Merrill Reese
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| Merrill Reese | |
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| Born | September 2, 1942 (age 64) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Occupation | Radio Announcer |
| Spouse | Cynthia |
Merrill Alan Reese (born September 2, 1942 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a radio announcer in the Philadelphia area.
He is the play-by-play radio announcer for the Philadelphia Eagles on 94.1 WYSP Free FM. He has been the voice of the Eagles since 1977.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
He is a graduate of Temple University earning a Bachelor's degree in Communications. While in college, he learned his craft by doing play-by-play over the college's radio station, WRTI FM. At WRTI, Merrill also had a music show every Wednesday afternoon where he spun 45-rpm records from his own personal collection.
After college and a stint in the United States Navy, Merrill set out to obtain his first paid broadcasting gig audtioning at WCOJ in Coatesville, Pennsylvania and WPAZ in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
[edit] Radio career
Reese eventually landed a job at 610 WIP AM working in the summer filling in for Charlie Swift who was the play-by-play man for the Philadelphia Eagles and the station's Sports Director at the time. While Swift was vacationing, Reese began doing the pre-game and post-game shows for the Eagles on WIP and from there, he did color commentary during the games. He became the voice of the Eagles in 1977 after Swift committed suicide. Herb Adderly took over the color commentary for the remainder of the season.
Reese's current broadcast partner is former Eagles wide receiver Mike Quick, who entered the booth in 1998. Aside from Swift and Adderly, Reese has previously been joined in the booth by: Jim Barniak (1978-82), Bill Bergey (1982-83, also filled in when Quick had knee surgery during the 2004 preseason), and Stan Walters (1984-97).
Reese is well respected by Philadelphia fans, who have been known to mute the sound during televised games and tune to Reese's radio commentary instead.
[edit] Personal
Reese is co-owner of 1490 WBCB-AM in Levittown, Pennsylvania, a Bucks County suburb of Philadelphia.
His autobiography, It's Gooooood!, was published in 1998.
His wife Cynthia is a 6th grade science teacher at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb.
[edit] Trivia
Under the alias "Bob", Reese once entered a sound-a-like radio contest in which fans were supposed to imitate him to win. He lost. [1]
While at Temple University Merrill's broadcast partner was Bill Cosby.[citation needed]
