Bill Slater (broadcaster)

Bill Slater (December 3, 1902 – January 25, 1965) was an American educator, sports announcer, and radio/television personality from the 1920s through the 1950s. He was perhaps best known for hosting the radio shows Twenty Questions and Luncheon at Sardi's. He is also the great uncle of actor Christian Slater.

Early life

Education and educator

Slater earned a master's degree in political science from Columbia University and was a 1924 graduate of West Point.

He taught English and math at his hometown of Parkersburg, West Virginia. He then joined the Greenbrier Military School in Lewisburg, West Virginia as commandant. Next he was on the faculty of the New York Military Academy where he also coached football. He was then the head of the math dept and football coach at Blake School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Finally he was the headmaster of Adelphi Academy in Brooklyn, New York, from 1933–1942.

Military

He served as a lieutenant colonel in public relations for the U.S. Army beginning in 1942.

From educator to broadcaster

While teaching at the Blake School for Boys in Minneapolis, it was suggested by a student, whose father was a radio executive, that Slater had the voice and knowledge to be a sports announcer. His first network break came while at Adelphi Academy when Ted Husing asked Slater to call an Army-Navy football game.

Television

Slater hosted/emceed many early television shows:

• Birthday Party (1947), aka King Cole's Birthday Party
• Charade Quiz (1947)
• Messing Prize Party (1948)
• Twenty Questions (1949) DuMont and NBC versions
• Fishing and Hunting Club (1949)
• Broadway to Hollywood Headline Clues (1949)
• With This Ring (1951)

Sports broadcaster

Slater announced the first television broadcast of a World Series in 1947 between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers, which the Yankees won. His co-broadcasters for that event were Bob Stanton and Bob Edge.

He also co-announced the 1945 World Series on Mutual with Al Helfer, as well as the 1945 and 1946 All-Star Games, also on Mutual.

Slater was the chief radio announcer for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network 500 Race in 1947 when the race was covered by the Mutual Broadcasting System.

He was the primary voice of Paramount News reels for many years beginning in 1936.

Slater covered the 1936 Summer Olympics for NBC, announced for the New York Yankees and New York Giants baseball teams, the 1937 Sugar Bowl, West Point, Yale, Penn and other college football games, and later, tennis from Wimbledon and Forest Hills.

Slater was announcing a NFL game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants when the first bulletin aired of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor

Personal life

Born William E. Slater, December 3, 1902 in Parkersburg, West Virginia. His first wife was Rebecca and his second wife, Marian, sometimes accompanied him on the Luncheon at Sardi's radio show. He was 6’3" and died in Larchmont, New York after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

His younger brother, Tom Slater, five years his junior, was also a sports broadcaster and followed him as the host of Luncheon at Sardi's. Tom Slater's son, actor Michael Hawkins (Thomas Knight Slater) is Christian Slater's father.

External links

• Bill Slater at the Internet Movie Database