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Chip off the
ol’ mic
For radio sportscaster Scott Robbs,
getting into the business meant signing on
to work with dad, veteran Don Robbs
There's a near-capacity crowd at Stan Sheriff Center for the University of Hawaii Wahine volleyball match and broadcaster Scott Robbs is going with the flow.
"Dig by Watanabe. Set by Kamana'o. Boogaard crushes the coconut!" he exclaims.
In the arena, Don Robbs, the father of Scott and the longtime voice of UH baseball, is listening to the radio broadcast. The elder Robbs, who soon will begin his 29th season of broadcasting Rainbow baseball, said he's amazed Scott can keep up with the action.
"I can't talk that fast," said Don, a proclaimed storyteller who prefers baseball's slow pace. "He stays with it and that's not easy to do and still get some descriptive verbs in there once in awhile."
Don, the general manager of KKEA 1420AM Sports And Talk Radio, and Scott are one of two widely recognized father-son broadcast teams that cover UH sports.
The other duo consists of Jim Leahey, who handles most of the television coverage, and his son, Kanoa, who in July left his position as a sportscaster at KITV for the lead sports anchor and sports director position at top-rated KHON-TV. Jim and Kanoa also have a Tuesday night radio show on KKEA called "Leahey and Leahey."
Don said there's always a concern about nepotism, especially in the broadcasting business, but that no one thinks twice about a father who hires a son to work in his hardware store.
"Jim Leahey and I have talked about this (perception of nepotism) and we both are unabashed supporters of our sons because we feel they have skill levels that are high," Don said. "The worst thing for either Jim or I would be to lobby on behalf of our sons and have them embarrass us professionally. But neither have. And both Scott and Kanoa have gotten better and better."
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Don, 67, has been in broadcasting for about 45 years, including 30 years in management at radio and television stations. He retired four years ago from public television but doesn't appear to have slowed down. Besides his management and baseball duties, some of his other responsibilities include doing the pregame and halftime shows for UH football and serving as the host of the Taste of Honolulu television special. The actual event, which benefits Easter Seals, was preceded in earlier years by the Easter Seals Telethon that Robbs hosted for 31 years.
"Sports was always my avocation, but it was never how I made my living," Don said. "I was one of those lucky guys who spent his entire career in the field that I wanted to be in when I was 15 years old. Now I'm getting close to handing off baseball to (Scott) one of these years. I've just been very fortunate. I still like getting up and going to work in the morning."
Don began serving as a consultant to KKEA after retiring from public television and remained in that capacity when Hawaii businessman Duane Kurisu bought the station from Cox Communications two years ago. Earlier this year, the station's management asked him to become interim general manager until a permanent GM is found.
"It's still my intent to semiretire, hopefully in 2005, and just pull back and do baseball and (pregame and halftime for UH) football," Don said.
Scott, whose dad began bringing him to UH events at age 3, developed an early passion for sports.
"Growing up around a father that's in this business, you're exposed to it," Scott said. "Either you can be sick of it or you attach yourself to it. And from day one, from as far back as I remember, I've loved sports."
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Still, Scott didn't know if he would end up in broadcasting. After graduating from Kaiser High School, he left the islands for a four-year stint in the Army before returning to Hawaii. He then worked part time at a radio station and attended Kapiolani Community College before departing again, this time for Las Vegas.
His first job in Las Vegas was bagging groceries for $4.25 an hour. But he slowly began making a name for himself there by broadcasting high school football and becoming the voice of University of Nevada-Las Vegas baseball for five years. During his 10 years in Las Vegas, he also did the road broadcasts for UH men's and women's volleyball, as well as one season of UH women's basketball.
Eventually, Scott decided to return to Hawaii with his wife, Dori, who was born here, and their daughter, Iliahi. He had no specific job lined up. However, shortly after he returned, Kanoa, who was broadcasting UH women's volleyball matches, was offered a full-time job at the TV station. Scott Robbs stepped right in to broadcasting volleyball without missing a dig.
"You feed off the energy of the fans," Scott said. "As a broadcaster, you're a fan first, to be honest with you, and you get excited like the fans do. The other night, there were 8,000 people at the Wahine match and I was pumped up. It was a blast.
"There have been times where we've gone to Tulsa on a Saturday night and there are 40 people in an 8,000-seat gym and you can try to be excited. But it's hard because it's cold, it's empty and the Wahine are kicking their butt."
Since returning to Hawaii in 2002, Scott has taken on the additional duties of a weekday afternoon talk show called "The Sports Bar," as well as the "Da Kine Sports Show" on Tuesday mornings that is geared toward offbeat sports.
"I think we're lucky because 95 percent of the time you don't feel like you're working," Scott said. "Think about it. In the afternoon, I'm sitting there for three hours, talking to folks about sports.
"We're not worried about world politics. I don't have to talk about paying your electricity bill. We're talking about sports. And then you get the chance to travel with the team."
If it appears that the Robbs's and other KKEA broadcasters are partial to UH, it's because they're business partners by virtue of the radio station paying UH for the broadcast rights of the games.
"We're not totally unbiased journalistic observers," Don said. "On the other hand, we have to be careful that we don't cross over to that area and we become shills. I don't think we do that. But we make no secret of the fact that we bleed green around here."
