{"id":18477,"date":"2018-08-16T07:36:46","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T13:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?page_id=18477"},"modified":"2018-08-16T07:42:28","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T13:42:28","slug":"archie-anderson-2018-aba-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/archie-anderson-2018-aba-hall-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"Archie Anderson – 2018 ABA Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Archie Anderson – 2018 ABA Hall of Fame<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In most small towns, like Arab, Alabama, you can find this guy; he\u2019s always been there, he has no desire to go anywhere else, you can always count on him, everybody knows him \u2026 he\u2019s a fixture of the community. In fact, because of him, according to long-time residents, you don\u2019t need a watch in Arab. Just keep the radio on and you\u2019ll know what time it is based on what you hear him doing. In a world of uncertainty and constant change a guy who has used broadcasting to bring continuity to his part of the world since 1974 deserves as much recognition as we can give. And that is why the ABA is inducting Archie Anderson into the Alabama Broadcasters Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been weird,\u201d says Anderson. \u201cTwo weeks ago I got put in the Marshall County Sports Hall of Fame and I did not understand that because all I ever did was practice two weeks on a peewee football team. And that award made me just a nervous wreck. Then I found out about this \u2026 I tell everybody I guess I\u2019m going to die next year because I don\u2019t know that there\u2019s anything left!\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the first things you want to clarify when it comes to Anderson\u2019s career is if he has really worked at WRAB for forty years. \u00a0\u201cYes, I have,\u201d he says. \u201cI started here like I say right out of high school. I worked at the campus station at Gadsden while in school, but other than that, I haven\u2019t worked anywhere else. I never would\u2019ve dreamed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cActually it was all kind of happenstance. Mike Bishop, a close high school friend, was interested in broadcasting and wanted to visit the station one day. \u00a0I went along with him. Mike got a job and I started hanging out and began to do tidbits here and there just for fun,\u201d explains Anderson. \u201cMike went to Auburn in 1974 and the station needed someone and it just sort of fell in my lap. I heard about Gadsden State \u2013 they have a broadcasting program \u2013so I got my associate degree and next thing you know, I\u2019m working full-time at the station.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson\u2019s personal interest in sports helped him crossover to doing sports on air, too.
\n\u201cYeah, that was back when I went to as many games as I could. I started keeping stats and doing reports on the games. I would interview the coach and get his comments and it continued to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only did Anderson do football, his coverage started to include both men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball. \u201cI was never really fond of basketball, but it moved quickly and you didn\u2019t have to know as much,\u201d he laughs. \u201cIn football, there\u2019s so much down time. You have lots of chances to show how stupid you are!\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike so many broadcasters who are always looking for ways to advance, Anderson has never been about the next big thing, and he\u2019s content with that. \u201cI think I just got up every morning knowing what I\u2019m going to do. I really didn\u2019t think about doing something else,\u201d he says. \u201cYou know in a small town there\u2019s not necessarily any big moments per se, although things are changing. I can remember going to city commission meetings and they\u2019d call roll and then adjourn, but now there always seems to be some kind of debate about something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does concern me – and it concerns the newspaper editor next door – that we can cover something for six months and then hear people say they didn\u2019t know anything about it. Everybody\u2019s got their phones, or they listen to bigger city radio stations and half the time they don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on in their own community. Sometimes I think I\u2019m not doing enough to show the big picture. That\u2019s discouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Anderson still enjoys his work in radio and wouldn\u2019t change a thing. \u201cI don\u2019t drive a Lexus or anything like that,\u201d laughs Anderson. \u201cI don\u2019t know how long I\u2019ll be doing this but I just enjoy being in the middle of everything. And I wouldn\u2019t tell anybody this, but golly-bum, there have been some times when you wouldn\u2019t have had to pay me for this job!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In most small towns, like Arab, Alabama, you can find this guy; he\u2019s always been there, he has no desire to go anywhere else, you can always count on him, everybody knows him \u2026 he\u2019s a fixture of the community. In fact, because of him, according to long-time residents, you don\u2019t need a watch in … Continue reading Archie Anderson – 2018 ABA Hall of Fame<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18477","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18477"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18481,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18477\/revisions\/18481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}