Friday Night Voices is a limited series that highlights the longtime radio/streaming broadcasters of local football teams. These legends on airwaves have seen it all and have become synonymous with Friday night football across Northeast Georgia.
Multiple radio stations, streaming networks, and even tape-delay broadcasts make up the resume and highlight reel of Tim Whitmire. Ask any Dawson County or Lumpkin County fan, and they won’t hesitate to tell you that Tim’s voice is the one they have long considered part of their tradition.
“I value the opportunities to create memories for today’s athletes and give them the opportunity to talk on air,” says Whitmire. “We didn’t have that growing up. My goal is to promote Dawson and Lumpkin athletes. Sticking a mic in their face and preparing them for leadership, a passive mentoring, so to speak. It’s what I love to do.”
Whitmire, 63, was born in Cumming but is Dawsonville through and through and is in his 35th season of calling games. Though the outlet has changed, along with the medium, he’s been a constant voice for the Tigers and Indians.
A winding path comes full circle
“I always wanted to do this,” states Tim quickly. “Since I was a kid, I had no doubt. Listening to Braves announcer Milo Hamilton, I’d be imitating him and the great Larry Munson. You have to develop your own style, which took me a few years to do that. But I always wanted to do it – there’s very few full-time careers in that, but I still made it a big part of my life.”
Whitmire’s journey saw him play for the Dawson County Tigers football team, graduating in 1980. He was a starter from his sophomore year on, playing center, long snapper, linebacker, and defensive end. A tennis letterman, he was also the sports editor for the school paper. That passion in sports led to him to helping do radio updates, providing stats, scores, and reports. He worked at Wide 107 and later WFOX.
“That was a predecessor to me getting a start in it,” recalls Whitmire, adding that he made five dollars per week to go live on the radio, even after his own high school games.
He went from Dawson to UGA, starting out as a journalism major before switching to obtain his BA in Management Information Systems. In 1984, he began working for NCR Corporation, which he remained with for 41 years until retiring in 2024. He was a leader in sales tools and technologies. That was his day job, but his passion never wavered to spend countless nights and hours broadcasting Dawson, Lumpkin, North Forsyth, and others in football, basketball, softball, baseball, and other events.
“Some people have a Friday night band — my Friday night band was broadcasting football,” says Tim.
Elected to the Dawson County Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023, Tim has had a massive impact on the community. His service even includes a stint on the Board of Education in his late 20s, and his group was responsible for approving the new Dawson County High School.
Paper, radio, TV…the words still stick the same
Tim started writing for the Dawson Advertiser in 1978, and was a stringer for the Gainesville Times. Phil Jackson, the editor then at the Gainesville Times, was also the radio voice of the Gainesville Red Elephants. He tabbed Tim to provide photos and recaps for the paper while he was still in his playing days in high school.
That coincided with his radio work with Wide 107. He continued writing for the Dawson News until going to college, and eventually stopped writing around 1992 to go devote his efforts to broadcasting. Over the years, he’s switched from play-by-play to color, and back again.
From doing some PA work for the Dawson football games, he began calling games for WKZD 1330 (now Glory FM) in 1991. His first game was a big one, as the Tigers beat Buford 14-13 in their only win to date over the Wolves. He called football and basketball for Glory FM for three or four years before a year at WHEL (covering North Hall and White County games), then did tape-delay games for WDGR AM (Dahlonega).
His relationships extended to Standard/Alltel/Windstream cable, doing tape-delay broadcasts for Dawson and Lumpkin with the likes of Jon Moon and the late Mark Mote. Aside from Dawson and Lumpkin, UNG basketball, Hayesville, White County, and others were part of this coverage. Once the new millennium was ushered in, it wasn’t much longer before Tim found his way to Thunder 104.3 (then Gold 104.3).
Along with his longtime partner and best friend, Bo Wilson, Tim began to truly take off from 2001 to the present day. That span includes more than a dozen years with Thunder 104.3 and his current creation, North Georgia SportsLink. NGSL was founded by Tim and Bo in 2014 on New Year’s Day and is now running strong nearly 12 years later.
The Tim & Bo years and the birth of NGSL
Bo, who is now the Sports Director at Access WDUN, started with Tim at WDGR on cablecast, doing a Saturday show while in college. He joined up with Tim in 1998, and in 2001, they made a proposal to 104.3 to rent out time. The duo built their own sponsor support, and their Friday nights with Dawson and Lumpkin was so popular, they began to add basketball. Every Friday night, Tim and Bo had Dawson County or Lumpkin County football and basketball.
Bo was the station manager and eventually took over play-by-play duties for football, as Tim did more color. They’d still split the PBP duties some, and they garnered a couple of Gabby Awards for Outstanding Broadcast of the Year and Sports Series of the Year.
The good times rolled until 2013 at Thunder 104. Then a series of events triggered the birth of NGSL. They were off air for one week, then the North Forsyth Raider Network called Tim about doing a video broadcast.
“Streaming was becoming the new sensation, and we had some great numbers,” says Tim. “Bo and I put our heads together and at first came up with a newsletter on January 1, 2014. Hundreds signed up immediately.”
That morphed into a sports media outlet that streams and broadcasts games, and users can listen and/or watch live or on demand. NGSL has been a go-to Dawson, Lumpkin, and North Forsyth for many years since. Tim’s work with Bo goes back decades, and they’ve become as close as brothers.
“We’re best friends,” says Tim. “From day one I was mentoring him, and we mentored each other. We have a very complementary broadcasting chemistry. We know what the other one is going to say. I value his friendship. He’s like a little brother to me. We have what I like to think is impeccable broadcast chemistry.”
“Well, does a phone call almost every day answer the question?” jokes Bo when asked how close they were. “Seriously, though, the much older brother I never had – a mentor, one of my best friends, a business partner, and a person to bounce things off, both professionally and personally. Tim took me under his wing as an 18-year-old kid, eager to be on the radio. He was the biggest reason I got a start in radio. Since then, we have traveled in every direction to broadcast games throughout the state.”
Their answers prove the chemistry, as both were asked separately and in a different way about their relationship. Uncanny…
Bo, 46, is a Dawsonville native who graduated from Dawson County in 1997 and played as a lineman on the football team.
Unforgettable memories
Asking Tim and Bo about their favorite games, you get several, as it can’t be just one.
“There’s so many – I’d have to narrow it down to two,” says Tim. “On cablevision, when Dawson football was starting to arrive, defeating Wesleyan in 1999, making the playoffs. Dawson won against Trion. That was a fun night. And calling the Lumpkin County girls’ basketball state championship. Seeing the fun and being a part of their memories, that’s special. I think of seasons too, such as Dawson’s 2013 run in Sid Maxwell’s first year. Games like when Dawson basketball beat Buford in the Sweet 16 with Tyler Dominy.”
The players that come to mind first for Tim include Neal Cain, Coey Watson, and Dominy, all in football. Legendary coach Steve Sweat’s Dawson girls’ basketball teams and all his players are also atop Tim’s list. Sweat is Tim’s Sunday School Teacher, and Tim continues to value his relationships with coaches.
Bo has similar games and memories that stand out.
“There are several games I could put on here, but the 2015 season stands out—first region title in program history for Dawson and first trip to the Quarterfinals. But as far as a game, I’ve got to say the second round matchup against Spencer in 2015. Dawson lost star athlete Tucker Maxwell and RB Hunter Mitchell in the first half. The offense wasn’t the same without those two, which meant the defense had to stand up to preserve the win in the second half. I still believe to this day that if Tucker were healthy, they would have upset Blessed Trinity in the Quarterfinals.”
The list is long of Bo’s favorite Dawson and Lumpkin athletes he watched, though he admits, ‘I might get in trouble for this one.’
Cain, Watson, Benjy Edwards, Logan Walls, Maxwell, Brett Myers, Luke Martin, Sevaughn Clark for Dawson; Gabriel Jackson for Lumpkin.
Far more important than the names on the back is the name on the front of the jersey. To that end, Tim and Bo love that they’ve had the chance to call games for their alma mater.
“You get caught up in the emotion of winning and the disappointment of losing,” says Tim. “I’m a big-time homer as a broadcaster. I get very excited about what goes on. I’m always thinking, ‘How can I create a memory for these kids that they can listen to and be excited about?.’ They will still quote a call I made. Coaches will repeat some of my favorite calls.”
“Obviously, it meant a lot,” adds Bo on getting to call Dawson games. “Everyone who wants to be in sports broadcasting just wants to jump in somewhere. For eight of the 20 years, I did radio and newspaper at the same time. I was lucky enough to work for a company that allowed me to moonlight on the radio as well as cover for the paper. So, naturally, I found myself on the Dawson radio crew. But I think as a former player, it meant more to me; knowing what those guys go through every day in practice and in a game made me a better broadcaster. Overall, though, there was a sense of pride every time I took the air. I knew when we were on the air, our listeners wanted to hear what we had to say. The fact that we could get them on the edge of their seats because they cared so deeply about the program — and we did, too — was the biggest reason I wanted to be on the radio each week. And even though I’m not on the Dawson County radio crew anymore, I still take the same pride with me every Friday night. To get our listeners involved in the broadcast – on the edge of their seats – and to promote the athletes is why I do this job!”
‘Here’s what I’m looking at…’
Tim’s signature line or phrase is ‘here’s what I’m looking at’ as he unveils the scene for listeners. He also adds ‘until next time, folks, so long’ to that short list. So how much longer can we enjoy hearing those lines?
“As long as my health and mind will allow me,” says a choked-up Tim. “That one’s emotional. I don’t want to be bad on air, sticking around, and not being a good broadcaster. The time will come when my mind can’t keep up or my mouth slurs. One agreement I have with Bo is that when I start sounding bad, he has to tell me. I told him to make me stop. The respect the community shows you, and the support is there. At some point, health will say it’s time to stop.”
That point is not now. Tim’s got a lot of games ahead of him, so if you haven’t yet, do yourself a favor and tune in to NGSL for a Dawson or Lumpkin game to catch a legend calling for a game and community he loves.
