Fans will recognize the "Voice of Aggie Athletics" at the Feb. 14 Aggie baseball home opener as broadcaster Dave South caps a 50-year career calling the action in Olsen Field. Outside the radio booth, South has marked his debut as an author by dedicating proceeds from his new book to the Wounded Warrior Foundation, which supports those injured in the line of duty. Some of his memories — on paper — are now part of a library exhibit at Texas A&M.
South recently gave the play-by-play behind his book You Saw Me on the Radio, published by the Texas A&M University Press. The stories in the book include how South met the man who has inspired him to donate the sales royalties to benefit veterans — retired Marine Cpl. Matthew Bradford, who lost his sight, legs, and an arm while deployed in Iraq. A recent book signing was part of the continuing exhibit A Spirit Can Ne’er Be Told: Traditions of Aggieland, hosted by Cushing Library and on display until Feb. 28. At the event, new and longtime fans also heard the origin story behind South’s long-running love of radio.
South says it all started because he was bored out of hismind during weekly shopping trips with his parents.
“Every Thursday, my mom and dad would go downtown Wichita Falls because the shops didn’t close until 9pm,” recalls South. While his parents shopped, South would stand outside of a radio station and watch the DJ at work inside.
“One night, the DJ motioned for me to come inside,” recalls South. “He showed me all the equipment and explained what everything was used for.” Soaking up the sights and sounds inside the studio set off a spark.
“I had a paper route at that time, and I started saving my money,” South says. “I bought two tape recorders, an amplifier, two turntables, and friends of mine helped me wire all that together.”
The visit would lead South to clean out half of his closet for a homemade radio station, and KDAV went live sometime after. “All of my friends wanted to come over to be on my radio,” says South. “My mom would come to my room and correct my pronunciation of certain words.”
When South turned 16, his mom took him to the now-relocated radio station and told him to apply for a job. “After a long time of sitting
outside, I went in and told the only man who was still there that I wanted to apply for a job,” says South. He is fairly sure the man was just humoring him when he told South to go into the booth and record.
When South finished, the broadcaster listened to South’s tape for a couple of minutes, then stopped. “He looked at me and he said, ‘Where have you worked before?’ and I wasn’t going to tell him my closet,” says South.
He was hired as the station’s weekend DJ.
Looking back, South says he has worked every job in a radio station, but his hobby has always been calling the action for sports fans.
“I knew that sports play-by-play would not provide enough money to support a family,” says South. “In 1980, I moved to sales and loved it.” Texas A&M University recruited South to sell corporate sponsorships, and he became the radio voice for Aggie athletics in 1985, calling football play-by-play until 2017 and basketball until 2018. South adds that his spot calling the action in the Olsen radio booth is on a year-by-year basis.
It was a chance meeting in that radio booth with some reps from Texas A&M Press that lead him to the book so many people over the years had urged South to write. The Press gave South six weeks to put 32 years of Aggie sports memories on paper.
“I wrote it, and my wife [Leanne] edited it,” says South. “We decided to donate the royalties to the Wounded Warrior Project in support of retired Marine Matthew Bradford.”
You Saw Me on the Radio was written to be a positive read for people, says South.
“I’ve known Dave for a very long time, and I am excited to read his book,” says Bob Segner, construction science professor emeritus and Aggie alum. “I’m excited to see which stories he included in the book and how he organized it.”
Remembering and learning new stories is behind the exhibit A Spirit Can Ne’er Be Told: Traditions of Aggieland, which was brought to Cushing Library to inspire Texas A&M students to learn about Aggie traditions, says Lauren Waugh, communications specialist for Texas A&M University Libraries.
“The exhibit is to document all Aggie traditions,” says Waugh. Among the fascinating artifacts on display are historic yell and Corps of Cadets uniforms, band items, and a section on Reveille, including the everyday collar worn by Reveille II, says Waugh.
“It’s important that we all remember each and every Aggie tradition,” says Segner.
About the Exhibit A Spirit Can Ne’er Be Told: Traditions of Aggieland opened in October and will run until Feb. 28 at the Cushing Memorial Library & Archives on the Texas A&M campus. The exhibition features materials such as the oldest known Aggie Ring, an ’89 Bonfire ax handle, historic Yell Books, and Reveille II’s last everyday collar. Some of South’s writings are also part of the exhibit. The Cushing Library is open to the public Monday-Friday, 8am to 5:40pm. For more information, visit www.Cushing.Library.tamu.edu.
Dave South on the Radio Full Circle Dave South is the host of a weekly one-hour radio show on KAMU-FM, Bryan College Station’s PBS station featuring music from the 1950s and mid-1960s. The show first aired Oct. 6 at 5pm and it repeats on Sunday at noon. The show is pre-recorded on South’s home radio station, which is not located in a closet.