HAPPY TENTH TO THE IRON MAN OF THE AIR WAVES

In an era when radio stations change format as often as they change on-air personalities, Norm Hitzges is
proudly celebrating his 10th anniversary August 16 as host of the Friday morning Sports Spectacular show on
KERA radio, 90 FM. Each week Hitzges convenes the members of the “I Am Not a Jock Club” at 8 a.m. sharp and for the
next hour delivers what is widely regarded as one of the finest sports talk shows in the country. What’s the secret to
his success? He has something for everybody.

Hitzges came to Dallas with KDFW in 1972 and has worked for Newsweek, ABC and WBAP. Besides his KERA sports
show, Hitzges is sports director for Home Sports Entertainment and freelances a sports column for the Dallas
Downtown News. The jobs keep him flying back and forth between Houston and Dallas, but in 10 years he’s never
missed a Sports Spectacular show. “Not once,” he says, “though I was two minutes late one morning due to
Tollway gridlock.” Because his work has taken him all over the country, Hitzges says he’s done the Sports
Spectacular show by telephone from 18 states and five foreign countries. Some listeners thought he went a little
too far, though, when he called in from a boat dock in the Virgin Islands two years ago-he was on his honeymoon.

Two of the best things about Hitzges’ show are that there are no commercials and that the listeners who call in
questions on each show aren’t edited. Hitzges says the funniest call he ever got was from a doctor who performs
vasectomies. He told Hitzges he turns the radio to the Sports Spectacular show during Friday morning operations
because it helps his patients “relax.” Occasionally, Hitzges does a show entitled “Everything You Always Wanted to
Know About Sports But Were Too Embarrassed to Ask.” Every so often callers ask Hitzges to repeat his two classic
sports tales: the ugliest team in sports history (Duquesne, in the early Sixties) and the impossibility of a visiting
team’s winning a basketball game at St. Bonaventure, where the team once had a 99-game winning streak at home.

His high-pitched voice, rapid-fire-delivery and unfailing ability to see the humorous side of sports make Hitzges
unique in his field, say his fans. Hitzges says he believes listeners like his show because it is “irreverent.” And he
admits he doesn’t care if the Dallas Cowboys win or lose.

Right now there are four men rotating in the straight-man spot opposite Hitzges: Glenn Mitchell, David Johnson,
Peter Lesser and Dennis Furlong. Mitchell has known Hitzges the longest and recalls, “When Norm was in L.
A., I used to call him at 5:15 a.m. to wake him up and read him the overnight sports scores before the show began here
at 8.”

Hitzges and about 500 fans will be celebrating the 10th anniversary at a breakfast broadcast at Union Station on the
16th. You may still be able to make $10 and $15 reservations to be there during the live broadcast.