History Radio XERB and Turfcraft Inc in Los Angeles

[46zilzal]

When I started to attend the races, one could only find the results while AT the venue: there was no call in results, cell phones hadn't been invented yet and the pay phones on course were locked up. You couldn't call the newspapers (LA Times, Herald, Mirror or Examiner) since they could not tell of copyrighted information.

Xerb, a powerful radio station transmitting out of Baja California (the got by US laws on the requirement of strength of transmission that way) and it was famous for the Wolfman Jack show that we all listened to at night. During the day, this station hosted religious shows like Brother Henderson's Glory bound train..If you listened to that show, the announcer (brother Henderson) would stop every 25 mins of so and announce: "here are the SPORTS from Turfcraft (a touting company in LA.

And Leo Herbert would announce: Here are the results of the 4th at Santa Anita brought to you by Turfcraft, Incorporated, the organization WITH the winning information. Hew would slip into various races telling US, Turfcraft had sold a tip on that winner (NEVER thought it was true). LAter that evening he would go over the entire card, NOT just telling you the results but re-creating the call of each race.

When you went to the track, there would be a Turfcraft tout about 3 block from the track selling tips directly.

[v j stauffer]

Originally Posted by 46zilzal

When I started to attend the races, one could only find the results while AT the venue: there was no call in results, cell phones hadn't been invented yet and the pay phones on course were locked up. You couldn't call the newspapers (LA Times, Herald, Mirror or Examiner) since they could not tell of copyrighted information.

Xerb, a powerful radio station transmitting out of Baja California (the got by US laws on the requirement of strength of transmission that way) and it was famous for the Wolfman Jack show that we all listened to at night. During the day, this station hosted religious shows like Brother Henderson's Glory bound train..If you listened to that show, the announcer (brother Henderson) would stop every 25 mins of so and announce: "here are the SPORTS from Turfcraft (a touting company in LA.

And Leo Herbert would announce: Here are the results of the 4th at Santa Anita brought to you by Turfcraft, Incorporated, the organization WITH the winning information. Hew would slip into various races telling US, Turfcraft had sold a tip on that winner (NEVER thought it was true). LAter that evening he would go over the entire card, NOT just telling you the results but re-creating the call of each race.

When you went to the track, there would be a Turfcraft tout about 3 block from the track selling tips directly.

I remember TurfCraft very well. Danny Baxter did the re-creations and they picked EVERY winner EVERY day.

There was another way to get results in a somewhat timely manner.

KNX 1070 news radio would replay the stretch call and give prices 15 to 30 minutes after official.

Also, Bill (hand,boot & whip) Garr would do the feature race and a recap show on KIEV out of Glendale. The signal was weak but most days you could hear enough to know who won.

Think about that you guys when you bitch about TVG.

[GaryG]

In the 50s and 60s XERB had Spanish language programming from 6pm to 6am. Then they had 4 hours of preachers and faith healers. From 10 to 6 they played country music with breaks every 30 min for race results sponsored by Turfcraft. The cat's name, I believe, was Polo Jaquez. For a while they were associated with the notorious Don Meade.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by v j stauffer

I remember TurfCraft very well. Danny Baxter did the re-creations and they picked EVERY winner EVERY day.

There was another way to get results in a somewhat timely manner.

KNX 1070 news radio would replay the stretch call and give prices 15 to 30 minutes after official.

Also, Bill (hand,boot & whip) Garr would do the feature race and a recap show on KIEV out of Glendale. The signal was weak but most days you could hear enough to know who won.

Think about that you guys when you bitch about TVG.

Anyone who EVER complains about an announcer in 2023 (myself included) needs to talk to those of us who experienced Bill Garr's calls in the 1970's and 1980's. They were something else entirely.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

Anyone who EVER complains about an announcer in 2023 (myself included) needs to talk to those of us who experienced Bill Garr's calls in the 1970's and 1980's. They were something else entirely.

Bill Garr's calls were always exciting. You could have an easy lone F win by 6 lengths and he would make it sound like it was a 4 horse blanket finish.

[DFW]

From Joe Hernandez, Harry Henson, Dave Johnson, and later Trevor Denman we had a lot of good announcers in Southern California Racing when i was growing up. Then consider Chick Hearn, Dick Enberg, Vin Scully, Bob Miller, Ralph Lawler etc. calling the games for our sports teams. It's just not the same anymore.

[iwearpurple]

Originally Posted by DFW

From Joe Hernandez, Harry Henson, Dave Johnson, and later Trevor Denman we had a lot of good announcers in Southern California Racing when i was growing up. Then consider Chick Hearn, Dick Enberg, Vin Scully, Bob Miller, Ralph Lawler etc. calling the games for our sports teams. It's just not the same anymore.

Well, Bill Garr certainly wasn't in that group.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by DFW

From Joe Hernandez, Harry Henson, Dave Johnson, and later Trevor Denman we had a lot of good announcers in Southern California Racing when i was growing up. Then consider Chick Hearn, Dick Enberg, Vin Scully, Bob Miller, Ralph Lawler etc. calling the games for our sports teams. It's just not the same anymore.

Originally Posted by iwearpurple

Well, Bill Garr certainly wasn't in that group.

I don't think anyone implied he was.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by DFW

From Joe Hernandez, Harry Henson, Dave Johnson, and later Trevor Denman we had a lot of good announcers in Southern California Racing when i was growing up. Then consider Chick Hearn, Dick Enberg, Vin Scully, Bob Miller, Ralph Lawler etc. calling the games for our sports teams. It's just not the same anymore.

Joe Davis, the Dodgers new announcer, is also the Fox national baseball announcer and is quite good. And Larry Collmus, who calls fall meets at Del Mar and who everyone assumes will eventually succeed Trevor in the summer, is arguably the best horse racing announcer in the country.

So perhaps its not like the Halcyon days of old, but we still have some top talent here.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

Joe Davis, the Dodgers new announcer, is also the Fox national baseball announcer and is quite good. And Larry Collmus, who calls fall meets at Del Mar and who everyone assumes will eventually succeed Trevor in the summer, is arguably the best horse racing announcer in the country.

So perhaps its not like the Halcyon days of old, but we still have some top talent here.

With out looking up his age Larry Collmus can't be a spring chicken.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

With out looking up his age Larry Collmus can't be a spring chicken.

He's a little under 60, I think.

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

With out looking up his age Larry Collmus can't be a spring chicken.

He's 56.
BTW, I heard him when he was calling races at the former Birmingham Turf Club. Collmus was just 21 when he called this race....

YouTube

[SG4]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

With out looking up his age Larry Collmus can't be a spring chicken.

Google is your friend. He's 56

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by SG4

Google is your friend. He's 56

Google is not always my friend, I have cell phone internet, and have to use my phone as a hotspot for my PC. It does not matter, wireless or tethering,
during peak usage, my connection can work worse than dial up and disconnect multiple times in 5 minutes. A lot of sites will not completely load, like the scores on the ESPN page that area will just be blank.