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Unger Finds Destiny
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56 , FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1989

hat Mark Unger
should have a radio
career was inevitable,
given his background.
That he should land his pre-
sent job at Detroit's WJZZ,
however, was less a result of
lifelong interests in sports
and communications than it
was of one bold decision.
Unger, who had caught the
ear of WJZZ general manager
Bob Bass with a demonstra-
tion tape, was told he could
fill in when sportscaster Bob
Page took a vacation.
Weeks became months
before Unger, listening on his
car radio, heard Page tell his
audience that he was going
on vacation the next day. But
no one from the station had
contacted Unger.
"I almost crashed the car on
my way home," Unger recalls.
He could not reach Bass, so he
called Page, telling him he
was Page's fill-in. According
to Unger, Page knew nothing
about it, "And that's when I
knew I had 'em," said Unger
who decided to simply show
up and do the broadcasts, in
accordance with his verbal
agreement with Bass.
Page left Unger's name
with the station's overnight
crew. Unger reached WJZZ at
6 a.m. and did the two
regularly-scheduled sport-
scasts without a hitch. "I was
sky-high," he says. Unger
then went to Cadillac
Plastics, where he had a sales
job, and waited.
"I was on pins and needles
all day, waiting for a phone
call" from Bass, Unger says.
"Sure enough, about 3 p.m.,
the phone call came. He
wasn't mad. He said, 'When
are you coming in to do the
afternoon (shows)?' And I
said, 'Around 4 p.m.,' and he
said, 'Get there a little early.'
We talked about my salary for
the first week. He just said,
`You must have some chutz-
pah.' I said, 'I guess I do.' And
he said, 'Just do a good job? "
Unger completed his stint
at WJZZ, then went back to
his other work, which includ-
ed tending bar at the Bever-
ly Hills Racquet Club. "It was
such a thrill to do sports for
a week in Detroit. Even if I
never did it again, after that
week, I was satisfied. Lucki-
ly, things worked out, and
here we are."
When Page replaced Eli
Zaret at WRIF, Unger became
Page's part-time temporary
replacement. According to

Mark Unger:
Idea finally hit.

Unger, WJZZ approcahed
Detroit Free Press writer
Mitch Albom and television
sportscaaster Fred Hickman
about the job. Albom even-
tually h000ked up with
WLLZ, while Hickman's co-
caine problem took him out of
the running. After four
months of sitting and waiting,
Unger became WJZZ's full-
time sportscaster.
Unger has kept busy since
then. He is president of the
Detroit Sports Broadcasters
Association and is on the
board of directors of ALERT
(Athletes' Learning, Educa-
tional and Research Train-
ing), which encourages high
school athletes to get an
education while they are par-
ticipating in sports.
Unger also is executive
director of the Michigan
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
He recently guided the Hall
through its two major annual
events, last summer's Hall of
Fame Games for developmen-
tally disabled athletes and
Monday night's Hall of Fame
banquet.
Unger took his first steps
toward sportscasting in
seventh grade when a Detroit
Country Day School teacher
told the class to 'go out and do
a project." Unger decided to
attend a Pistons game and do
play-by-play on a tape
recorder.
Unger then studied com-
municatins at the University
of Michigan, not because he
wanted to be a broadcaster,
but because that department
offered "the easiest classes I
could find. I was not a great
student."
Unger worked for the U-M
student radio station, "never
imagining that I'd go into it

