Rod Roddy
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| Rod Roddy | |
 Rod Roddy on the 32nd season premiere (one of his last television appearances) of The Price Is Right.
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| Born | September 28, 1937 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |
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| Died | October 27, 2003 (aged 66) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Announcer |
Robert Ray "Rod" Roddy (September 18, 1937 – October 27, 2003) was an American radio and television announcer.[1] He is known primarily for his role as an offstage announcer on game shows. Among the shows that he announced are the CBS game shows Press Your Luck and The Price Is Right. On the latter, he succeeded original announcer Johnny Olson and held the role from 1986 until his death in 2003.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early beginnings
After graduating from Texas Christian University, Roddy was a disc jockey and talk show host on KLIF and KNUS-FM (Dallas, Texas). He also worked overnights and middays at the Buffalo, New York radio station WKBW AM and at other high-profile stations. During his time at KLIF and KNUS during the 1970's, Roddy hosted a call-in program, "Rod Roddy's Hotline," whose controversial host and topics made Roddy a frequent target of death threats. He conducted a long-running on-air feud with an elderly woman, dubbed "Granny Hate" by an earlier host, who claimed to represent the local Ku Klux Klan. Roddy was also an early--for Dallas--supporter of gay rights.
[edit] Roddy's career
Roddy announced the situation comedy Soap (1977–1981), where he provided the opening and closing narration: "Confused? You won't be after this week's episode of Soap!"
Rod's first work as a game show announcer was on Whew!, which aired from 1979 to 1980. From there, he went on to announce several other game shows, including Battlestars (1981–1982), Love Connection (1983–1985, 1986), Hit Man (1983) and Press Your Luck (1983–1986). Roddy also voiced the character Mike the Microphone who introduced Mickey Mouse at the beginning of every episode of Disney's animated TV series House of Mouse.
[edit] The Price Is Right
After Goodson-Todman announcer Johnny Olson died in October 1985, Roddy was chosen as one of several substitute announcers (along with Rich Jeffries, Bob Hilton, and Gene Wood) to announce The Price is Right. Despite only announcing for six episodes (the least number of the four), on February 17, 1986 he became the show's regular announcer. Roddy was actually the producers' second choice to replace Olson[citation needed]. their first choice, Hilton, was instead committed to hosting a game show called Bamboozle, which did not pass the pilot stage.
He later adopted a rigorous diet and exercise program. Overweight for much of his adult life, the program resulted in Roddy's loss of close to 200 pounds, an accomplishment often hailed by Barker on camera.[citation needed] With his weight loss regimen becoming a much-lauded success, he was frequently shown on-camera while he announced "the next contestant on The Price is Right", and was occasionally featured in showcase skits.
Roddy was also noted for wearing brightly colored and sequined sport jackets. He first wore pastel jackets made in Hong Kong, and with the encouragement of Bob Barker, turned them into a trademark. Preferring Thai silk for its colorfulness, he traveled to Bangkok several times a year to have new clothing custom-made. He would also frequently travel to Thailand as the official ambassador to Chiang Mai.[2]
Beginning in 2002, Rod's on-camera appearances were eliminated from The Price is Right. Officially, it was claimed[citation needed] that it was against FremantleMedia broadcasting standards for announcers to appear on camera, a policy that was reversed shortly after Roddy died, which has led to confirmation that the "policy" was no more than a fabrication.
[edit] Illness and death
On September 11, 2001, Roddy was diagnosed with colon cancer, and in March 2003, he was diagnosed with breast cancer as well. The diagnoses led Roddy to become a spokesperson for early detection of cancer in his last years. In an interview with CBS, Roddy commented to the general public, "I could have prevented all this with a colonoscopy, and of course, that's the campaign I've been on since I had the first surgery. To everybody out there, get a mammogram! It can happen to men, too."[3]
While ill with cancer for over two years, Roddy continued to announce for The Price Is Right for as long as he was able to, up until his last hospitalization two months before his death on October 27, 2003. When he was away, several substitute announcers filled in for him, most often Burton Richardson and Randy West. Rod Roddy's final announced episode aired on October 20, 2003, just one week before his death. He is interred at Greenwood Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas. [4]
[edit] References
- ^ "Rod Roddy" CBS. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- ^ "Rod Roddy" AVClub. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- ^ "Rod Roddy Medical Update"[dead link] CBS. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- ^ "Rod Roddy" Find A Grave. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
[edit] External links
Media offices
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