Legendary Detroit broadcaster Frank Beckmann died Saturday in a hospice following a battle with vascular dementia, he was 72.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the former WJR Radio host had been sick for nearly a year since his retirement from the station.
Beckmann began his career at WJR in 1973, starting as a sports talk show host. He would later go on to do play-by-play for the University of Michigan Football, the Detroit Lions, and the Detroit Tigers.
Beckmann was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and Michigan Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He would later evolve into a conservative talk show host.
“He knew how to press the professionals, so they didn’t disassemble or reflect,” WJR host Guy Gordon told the paper. “He would nurse the novices through their nervousness.”
Never one to shy away from a good debate on the air, Beckmann famously took on fellow WJR host Mitch Albom for 30 minutes over Albom’s support for Michigan’s film tax credits.
Gordon referred to Beckmann as the “the Swiss Army knife of broadcasters.”
“With the equanimity to moderate a panel discussion, the focus, and spontaneity to handle play-by-play, and the sharpened instincts of a reporter,” he added.
Beckmann is survived by Karen, son Jonathan of Rochester Hills, daughter Tori (Andrew) Kughn of Clarkston, and grandchildren Pierson, Brooks, and Sawyer Kughn.
