Graham McNamee was born on July 10, 1888, in Washington, District of Columbia. He was the only child of Annie (Liebold) and John Bernard McNamee. Both parents were natives of Ohio; his paternal great-grandfather, James Bernard McNamee, had emigrated in 1835 from Tyrone County, Ireland, to Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
John McNamee, a lawyer, served during President Cleveland's first administration as legal adviser to Secretary of the Interior Lucius Q. C. Lamar. In 1894, he moved to St. Paul, Minn. , where he became counsel for the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Education
Graham McNamee received a conventional education in the St. Paul public schools. After graduating from high school, he played semi-professional hockey and baseball and worked briefly as a clerk for the Great Northern Railroad and as a house-to-house salesman.
His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but his mother, who played the piano and sang in local church choirs, favored a musical career. At her insistence, he took piano and singing lessons. When his father died, about 1912, he and his mother moved first to Weehawken, New Jersey, and then to New York City, where McNamee studied voice under several well-known teachers.
He sang in churches, appeared with light and grand opera companies, and on November 22, 1920, made his debut as a concert singer at New York's Aeolian Hall.
Career
McNamee entered the still-young radio industry in 1923 when, out of curiosity, he wandered into station WEAF in New York City. Intrigued by what he saw, he applied for a job; his clear, vibrant speaking voice impressed the program manager, and he was hired as an announcer. McNamee's coverage of sports events, such as the 1923 World Series, early attracted attention, particularly his colorful filling-in during pauses between innings or plays.
He reported not merely the game itself but the entire panorama: spectator, athlete, stadium, weather, and even the local flora. Using similar techniques, he and Phillips Carlin broadcast the proceedings of the two national political conventions in 1924, the first such broadcasts in American history.
In 1927, now the best-known announcer in the industry, McNamee described the 1927 Rose Bowl football game over the first coast-to-coast hookup, and later that year he announced the arrival of Charles A. Lindbergh from Paris.
His trademarks were his salutation, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the radio audience, " and his sign-off, "Good night, all. " But it was his air of informality and his obvious delight in describing the events before him that especially appealed to his listeners. As his stature grew, McNamee's presence on a program attracted some of the biggest sponsors.
The new commercialism, however, required split-second timing of sales messages and tight program scheduling, leaving little leeway for McNamee's informal style. At about this time, also, his coverage of sports events began to be questioned, some listeners complaining of his inattention to the technical details of the game. Soon the sports specialists pushed McNamee aside. He remained, however, a popular general announcer.
During the 1930's, McNamee was radio's leading "master of ceremonies" for variety and humor programs, among them the RKO Hour, the Rudy Vallee Show, and the Texaco Program, starring Ed Wynn. At the same time, he was a staff announcer for the National Broadcasting Company on special events. He was also a regular narrator for Universal Newsreels, then a popular feature in movie houses.
McNamee died at the age of fifty-three of an embolism of the brain in St. Luke's Hospital, New York City. He was buried in the family plot in Calvary Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio.
Achievements
Personality
A nervous, excitable man, McNamee was shy and hesitant in private conversation.
Interests
McNamee's hobbies included golf and motoring.
Connections
On May 3, 1921, McNamee had married Josephine Garrett of Macomb, Illinois, a soprano whom he had met on a concert program. They were divorced in February 1932, and on January 20, 1934, he married Ann Lee Sims, the daughter of a planterin Rayville, Louisiana. There were no children by either marriage.