Monte Hale (November 17, 1939 - January 2, 1982) was a

radio personality A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

and owner of the WMTS-AM and FM radio stations located in

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

. Hale also served as part-owner of

WGNS WGNS (1450 AM) is a radio station based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States. The call letters are an acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from ...

. From 1960 to 1981, Hale performed radio play-by-play duties for Middle Tennessee State University's football and basketball teams, and became known as "the Voice of the Blue Raiders." In 1978, he was the play-by-play announcer for the Double-A

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the ci ...

minor league baseball team during their inaugural season in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. Hale also served as play-by-play announcer for Murfreesboro Central High School. In 1981, he was inducted into MTSU's Kennon Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions as broadcaster for the university's athletic programs. Doctors discovered a malignant tumor on Hale's tongue in 1966, and removed half of it. Despite that, Hale continued to broadcast as he dealt with cancer for the remainder of his life. Hale died on January 2, 1982.http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/Middle_Tennessee_State_University_Midlander_Yearbook/1982/Page_81.html The school's 11,520-seat

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 ...

arena located in

Murphy Center Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center (commonly known as the Murphy Center) is the name of the main athletic department building at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The building opened December 11, 1972, and is named in ...

was named after Hale in 1983. The City of Murfreesboro also named a street in his memory.

Notes

References

*Freeman, Alan Cole
"WMTS FM 96.3 / WMTS 810 AM."
''Alan Freeman''. 20 November 2005. 12 July 2008.
"Hall of Fame - Monte Hale."
''MTSU''. 12 July 2008. *Valenches, Chuck. "The Sounds of Summer, a Look Back at the 'Voices' of the Sounds." ''2007 Nashville Sounds Souvenir Program''. April 2007: 14–16. American radio sports announcers Middle Tennessee State University 1982 deaths 1939 births Minor League Baseball broadcasters {{US-radio-bio-stub