| Rod Roddy | |
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 Rod Roddy on the 32nd season premiere (one of his last television appearances) of The Price Is Right. |
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| Born | Robert Ray Roddy September 28, 1937 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | October 27, 2003 (aged 66) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Announcer |
| Years active | 1975-2003 |
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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Early career
After graduating from Texas Christian University (TCU), 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, a big-signal station covering the Eastern Seabord of the U.S., and at other high-profile stations. Returning to KLIF and KNUS during the 1970s, 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.
Roddy announced the situation comedy Soap from 1977 to 1981 (replacing Casey Kasem), where he provided the opening and closing narration: "Confused? You won't be after this week's episode of Soap!"
Roddy'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 the popular 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.
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 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 Bamboozle (a To Tell The Truth-esque game show which did not pass the pilot stage).
Roddy 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, but also subject to some mild teasing as camera technicians distorted their lenses to show an elongated and overly-skinny Roddy intentionally distorted in the manner of a funhouse mirror when Barker would ask how much weight he has lost. 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 aiding the "Barker's Beauties".
Roddy was also noted for wearing brightly colored and sequined sport jackets, a practice he first adopted as a trademark when making personal appearances emceeing teen dances and concerts for WKBW in Buffalo in the 1960s. On Price he first wore pastel jackets made in Hong Kong, and with the encouragement of Bob Barker turned them into a staple of the show. 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]
In 2003, Roddy stopped appearing on-camera – first in nighttime with the fourth Military Salute during Season 30, then eliminated from daytime at the beginning of Season 31. (He still appeared on-stage at the end of each day's show, however on most days not early enough to be seen on CBS.)
Controversy
Officially, it was claimed that it was against FremantleMedia broadcasting standards for announcers to appear on camera – a policy that did not appear to be in effect when Roddy was not present (substitute announcers Paul Boland and Burton Richardson were both shown during Season 31) and was in fact reversed shortly after he died, which led to speculation that the "policy" was no more than a fabrication. This was confirmed by ex-model Holly Hallstrom in 2009.[3]
Hallstrom revealed that Bob Barker, who had fired Janice Pennington and Kathleen Bradley from Price in 2000 for testifying against him in lawsuits regarding Hallstrom's termination in 1995, responded to Roddy's wishes for a salary increase in early 2002 by removing all of the announcer's camera time (including his Showcase appearances, which had tapered off following his illnesses).
Roddy was shown one last time, looking noticeably thinner than he did at the end of Season 30, on the Season 32 Premiere in 2003.
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. | ” |
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 at the age of 66. When he was away, several substitute announcers filled in for him, most often Burton Richardson and Randy West; however, he was eventually replaced by Rich Fields in April 2004. 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.[5]
Roddy was given an 18-second tribute by Barker,[6] which was mocked by Howard Stern for its length. Craig Kilborn, then in his final season as host of The Late Late Show, paid tribute to Roddy (a frequent guest and friend of Kilborn's) in a lengthy clip montage to end the October 28, 2003 show.[7]
In a similar manner to the 18-second tribute, Roddy is mentioned a single time in Barker's autobiography, "Priceless Memories", when Barker lists the show's announcers since 1972.
References
- ^ "Rod Roddy" CBS. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- ^ "Rod Roddy" AVClub. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- ^ Retroality TV interview with Holly Hallstrom on Rod Roddy's life and career
- ^ "Rod Roddy Medical Update"[dead link] CBS. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- ^ "Rod Roddy" Find A Grave. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- ^ Bob Barker's tribute to Rod Roddy
- ^ Craig Kilborn's tribute to Rod Roddy
External links
Media offices
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