Man Behind the Mike: Scott Clark (1970)

Here is another great entry into our series of "Man Behind the Mike" features from Wrestling Revue magazine in the 1960s and 1970s. This one appears to reference a TV show and host that very little is known about. WKTR was the call sign for a station in Dayton, Ohio from 1967-1971. It was broadcast on UHF channel 16 and was a part-time affiliate for the ABC TV network.

For at least some of that time, wrestling was taped and/or broadcast from there at the local studios. It's not clear if this local Dayton, OH, show was affiliated with one of the major pro-wrestling offices at that time. A quick Google search led to no further information about the show or Scott Clark. So we're glad this little piece of wrestling history survives.

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MEET SCOTT CLARK - MAN BEHIND THE MIKE
Wrestling Revue - August 1970

Scott Clark, the man who comes up with all the exciting commentary on the Live TV wrestling over station WKTR-TV in Dayton, Ohio, is just as avid a wrestling fan as are the thousands of viewers who watch his show each week. This is one reason that he has become such a favorite with the listeners. He is more one of them than he is a broadcaster.

"I love wrestling," Scott is proud to say, and this comes across in his commentary on the matches. Not only does he love wrestling but he knows it, as he was an outstanding amateur and collegiate wrestler.

Scott Clark conducts an interview on WKTR in Dayton, OH

Born some 34 years ago in Long Beach, Calif., Scott grew up in Medford, Oklahoma, and went on to Oklahoma State, a hotbed of college wrestling where this 6 ft.-1 200-pounder was a member of the wrestling team. He later transferred to the University of Southern California, and upon his graduation returned to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he became a radio announcer at KSPI.

Clark moved on to Dallas, Texas, and Los Angeles as an announcer and then served two years with the U.S. Army from 1959 to 1961. Upon his discharge Lt. Clark switched over to television with station KRLD in Dallas, and moved on as a producer to KPHO-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1962.

In 1963 Clark became program director for a number of local stations that hooked up to form their own network in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Scott left there in 1965 to join station KARD-TV in Wichita, Kansas, as a producer-director of talent and in January, 1968 he became production manager of WKTR in Dayton. A few months ago, when live wrestling came to WKTR, it didn't take Scott long to find a perfect man to handle the job behind the mike — who else but wrestling "nut" Scott Clark.

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Thanks to Carroll Hall at the All-Star Championship Wrestling website for providing these great articles about the wrestling broadcasters to us.

Earlier "Man Behind the Mike" features:
Bob Caudle - Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (1965)
George Abel - St. Louis Wrestling (1965)

TV Station reference.