Background
Blackburn grew up in the Los Angeles area.
Blackburn grew up in the Los Angeles area.
He called games for the team on KOMO radio and KOMO-television, and later on KJR radio. His tenure with the included the team"s first season in 1967-1968 and its National Basketball Association Championship run in 1979, when the beat the Washington Bullets four games to one in a best-of-seven series. As a child, he was bedridden with tuberculosis.
While listening to college sports broadcasts, he dreamed of being behind the microphone.
Blackburn"s uncle had told him his strength was in his "loud voice," so a career in broadcasting seemed like a good idea. He managed to land a job at a California radio station and worked his way up.
Eventually, he landed a job with the Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League baseball team, and was part of the Beavers" broadcast duo with Rollie Truitt on station KWJJ for 18 years. During that time, Blackburn was also a play-by-play announcer for University of Oregon and Oregon State University (Ohio State University) football games in Portland, over the Tidewater Oil Company"s sports radio network.
In 1953 he became the sports director of KEX a station where he also had his own afternoon disc jockey show.
In 1957 he moved to KPOJ also doing the afternoon shift. In 1958 he moved to KXL and then back to KPOJ in 1959. When Ohio State University created its own sports radio network in the late 1950s, Blackburn became the radio voice of Oregon State football and basketball.
He was employed by the network flagship station, KEX of Portland.
In 2002, Blackburn was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame for his Special Contribution to Sports in Oregon. When the joined the National Basketball Association in 1967-1968, the team needed a play-by-play voice.
Blackburn applied, along with 110 other applicants, and got the job. Blackburn called most games solo during his first 20 years behind the microphone.
During the 1987-1988 season, KJR added Kevin Calabro to the broadcast team and the duo shared play-by-play responsibilities.
In 1992, Blackburn left in what he described as a "forced retirement". At that time, Calabro became the sole play-by-play voice and the team"s second solo play-by-play broadcaster. During his nearly 60 years on the air, Blackburn called over 7,000 sports events and 2,359 National Basketball Association games.
The vast majority with the Seattle As a broadcaster, Blackburn received comparable honors for his contributions to the over 25 years and, since he didn"t actually have a "number" to be retired, the retired his microphone.
He resided in Issaquah, Washington until his death on January 8, 2010.
