Voice of the hydroplanes zooms onto small screen

Pat O'Day is heading back to the races.

O'Day, the voice of the hydroplanes for 36 years, thought his days calling the Seafair races were over when he found out another radio announcer was hired for the job. Instead, he'll be trading his radio microphone for a spot in front of the cameras on KIRO-TV.

KIRO officials called to offer him the job yesterday, one day after the station found out that Infinity Broadcasting had hired veteran announcer Steve Montgomery to lead its radio team.

"This is just a wonderful surprise. This is thrilling," said O'Day, a legendary local disc jockey who has received honors from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. "I just feel lucky to be part of the race, which is really the linchpin that holds Seafair together."

News that O'Day wouldn't be doing the play-by-play at the races, held Aug. 1-3, generated numerous outraged phone calls and e-mail to The Seattle Times. O'Day, 68, said he was flooded with calls from supporters, and was answering e-mail from his John L. Scott Real Estate office in Friday Harbor, San Juan County, when he got the job offer from Walt Farley, production manager for KIRO.

"The deliberation process was one or two seconds," O'Day said. "As long as it took to get the word 'yes' out of my mouth."

KIRO still is working out the details of what O'Day will be doing when the crew heads to Lake Washington for its live coverage of the General Motors Cup unlimited hydroplane race.

He'll be working with hosts Steve Raible, Mike Fitzsimmons and longtime hydroplane racer Chip Hanauer, according to KIRO spokeswoman Kristina Moy. She said he might cover Seafair's old boat races.

"Somebody with that long of a history should be part of the races," Moy said.

Co-host Hanauer agreed, and said O'Day is part of an era of announcers who didn't travel from city to city to cover races but "lived and breathed Seattle."

"A lot of us who grew up here grew up with that voice," said Hanauer, who raced hydros for 39 years. "Beyond the races, he is just part of the local fabric and the culture here."

He said O'Day may not always have perfect accuracy, but nobody can match his excitement.

Montgomery, a Seattle native and longtime announcer, said he thinks KIRO made a wise choice. "If I was KIRO-TV, I would do the same thing," he said. "Pat brings a lot to any broadcast or any speaking engagement he does."

Infinity, which will cover the races on three of its Seattle-area stations — KYCW-AM (1090), KZOK-FM (102.5) and KBKS-FM (106.1) — signed radio broadcasting rights in February.

O'Day previously had covered the races for KOMO-AM (1000), which chose not to seek broadcasting rights this year, according to Seafair officials.

O'Day insists he's not nervous about working for television, adding that his first Seafair broadcast, in 1967, was for local TV.

"I think it will be good to have a camera there," O'Day said. "People can determine for themselves whether or not I'm exaggerating the excitement."

Mary Spicuzza: 206-464-3192 or mspicuzza@seattletimes.com