jack mahl – an amazing announcer
Jack Mahl on WGR-TV, Buffalo, NY
My hometown of Buffalo, NY gets picked on for many things (most of them deservedly so- except the weather, it’s not nearly has bad as people think) but one proud fact that this city doesn’t get credit for is its broadcasting and announcing talent. It is historically outstanding!
Before you go blathering about how this post will be self-serving (no, this has nothing to do with my voiceover business) or how every city has great announcers (yes many do), I just want to share with you here one example of a great, not properly recognized voice talent that I briefly worked near (not with, I wasn’t that lucky).
When I was a high school intern (yes, high school, not college) at WFXZ-FM (originally WBUF-FM), I worked with legendary Buffalo broadcaster Jack Mahl. I understood then that he was talented, but I didn’t understand how much he had accomplished.
Have you ever been in the presence of greatness but not understood at the time how lucky you were? That was me in 1981 with Jack Mahl (pronounced “mall”). At the time I was working as a news intern in the morning with Susan Hunt and in the afternoons with PD/MD Jeff Appleton. The afternoon news man was Jack Mahl who worked with the afternoon DJ’s Steve Mitchell and Chuck Stevens (who is now over at WJYE-FM).
Great googly-moogly what a powerful, resonate yet calming voice Jack Mahl had. To me, he could read the phone book and it would sound interesting. I knew he had worked for many years in local radio and television but it felt very much for the teen-aged me when I worked with him like Jack was in the Fall of his career.
That was likely a misguided teenager’s opinion based only on what I saw. You see Jack was an extremely tall man who I think had leg problems exacerbated by the fact that the on-air studio was on the first floor and his office was on the second floor; the stairs he had to ascend after each newscast made his pain obvious. I never actually asked about his condition for fear of prying into something that really wasn’t my business, and likely his issue could just as easily have been temporary and fixed medically. The point here was he seemed old to me at ae time when I didn’t understand what old was.
Nevertheless, I loved to listen to his newscasts.
At some point during my internship, Jack was replaced as afternoon news anchor by Dwayne Walker with whom I did a bit of interning work. I remember being surprised by this change (my first experience into what is an everyday occurrence in radio). I don’t recall whether this was Jack’s choice or the station’s choice and ultimately that’s not my business either. Jack worked on-air up until December 29, 2000, his last job at all-news WNED-AM. But having come across Steve Cichon’s terrific staffannouncer.com site and seeing Jack Mahl on it, I felt like I wanted to share my small story about Jack Mahl.
In many ways, I wish I was smart enough with Jack to pry just a little but I was too young, too shy and too stupid. I could have heard stories about his career, a summary of which was taken from his 2000 induction in to the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
JACK MAHL’s booming voice, warm smile, friendly manner and snappy salute became the stuff of legend during more than a decade as “Your Atlantic Weatherman” each weeknight on WGR-TV (Channel 2) starting in the mid-1950s. But his career goes far deeper than that indelible impression. A prime member of the original Channel 2 air staff, Mahl earlier had gained the attention of listeners with his radio newscasting and DJ stints at WKBW, WGR and WHLD, becoming a late-night favorite of GIs stationed in Greenland during his KB tenure as host of “Spotlight Serenade.” Not long after Atlantic stopped sponsoring TV weathercasts, Mahl returned to radio and helped pioneer the introduction of all-news radio to Buffalo at WEBR. After serving a 10-year stint as news director at WBUF-FM, he returned to WEBR (which later became WNED-AM). For 13 years Mahl also was the live announcer for the Mark Russell comedy specials on PBS. He was often asked by longtime fans to deliver his signature TV sign-off phrase: “That’s all for Mahl, good night!”
Jack Mahl died in 2002. He certainly wouldn’t have remembered me but I remember him. That man had a wonderful voice. Here’s a sample (about :21 seconds in) from a Mark Russell comedy special for which Jack served as announcer for 13 years.
I, too, had the privilege of working as an intern with Jack in the WBUF newsroom. It was the summer of 1983. I was only supposed to work two afternoons a week with him, but he asked me to help him with the Saturday morning newscasts. Before I knew it, I was voicing stories for him. He was such a great mentor and encourager that I fell in love with the business and spent next 19 years in broadcast news. I was so glad to read that Jack made it into the Buffalo Broadcastiers Hall of Fame before his passing.