Dean Spratt (1952–2007) was an American traffic reporter. He was one of eight children born to Mary and Ray Spratt. He grew up in

Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. Blind from birth Spratt attended St. Cloud State University where he studied communications. In November 1981, Spratt became the first traffic reporter at

WCCO-AM WCCO (830 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios and offices are located on Second Avenue South in Downtown Minneapolis. WCCO features a talk radio format, with frequent newscasts a ...

radio, as well as the first blind traffic reporter in the country. Spratt worked primarily out of an office in his home that he transformed into a sound booth and filled it with police scanners, telephones, radio equipment, and later computers.

Life

Spratt was married to Stephanie Borden and they had a son, Benjamin. They divorced in 1987. Spratt later married Carolyn who brought three sons to the family and together they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Lisa. Spratt was a lover of electronics and

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

. He held the

callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

N0HSR from 1997 until his death in 2007. On satellite communication networks he was known as the SkyScanner. In 2004 Dean lost his position at WCCO due to consolidation and restructuring. His traffic position was outsourced to a company called Metro, who hired Spratt to continue to do the traffic. But, that position was also phased out. He then took up his hobby of amateur radio, propelled by the internet, and joined the W0KIE Satellite Radio Network where he hosted a weekly music/tech/comedy show, Thursday Night Potpourri. It went out over W0KIE as well as streamed on the internet.

Death

In January 2007 Spratt suffered a stroke. Shortly before entering physical therapy Spratt developed a complication and died on January 20, 2007, surrounded by family.

Legacy

Shortly after Spratt's death, W0KIE disappeared from the airwaves; but a successor emerged under the new moniker SkyScanner Satellite Radio Network, in Spratt's honor, and remained on air until moving exclusively to the internet in 2011. The network replays Spratt's show, Thursday Night Potpourri, on Monday mornings. The radio serial, Powder River, produced by the Colonial Radio Theatre, and a favorite satellite program, dedicated its fourth season to Spratt, who guest starred in two episodes as Dr. Lyman before he died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spratt, Dean American radio reporters and correspondents American male journalists 1952 births 2007 deaths Amateur radio people