Joe Goeser reflects on life as a pillar of KFIZ sports radio

Longtime FDL man reminisces about long career as sports announcer for KFIZ Radio

FOND DU LAC – Joe Goeser, a 91-year-old longtime Fond du Lac resident is happiest when he fondly reminisces about his long career as a sports announcer with KFIZ Radio.

Born and raised in Fond du Lac, he spend his entire life in the area, with the exception of an 11-year stint living with his daughter, Debbie, in Oshkosh.But don’t hold that against him, he’s still a Fond du Lac man, through and through.

Goeser attended Roosevelt Junior High (where Chegwin Elementary School is presently located), and states proudly that he was promoted to the varsity team at the high school, as well as being a four-year letterman in track.

After Goeser graduated from Fond du Lac High in 1944, he joined the staff at KFIZ Radio where he worked his entire career with the radio station.

“I always wanted to be a sports guy,” he said, reflecting that his dream job became a reality. “I started the early show at 6 a.m., but later it was changed to 5 a.m. The radio show was broadcast Monday through Friday,” though he notes that he occasionally did the show seven days a week.

Goeser recalled many times he returned late at night after doing a sports event, but still had to get up to do the morning show. During all his years broadcasting sports, he took meticulous notes, filling many notebooks. Now stacked up, Goeser jokes that maybe someone should make a book out of his notes, if they can “make sense of them.”

One unique duty Goeser remembers was announcing birthdays during the early morning show.

“Some were real, some were not,” he joked. He was told somebody kept track and later reported that he “made over three thousand birthday announcements over the years.”

Baseball was Goeser’s favorite sport, and he covered all the important ones: Fond du Lac High School, youth baseball, Legion ball, the Panthers and the Brewers.

When asked if he had any favorite memories of working at the radio station, Goeser was quick to reply, “That’s a tough one. In the business, all the people I met, it’s difficult to say. I never had a bad day and I never regretted going to work.”

Goeser became known as a permanent fixture at the station, his name synonymous with KFIZ. During Goeser’s time, the station was located on East First Street and the corner of North Main and Cotton streets, before moving to its present location on Winnebago Drive.

Goeser’s popularity soared with the “Josh Crunchmeyer Show.” Goeser credited his barber, Peachy Powers, for coming up with that name. Every Saturday, the show ran from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It was noted that many people took their lunch break over that period to listen to the program.

“It was all foolishness and more foolishness and more foolishness. My partner, the late Ron Harvey was the straight one.” The name “Josh” was Joe Goeser’s fictitious name on the show. He and Ron joked about anything that came to mind. “It was all ad-libbed,” he added.

“Once we advertised a tour of the (local) Holyland and listeners actually inquired at the station about the tour,” he recounted. “We had our listeners believing we traveled the world over and were always able to return to do the next show. It was the most popular hour I ever worked.”

Goeser noted he still responds to “Josh” after all these years.

Although Goeser retired at the age of 71, he said he doesn’t miss it: “My days of working are over. (The radio business) really has changed. It’s so mechanical now.”

Although Goeser never mixed business with pleasure, it is with sadness in his voice as he recalled the passing of some of his former co-workers, like Ron Harvey, Billy Cary, Doug McGrath, Tom Kohl and others.

These days Goeser enjoys reading regional and local newspapers and reminiscing about the good old days.