Ty Tyson, WWJ and Michigan Football radio (1924)

With the announcement that football games are airing on 950AM WWJ this fall and for the next few years, here’s a brief look back at the first live broadcast directly from a Michigan football game.   I’d typically offer up some original research for you but the Bentley Library has done a nice job already:

For Michigan football fans, the most important first came at the 1924 Wisconsin game at Ferry Field when Edwin L. “Ty” Tyson and Leonard “Doc” Holland set up a microphone in the east end zone stands and did the first radio broadcast of a Michigan home game. It is believed to be the first “live” broadcast originating directly from a football stadium.

Mr. Tyson had a long career in broadcasting and became quite the celebrity.  Though he passed away in 1968, he’s a got strong presence on eBay right now as there are several photos of him available for bid, including this one with the WWJ microphone:

Back to that first game, apparently, Yost almost squashed the idea fearing it would affect the bottom line:

When Tyson first approached the Athletic Department with a proposal to broadcast the Wisconsin game, Fielding Yost was initially hesitant to agree. Like many Athletic Directors, Yost was concerned that providing a free broadcast of the game might hurt attendance. In the end he agreed to let Tyson broadcast the game provided it was a sellout.

In classic Yost fashion he even made the announcers pay for their seats in that first game:

Tyson would later reminisce that “It sure was a sellout, Doc (Holland) and I had to pay to get in just like everyone else.”

Here’s much more on Tyson’s career from a piece in the Detroit News.