fresh out of col-
lege, got a lucky break.
The chief booth announcer at
WXYZ, Gene Avram, liked Pinter's
audition tape and hired him part
time. "It was a thrill to come to work
here," Pinter says. "Soupy (Sales) had
been here. I used to sit and talk with
the guys in the control room. They
would say, 'Do you remember when
Soupy did this or Soupy did that?' I'd
g if A rr4
•
•
THE THEATRE COMPAN
Smith Theatre, University of
Detroit, Two, now thro: h
12, admission. 92,WW.),-*A
FARMINGTON PLAYERS
32332 12 Mile, Farmington Hills,
The Butler Did It, now through
Feb. 18, admission. 538-1670.
FARMINGTON COMMUNITY,
CENTER
Continued on Page 57
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
55