:Doug Montell’s voice was ubiquitous on West Coast radio waves between the late 1920s and early 1940s. He was a mainstay announcer for college sports broadcasts sponsored by San Francisco-based Associated Oil (the company behind the well-known “Flying A” service station brand). Listeners knew it was time to lean in and listen when Montell would intone, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, this is Doug Montell high atop Stanford Pavilion (or any other West Coast college sports venue)”. The Associated Oil network was heard on numerous stations in the West, including Hawaii.
Montell was particularly well-known for his work on Stanford basketball broadcasts in the 1930s, when star Hank Luisetti was setting scoring records, revolutionizing the game with his running one-handed shot (an early version of the jump shot). A San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist referred to Montell as “basketball radio announcer de luxe”.
Montell was born in Alameda and starred in swimming at the University of California, Berkeley. After graduation, Montell began a career covering sports–first as a newspaper reporter at the Oakland Tribune, where he worked from 1920 to 1934. Montell’s radio work began at the Tribune‘s station KLX and included play-by-play of Oakland Oaks Pacific Coast League games, the aforementioned West Coast college football and basketball contests, and a variety of events including track and swimming meets. He was also called upon to announce the Soapbox Derby in San Francisco, an event which drew crowds of more than 30,000 spectators in the 1940s.
His career was interrupted by World War 2, during which Montell served in the United States Marine Corps. He later held positions in California state government while holding the rank of Captain in the US Navy Reserve.
Doug Montell died in 1956 at the age of 58.