Andy Lindahl interview

The first time I heard Andy Lindahl was on a CD of the 850 KOA radios afternoon show with Dave Logan and Scott Hastings called- Zoo You Hear What I Hear. Back then the afternoon show was called the Sports Zoo. I got this cd from a friend of mine who knew how much I loved listening to 850 KOA. This was my first extended exposure to the Sports Zoo. I had listened a little bit during the summer before I got the CD, but this CD turned me into more of a fan. When I first heard Andy Lindahl, he was playing a character called Angry Andy. I wasn’t sure if that was real or if it was just a character he was playing. Over the years I have heard him doing sports reports on the afternoon show, and I found out that he was just playing the character. Andy could be humorous during the Sports Zoo and the Ride Home. Andy was also the sideline reporter for the CU Buffaloes games. He did that from 2006-2008. After that he became the home sideline announcer for the Bronco games. Now he has his own show on KDSP radio 760 from 3 PM to 6 PM and he has a one hour show on 850 KOA radio from 7 PM-8 PM. He is also now the sideline announcer for the Denver Broncos for all games. He has a very busy job. KOA radio has put out a couple of other CDs, and on them were also a couple of tracks of Andy playing the character of Angry Andy. After wanting to meet Andy for a long time, I finally got the opportunity to meet him the week after my birthday in September. Andy was doing a remote broadcast at the Haufbrau Steak house with Romi Bean. They were both very nice and welcoming as was the rest of the staff. The Haufbrau has a great burger by the way. A couple of weeks later I finally got to interview him. I am going to share that this week. As you read, he suggests I start a podcast. What do you think? I welcome all your opinions.Jeremy Levy: I first started listening to you back in 2003 or 2004. I first heard you on the Zoo You Hear What I Hear CD as Angry Andy, but is that where you got your start Would you please give a history of how you got your start?Andy Lindahl: That was probably my first on air job Jeremy, was playing Angry Andy. Dave Logan and Scott Hastings hosted the Sports Zoo, and I was their producer. Being their producer meant that I got to help them decide what we were going to talk about that day. I also had to call guests when they would have guests on the show. I also answered calls as well. The Angry Andy thing was to get them to laugh. That started as an off air thing and they were having so much fun with it they decided to have me on the air.JL: That is an interesting start. I have heard you say that you went to school where Dave Logan coached. How much insight did that give you into being the side line reporter for the Denver Bronco’s now?AL: I went to high school at Mullen High School. I also called Mullen games when Dave Logan was the coach. I played a little football in college. I also played lacrosse for 25 years. I was on some lacrosse teams. I used to play in these summer tournaments. I got too play against the Gate Brothers who were a pretty famous lacrosse team, and they were a lot better than I was. It gave me some good insight as to how good professional athletes are. I tried out for an indoor football team with a buddy. He was the quarter back, and I was the receiver. He wanted someone familiar to throw the football too. That gave me some good insight on what it was like to go through a football try out. It’s talking with people like Dave Logan and Scott Hastings. I am really good friends with Mark Shlereth. Guys like that have taught me the professional side of football. Mark watches the football tape with me, and shows me the different plays. He has taught me how to call football. My job is the color guy. My job as the color guy is to watch every play, how the blocking lined up did the receivers get open? That kind of thing. Dave being the main play by play guy will tell you where the ball is going or went. You just need to talk to a lot of the guys, and they will tell you how it is. When you have been an athlete you understand more what it is like to compete. You understand how it feels to lose. I lost the state championship in High School my senior year and that was gut wrenching. I have sympathy for these guys when I have to go and talk with them after a loss after a football game. For example, after the 2012 playoff loss to the Ravens, players like Ronnie Hillman were shocked that they had lost that game. When you know how that guy feels you have some sympathy for him. You want to conduct the interview so that they are not mad at you.JL: I know that you have covered a couple of Super Bowls. Would you have a couple of games or interviews that you could share?AL: Jeremy, you probably know this because you have been listening for so long, but for your readers who don’t know, I grew up here in Colorado. When I was a kid I watched the 1970’s Super Bowl, and watched everyone ever since. It was cool to be in New York for the 2013 Super Bowl. During the 2013 Super Bowl, as you might remember, the Bronco’s couldn’t get a drive going. When the ball went over Manning’s head on the first snap, I thought that isn’t how you want to start a game. I also can remember thinking if they can just get that one drive going then they might be able to get back in the game. During that season when they got their first drive going they were unstoppable. During half time that particular year I went up to the broadcast booth. Usually during a game I sit on the bench during half time. When I came down the elevator and came out of the tunnel I saw Percy Harvin taking it to the house for a touchdown. That was hard. I remember being in the locker room that day. No one wanted to talk. Terence Knighton (Pot Roast) was the only one that was willing to talk to me. I appreciated him for that. When you are on radio row you get to meet a lot of cool former football players. We stay in the team hotel when we are on the road. After that Super Bowl, Ed McCaffrey and I went into the room where they were supposed to be having the celebration party. We just talked about the game. We also talked about some of his memories. He had never lost a Super Bowl as a player (he played for the Broncos, 49ers, and Giants. We must have stayed up until 3 in the morning just talking about that game. The other memory that I have is riding down the elevator with Terrell Davis. Terrell told me that if the Broncos didn’t get a running game going that they would never be a championship team. That stuck with me when the Bronco’s got back to the Super Bowl last year. They had CJ Anderson and a real running game. I remember having a really good feeling. That week, I got to meet Boomer Esiason who was nice. One of my favorite interviews was meeting a famous actor from the movie Independence Day- Bill Pullman. Hall of Famer Jerry Rice was sitting at the table. Jerry and Ed had played together when he was a 49er. Bill was waiting for his turn, and I could see that Bill wanted to say something to Jerry. He just started asking fan questions of Jerry Rice. Ed and I just sat back with all of the fans around us. That was a lot of fun. As far as the game that year, I remember Cam Newton warming up in our area of the field. I asked my friend Ryan Harris if that upset him. He said yes it did. Cam had no business warming up on our side of the field. He should have stayed on his side of the field. I started getting nervous later in the game, if the Panthers get one drive, this whole game could change. At the end of the game I looked at Romi Bean, who is a friend of mine. She had this look of excitement on her face. That’s when it all sunk in that the Broncos were going to win the game. My most favorite memory is the selfie that Antonio Smith and I took. Chris Harris and I also took a selfie together.JL: Before you started side line reporting for the Broncos you were the side line reporter for the CU Buffaloes. What insight did that give you?AL: I was at CU when the team wasn’t so good. I covered the last year of Dan Hawkins and the first year of Jon Embree. It is amazing how much faster the regular game is than the college game. When you go and watch the professionals from the side lines, and then you go and watch the college players from the side lines it seems like they are running in mud. Not everyone is big and fast in college as they are in the NFL. One of my favorite memories was when quarterback Tyler Hanson led the Buffaloes to a road victory in Utah. I loved him. I was so proud of him. A lot of people don’t know the mess that happened that year with taking him out of the game and putting Coach Hawkins son in the game. Being able to interview Tyler was a wonderful opportunity. Play by play announcer Mark Johnson was always good to me. Mark and I would go to lunch with the team. We just had a lot of fun. To get to bond with your friends like that was really fun. People don’t know that game days are really crazy. There is a lot going on. I also got to see a lot of cities as well.JL: I bet that Larry Zimmer influenced you.AL: Yes, Larry Zimmer did inspire me. I obviously listened to Larry growing up as a kid. I remember in the early 1990’s when John Elway played and Larry Zimmer was calling the games. The offensive line wasn’t that good and I remember Larry saying here comes the snap, and John Elway was down. I could hear the resignation in his voice because he knew that year wasn’t going to be the year. It was really fun to do broadcasts with Larry. I was an intern at KOA back then, and Larry gave me some really good advice. The best advice I ever got from Larry is to play the football video games so you understand the different plays.JL: When you started sidelining for the Broncos home games, you were working with Allen Roach, and now you have taken over for Allen Roach as the every game sideline reporter. What is it like taking over from Allen Roach?AL: Allen and I were really good friends. Allen was my buddy. We would drive to the home games together. We would also do the pregame show for years. Allen was ready to be done with it during the 2013 season. The transition happened a year earlier than he would have wanted it to. Allen told me just go and take it over. I really appreciated what he taught me along the way.JL: What advice would you have for someone wanting to get into Colorado radio?AL: It’s an interesting time for us right now in radio. We are still trying to figure some things out. The internet has made things more interesting for us because we are doing more podcasts now. Also we are doing more social media. For example, when we have a player on we can put that on Facebook, and tell people to listen at that certain time to hear this player. You need to be patient. You are not going to make a lot of money right away. The job is great. You need to get into it for the right reasons. My best advice is don’t be too big for one job. Podcasting is a great way to get started. Start a podcast and have your friends critique it. That would be my best advice.I appreciated Andy’s insights. I love listening to his show and I hope his show is around for a long time. It was a pleasure meeting and getting to know Andy better.Thank you for tuning in.Jeremy Levy