Growing up in Grants Pass, Ore., Jerry Allen loved sports, but only weighed 125 pounds in high school. After school, he worked at a record store and radio station KAGI, gaining first-hand broadcast experience doing the weather report. Within a few weeks he became the youngest DJ in Southern Oregon.
After graduation, Allen attended Southern Oregon College, studying for a teaching certificate. In May 1969 SOC started radio station KSOR. Allen did the inaugural broadcast for the new station using the radio name Jerry Smith.
For the next three years, Allen worked for KSOR while pursuing his certificate. In 1972, he transferred to KYJC radio in Medford, doing play-by-play for Medford High School football. Then KOBI TV hired him as sports anchor.
In 1987, Allen received a call from the University of Oregon, asking if he would be interested in doing radio sports for the Ducks.
For more than 30 years, Allen has been “the Voice of the Ducks.” As one fan said, “I watch the TV games with the sound off and the radio on just to hear Jerry.”
Sources: "Oregon's play-by-play man the true 'Voice of the Ducks'." Daily Emerald, 12 Apr. 2000, www.dailyemerald.com › archives › oregon-s-play-by-play-man-the-t; "Still nifty, JPR is fifty, SOU's public." SOU News Jefferson Public Radio, NPR, 21 May 2019. news.sou.edu › tag › corporation-for-public-broadcasting.
