TV Flashback-Marty Wyatt added to KVI sports crew

September 1971 Excerpts from a Georg Meyers/Seattle Times column- Marty Wyatt was added this season to the KVI crew of Bob Robertson and Frank Greif. Marty believes he is the only black announcer on a radio staff broadcasting major-college football.”I’ve checked around,” Wyatt said. “As far as I can find out, there is no other.”

It was a long haul for Simeon Martin Wyatt, 3rd, from Husky half-back to sportscaster. Marty brought minimal experience but un-concealable talent to Washington as a 1961 transfer from California’s Vallejo Junior College. After a shoulder injury, Marty returned to Seattle from a Calgary team and signed on as “a drive-time disk jockey” with KZAM-FM, the city’s first black radio station. Four months later, he was an infantryman, training for a trip to Vietnam. Marty returned to Seattle and joined Joe Jones on the staff of radio station KYAC.

Wyatt became sales manager, conducted a talk show and ran his own “Marty’s Party,” a rhythm-and-blues program. “Then I went into business ‘for myself,'” Marty said, and winced. Marty could not shake a nagging urge to be a sports announcer. His old Husky coach, Jim Owens, steered him to KVI. “I called him up and told him about my background in broadcasting,” Marty said. “He put me in touch with the station.

“ON THE AIR, Marty strives to answer questions beyond the play-by-play progress. “Bob Robertson doesn’t leave a lot of questions,” Wyatt said. “He officiates high-school football, you know. There isn’t much about the game he doesn’t know. I try to deal with the overall trends in offense and defense. I try to put technicalities into nontechnical language. “With a booming, authoritative bass voice, Wyatt sounds both casual and knowledgeable. “Anyway, I hope I do,” he said. His face is youthful at 30.