John Holliday Bobbitt (born October 15, 1937), known professionally as Johnny Holliday, is an American radio and television sportscaster and a former

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

radio

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

. He has maintained a long association with the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

teams and from 2007 to 2018 hosted a pre- and post-game television program for the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

baseball team.

Early life

Holliday was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and was in the first graduating class at

North Miami High School North Miami Senior High School (NMSHS) is a public high school in North Miami, Florida, United States. Located at 13110 NE 8th Avenue, The school opened as Edward L. Constance Junior-Senior High School in 1951; with 1,500 students in 7th, 8th and ...

Broadcasting career

Top 40 disc jockey

He began his radio career at WBBN in Perry, Georgia, then worked at WFEC in Florida, WVRM in Rochester, New York, WHK in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. He worked closely with

Murray the K Murray Kaufman (February 14, 1922 – February 21, 1982), professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential New York City rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. During the early days of Beatlemania, he freque ...

at WINS in New York City and hosted the station's final music broadcast in 1965. This led him west to Top 40 giant KYA in San Francisco where in 1965 Holliday was named America's number one disc jockey by the Bill Gavin Radio "

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The pu ...

." His radio work is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In connection with the station he hosted record hops and concerts, including co-hosting the final concert by the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

Candlestick Park Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 un ...

in 1966. Holliday moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, in 1969, handling morning drive time duties for

WWDC The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in th ...

until 1978, and sports for WMAL from 1978 to 1991.

Sports

During his long sportscasting career Holliday has been affiliated with the

San Francisco Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

, Washington Bullets/Wizards,

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

, Washington Senators,

Washington Federals Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, the

Naval Academy A naval academy provides education for prospective naval officers. See also * Military academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally pro ...

, and

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

. He has covered the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, championship

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

, and

The Masters The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

for ABC Radio. While at KYA from 1965 to 1969, he demonstrated versatility by broadcasting local college athletics on radio and television, and serving as a public address announcer for both the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco Warriors. After arriving in Washington, Holliday hosted the Washington Senators pre-game show on radio with

Ted Williams Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 ...

, did radio and TV coverage for the Washington Bullets and Wizards, and hosted Redskins shows on TV with players including

Dexter Manley Dexter Keith Manley (born February 2, 1959) is a former American football defensive end for the Washington Redskins, Phoenix Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He also played in the Canadian Football Lea ...

Mark Moseley Mark DeWayne Moseley (born March 12, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played for Philadelphia Eagles (1970), the Houston Oilers (1971–72), ...

Bobby Beathard Robert King Beathard Jr. ( ; born January 24, 1937) is an American former football executive who was a general manager in the National Football League (NFL). Over the course of his 38 years in the NFL, his teams competed in seven Super Bowls (win ...

and

Charley Casserly Charley Casserly (born February 27, 1949) is an American football analyst and former executive. Casserly was the general manager of the National Football League's Washington Redskins and Houston Texans, being a part of three Super Bowl wins as a ...

. He broadcast games on the radio for the

, a franchise that played in the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

in 1983 and 1984. Holliday has been the "voice" of the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

and men's basketball teams since 1979. He has broadcast more than 1,200 University of Maryland games, including twelve bowl games in football, as well as ten Sweet Sixteen and two Final Four appearances for the basketball team, including Maryland's

NCAA Championship The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

basketball victory over Indiana in 2002. From 2007 to 2018, Holliday hosted the

baseball team pre- and post-game shows on the

Mid-Atlantic Sports Network The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between two Major League Baseball franchises, the Baltimore Orioles (which owns a controlling 77% interest) and the Washington Nationals (which ...

(MASN), ''Nats Xtra'', with analyst

Ray Knight Charles Ray Knight (born December 28, 1952) is an American former Major League Baseball infielder best remembered for his time with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets. Originally drafted by the Reds in the tenth round of the 1970 Major Leag ...

, and occasionally filled in as a substitute play-by-play announcer for Nationals games on MASN. Holliday also contributes sports reports to the

ABC Radio Network Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which w ...

Announcer

On television, Holliday was the announcer of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

musical variety shows '' Hullabaloo'' and ''

The Roger Miller Show ''The Roger Miller Show'' is an American music variety television show hosted by Roger Miller. The NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship ...

'' in 1966. He has also been the announcer for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's '' This Week'' with

David Brinkley David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, ''The Huntley–Brinkley Re ...

Sam Donaldson Samuel Andrew Donaldson Jr. (born March 11, 1934) is an American former reporter and news anchor, serving with ABC News from 1967 to 2009. He is best known as the network's White House Correspondent (1977–1989 and 1998–99) and as a panelist ...

, and

Cokie Roberts Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne "Cokie" Roberts (née Boggs; December 27, 1943 – September 17, 2019) was an American journalist and author. Her career included decades as a political reporter and analyst for National Public Radio, PBS, ...

. Holliday was featured on the 1967–1968

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

series '' Good Morning World''.

Acting career

On the stage, Holliday has appeared in more than thirty productions and was nominated for a

Helen Hayes Award The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They ar ...

for best actor in a Washington, D.C., musical for his role in '' Me and My Girl''.

Awards and honors

The National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame presented Holliday with the

Chris Schenkel Christopher Eugene Schenkel (August 21, 1923 – September 11, 2005) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of five decades he called play-by-play for numerous sports on television and radio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and bar ...

award in 2006 for his long and distinguished career broadcasting college football for the University of Maryland. In 2010, ''The Maryland Daily Record'' named him one of its "60 Influential Marylanders." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' columnist Leonard Shapiro named Holliday as his all-time best Washington sports radio broadcaster since 1970. In 2014, Holliday was inducted into the Washington, D.C., Sports Hall of Fame.

Author

Johnny Holliday, with Stephen Moore, published his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

''Johnny Holliday: From Rock to Jock'' in 2002, and in 2006, ''Hoop Tales'' about the University of Maryland men's basketball team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holliday, Johnny American television sports announcers American radio sports announcers American radio DJs Maryland Terrapins basketball Maryland Terrapins football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Living people Major League Baseball broadcasters Washington Nationals announcers Mid-Atlantic Sports Network United States Football League announcers 1937 births Golf writers and broadcasters Boxing commentators National Football League public address announcers National Basketball Association public address announcers Washington Bullets announcers National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers