Longtime WCCO broadcaster Ray Christiansen passed away early last week, and while I’m usually not that sentimental about TV, movie and radio personalities, it did put a pause into my day when I read the story.

Over the years, radio personalities have stuck with me more than any other medium. Broadcasters from past years tended to have strong tenor or bass voices that reverberated through the airwaves, leaving a lasting impression.

Dan Conradt, here in Austin, is a more recent example. When I first came to Austin in 2004 he was a radioman with KAUS while I didn’t listen to the station often, I do remember his voice resounding through.

Anybody who has met Dan knows what I’m talking about. I remember “the voice” as it were.

Ray Christiansen was that kind of radio man. Play-by-play man for the Minnesota Gophers football and basketball teams, his voice was a smooth, strong guide through the game.

I don’t remember much about the early years. Christensen was well-known to WCCO listeners long before I was born in 1974, but as I grew up and started going more places my dad and grandpa I became more familiar with Christensen as he called the games of the day.

As they both turned the dial through the stations, football and basketball games became instantly identified just by Christiansen’s voice alone.

I was listening to Minnesota Public Radio recently as they talked about Christiansen and they played an interview with him in the early 2000s.

During that interview he related that some of the nicest compliments came from the blind because he was able to paint such a vivid picture.

He’s completely right. Even for me I could see Williams Arena, I could see Memorial Stadium and I could see the Metrodome.

For an outstate like myself, Christiansen made me feel like I was at the game.

I especially remember the football games. Christiansen along with football seemed to exemplify fall. On bright, sunny days with just a hint of winter on the air, dad and I sometimes would go out looking for deer. Our favorite haunts were a variety of areas not far outside of Lake Wilson, but while it was deer we were looking for it was listening to Gopher football games that I remember — and of course Christiansen’s voice, calling through the radio and telling us which way on the dial the Gophers were facing.

According to a Minneapolis Star Tribune story, Christiansen retired after the the 2000-2001 Gopher men’s basketball season. Strangely I remember not knowing he had done it.

Not, of course until the next Gopher football season. This was the power of Christiansen’s voice. I had just finished shooting a half of the Huron University football game on a bright Saturday afternoon. On the way back to the Huron Plainsman, I swung through the McDonald’s drive-thru and after giving my order, got in line and searched for the Gopher’s game.

Waiting to make fall feel a little more official I was confused when I found the game, but Christiansen wasn’t calling it.

Yes, Saturday college football reestablished fall was here, but it wasn’t the same. Something had changed forever.

I know virtually nothing about Ray Christiansen personally. I never met him and I don’t know his family, but every Saturday, thanks to this world-class radio man, I was transported to the Metronome for Golden Gopher football.