TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Moonlighting
in the limelightCox Radio Hawaii air personalities Bill "Billy V" Van Osdol from KCCN FM 100 and Bobby Curran from KCCN AM 1420 greet the sunrise weekday mornings on the air but each has been retained to use their voices at the opposite end of the day.
Beyond the usual voice-over gig, the side jobs will put them in and around the squared circle for the Brian Viloria fight card tonight at Blaisdell Center.
Curran will do ringside blow-by-blow in his unmistakable New York accent while Van Osdol will reprise the ring announcer role he had the last time Viloria and his role model Jesus Salud fought in Honolulu.
The color announcer for this Tom Moffatt production is Salud himself, the original "Hawaiian Punch."
As a promoter, Moffatt is best known for concerts but in the years before rampant cable-TV penetration and widely available pay per view, Moffatt would bring big-name fights to Neal Blaisdell Center's arena via closed-circuit telecast.
Because of the time difference between Hawaii and the fight sites, offices around Oahu would empty in mid-afternoon as fans flocked to the venue.
Van Osdol's voice is well-known to University of Hawaii football and men's and women's basketball and volleyball fans; under a contract with UH sports marketing guru Leigh Steinberg, he's the announcer for Aloha Stadium and Stan Sheriff Arena.
The job can be grueling with five straight nights of sports and early wake-ups for a morning radio show, not to mention a new baby at home. "The way the teams have done this year, this was the year to be in there," Van Osdol said.
Curran is pumped about his role in part because of a meeting with the fight's matchmaker, fellow New Yorker Mike Marchionte. "It was like being home," he said. Marchionte hooked Curran up with Fight Fax, an annual boxing publication with "all the records of every boxer in the world," Curran said.
Viloria challenger Sandro Oviedo "hasn't fought one guy whose name is easily pronounced," but Curran is confident the names won't send him down for the count.
"Once you do a Farrington High School basketball game, it's all easy," he chuckled.
"Boxing has gotten a black mark because of Mike Tyson," Curran said. "But you see a fighter like Brian and there's hope for the sport."
Curran's morning show co-host and Star-Bulletin Food for Thought Editor Jo McGarry won't be at the apron with Curran but she may be wearing one as she, Star-Bulletin Food Editor Betty Shimabukuro, cookbook author Joan Namkoong and Honolulu Advertiser Food Editor Wanda Adams touch oven mitts and come out cooking for customers at Bali By The Sea.
The "scheduled four-rounder," Curran said, will feature pairings of the food-writers' dishes with wines selected by master sommelier Chuck Furuya.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com