“Friday Night Voices” is a limited edition series that highlights the longtime radio/streaming broadcasters of area high school football teams. These local legends of the airwaves have seen it all and called it all, and along the way have become synonymous with Friday night football across Northeast Georgia.
When you close your eyes and think of the big games, plays, and performances in Stephens County High School football history over the past quarter-century, chances are you can see those moments unfold in your mind. Maybe you were there in person. Perhaps you saw video highlights. Or, it’s possible, you were among the many who tuned in and heard Ken Brady and Buzz Tatham describe those moments live over the radio.
The Indians’ broadcast duo on WNEG is now in its 26th season calling Stephens County games together. For Ken, it’s been 28 consecutive years. He’s the play-by-play guy, with his good friend Buzz right beside him providing color commentary. We’ll do the math for you – since the Marist playoff game in 1999, if you’ve tuned in every Friday night to catch Stephens County football on the radio, you’ve heard them call 288 games.
Now, that’s dedication.
How it all began for Ken
Ken Brady and Buzz Tatham are both Toccoa natives. Brady, 65, graduated from Stephens County High School in 1977. He left to pursue degrees at Young Harris College and the University of Georgia. He fine-tuned his craft in the process and was hired full-time at WNEG Radio in 1981.
“I grew up listening to legendary Lynn Pitts calling football and basketball games at WLET,” recalls Brady. “I began to enjoy hearing play-by-play, and starting in radio at 17 years old, I always enjoyed football.”
Brady got his own chance at the sport back in the late 80s. The now-defunct WNEG TV Channel 32 in Toccoa recorded Friday Night Under the Lights for playback on Tuesday, days after the games. Charles Head and Mack Poss hosted the show, and in 1987, Poss was preparing for the birth of his first child.
“I remember them calling, ‘Hey Ken, can you substitute for Mack?’” Brady recalls. “‘I’ll give it a try,’” he remembers telling TV32.
A month later, Ken and his wife Karen—his high school sweetheart—excitedly anticipated the birth of their own child. According to Brady, their son Josh was kind enough not to interfere with the broadcast schedule.
That was the beginning for Brady. He became WNEG’s go-to sub for a while. In 1992, Head moved on to other things, and in 1998, WNEG Radio picked up night games for Stephens County. Before that, the also now-defunct WLET Radio broadcast the games live.
Though Brady didn’t play football himself, he wrote about the games in high school for the Toccoa Record, and as a senior started doing radio work, reporting on both football and basketball.
The beginning for Buzz
Buzz Tatham’s broadcast journey mirrors Brady’s. Now 75, he, too, went to Young Harris College before going to UGA. In addition, he attended Piedmont College (now Piedmont University) in Demorest. Tatham began his radio career in 1969 at WLET at the age of 15. He moved to WNEG in 1972.
The color commentator for the Stephens County football games, Tatham, has a rich athletic history. While he first went to coach with the legendary Ray Lamb at Commerce, he came back to Stephens to coach football and basketball, which he did from 1981 to 1998.
“You don’t outgrow Toccoa, you just grow into it and stay there,” says Tatham, who found his way back to where he started.
He coached with the likes of Rodney Walker and Jay Russell. He called games on the radio and TV alongside Poss, and eventually got the chance to team up with Brady.
“I don’t know that it was a passion,” admits Tatham. “I got drafted by Ken; it’s one of those deals, I was to be in the box just to give him an idea of what’s going on. I didn’t actively pursue it, but I just didn’t want to say something to get Ken fired.”
The tandem of Brady and Tatham was officially formed in 1999 during Stephens County’s playoff game at Marist. Buzz was called to step in and never looked back.
A tight bond on and off the air
Ken Brady and Buzz Tatham are always mentioned together when you talk about Stephens County broadcasts. Their close relationship has been built over many years, and that bond echoes through the airwaves.
“We just get along so well,” says Brady. “We’ve been together on the radio, enjoy making road trips, and telling funny stories. I love Buzz’s old coaching stories and imitations of Rodney Walker. He has great insight, and he’s just a joy to be around. We just work well together.”
Tatham has called games featuring the kids and even grandkids of players he once coached. He doesn’t have to squint to see the similarities between himself and his play-by-play partner.
“In Toccoa, everybody knows everybody,” says Tatham. “We didn’t overlap in high school, but we worked at the radio station together. We’ve got similar backgrounds with Young Harris, UGA, and of course, Stephens County. It brings a uniqueness; we weren’t outside hires. We grew up here together.”
That familiarity makes for a better broadcast, as the two play off each other throughout the game. As Brady describes the action in play-by-play, Tatham is giving particulars that add another perspective.
“As I’m describing the action, I rely on Buzz to give insight on the offense and defense and enlighten the listener,” says Brady. “Together, we like to accentuate the good and not the bad. We want to give credit when something good happens. Buzz is my navigator on road games. He handles putting up the banner and equipment. He even programmed on his iPad a way to track stats. Here he is doing stats, color commentating, all of it. He’s multi-talented. I don’t know how he does it.”
Buzz is hard at work during the broadcast, and he knows what his role is in telling the story.
“I try to say why it occurred the way it did, and what may happen next,” says Tatham. “Being on the sidelines all those years, I can get better reads, and it’s kind of fun to see a play unfold from up in the box.”
Favorite memories
Ask both men their favorite game or most memorable, and you get two different answers. For Brady, it’s distinct.
“The most memorable one was when Stephens had Tauren Poole in 2007, and they were in a second-round playoff game at home against Chamblee,” he recalls. “That game is known as the ‘Chamblee Shootout (58-57 final in favor of Chamblee). 115 points at The Reservation, that’s a record. That game just kept going, kept going, and kept going. I was very tired, and it was emotional for us up in the box, and just wanting Stephens to come out on top. Poole and QB Ethan Martin were so good. It was a loss, but exciting and close. I also fondly remember a game at Franklin County, where a medical emergency happened on the field, and Buzz takes off while we’re live, as he had to put his administrator duties above the broadcast.”
Ask Buzz about his top moment or memory, and it’s a recurring event.
“I have a favorite moment, and it’s recurring,” says Tatham. “A lot of times, depending on field formation and field location, you can sense a scoring play before it happens, as it occurs in real time. I can see a block that springs a runner or a receiver slip open. ‘There he goes – it’s a touchdown’ – you see the mechanics come together, and you can see a score coming. It’s something that you see, and it’s the favorite moments that I continually have.”
Asking each broadcaster their favorite player standouts over the years, notable names surface.
“Tauren Poole, he was so strong up the middle,” says Brady. “Chaz Thornton, who had great speed. There’ve been so many, it’s hard to pick out. Just off the top of my head, those two because I remember getting excited to just see them run.”
“I’m going to coward out on that one,” chimes in Tatham. “The waters get muddy when I go back to the players I coached. If I start naming one, I’ll name another, another, another. There are so many folks that played their hearts out at Stephens County.”
Of the other memorable moments or games, rivalry games against Habersham Central and Hart County are at the forefront.
“There was a time in Stephens County history, we could not get Habersham on the schedule,” recalls Tatham. “That first home one with Habersham in ‘71 was the largest crowd ever at The Reservation, except maybe the 1988 state title game. There’s so many folks related to those across to another county. It’s intensely emotional. I’m glad it’s in place, and I hope it continues to be.”
“I remember that Habersham and Stephens game with [AJ] Curry and the score was back-and-forth, back-and-forth, back-and-forth — that was amazing,” exclaims Brady of the 2017 showdown, a 49-46 Indians win at John Larry Black Field. “Great game. And there were several big games on the other end against Hart County when CC Morrison scored in a really low-scoring game.”
What’s next?
The obvious question often unasked when you have such long-time pillars doing what they do best is – how much longer do you plan on doing this? The more appropriate question is what keeps you going?
“I thoroughly enjoy it – I go back to listening to Lynn Pitts on the radio when I was 11-12 years old,” says Brady. “I recall saying, ‘I wish I could do that someday.’ My hope is that other people can hear the game – the band, the cheerleaders, the crowd that comes through, the atmosphere. We try to take those people along with us. It’s so gratifying. To have people that say, ‘Ken, I couldn’t make it to the game because of this or that, but I felt like I was there.’”
“That’s what keeps me coming back for Friday nights,” adds Tatham. “As long as I don’t say something to get Ken fired, that’s my goal. Maybe five years ago, I stated that we’re a package deal – when he retires, I’m gone too.”
For everyone’s sake, let’s hope that’s not anytime soon.
