Thomas Cowan (broadcaster)

Thomas H. Cowan (1884 - November 8, 1969) was a 20th-century radio announcer, one of the first to broadcast from Newark radio station WJZ. He became known for his role in doing the play-by-play of the first Baseball World Series game to be broadcast, on October 5, 1921. (Evidence suggests he recreated the game from the WJZ studio, rather than doing live play-by-play from the ballpark.[1] He became the chief announcer for the country's first city owned and non-commercial radio station in the United States, New York City’s WNYC, from its first broadcast in 1925. Throughout the years he was the announcer “for the myriad of parades, receptions and celebrations from the 1920s through the 1950s, especially early on when athletes and aviators came to town ( New York City) after making or breaking world records.”[2] Since his career in radio spanned 40 years until his retirement in 1961 at age 77, he was the oldest active announcer in the radio community at the time.

  1. ^ Pat Hughes. "Voices of the Game." Baseball Hall of Fame
  2. ^ "Radio Pioneer Tommy Cowan Announces a Parade if History". WNYC. Retrieved May 10, 2013.