Lawrence Tanter (born October 11, 1949) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

public address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience on a broadcast media programme or live event either on radio or television. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaki ...

best known for his work for the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. In addition, Tanter was also the program director for public jazz radio station

KKJZ KKJZ (88.1 MHz FM, "KJazz 88.1") is a non-commercial public radio station in Southern California. The station is the #1 full-time jazz and blues station in the United States The California State University, Long Beach Research Foundation own ...

.Erskine, Chris
"Lawrence Tanter sets the tone for the Lakers, and jazz station"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', March 23, 2011. Retrieved on May 14, 2013.

Early life

Tanter was born in Chicago. He played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

in high school, as well as the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, he earned an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...

to play basketball at the

University of Dubuque The University of Dubuque (UD) is a private Presbyterian university in Dubuque, Iowa. About 2,200 students attend the university. History The University of Dubuque has had a long history in Dubuque since its founding in 1852. Early years Adri ...

. He worked at the college radio station after responding to an ad for a host for a Sunday night jazz program.

Professional career

Tanter began working at radio station

KJLH KJLH (102.3 FM) is an urban adult contemporary radio station licensed to Compton, California, and serving the Los Angeles area. KJLH is owned by Taxi Productions, which in turn is owned by musician Stevie Wonder and operates from studio ...

in Los Angeles in the 1970s, and drove their

quiet storm Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album '' A Quiet Storm''. The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Li ...

format. Tanter began working as the Lakers' public address announcer at the start of the NBA's 1982–83 season and has been a fixture at Laker home games ever since. He is the longest tenured Lakers PA announcer ever. During his tenure behind the microphones of both The Forum and the Crypto.com Arena, Tanter has seen the Lakers win 16

NBA Western Conference The Western Conference is one of two conferences that make up the National Basketball Association (NBA), the other being the Eastern Conference. Both conferences consist of 15 teams organized into three divisions. The Western Conference compri ...

titles and 10

NBA championships The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is award ...

. When the

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fought with the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

over an arena booking for a playoff game in 2009, Tanter was recruited as guest ring announcer for the main event of a newly relocated Raw at Staples Center. In the match, five heel (villain) wrestlers in Denver Nuggets jerseys competed against five face (hero) wrestlers in Los Angeles Lakers jerseys, and the Lakers team won. Soon afterward, the Lakers eliminated the Nuggets in the 2009 Western Conference Finals 4–2. They then went on to defeat the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

in the

2009 NBA Finals The 2009 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2008–09 season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. A best-of-seven playoff series starting on June 4 and concluding on June 14, 2009, ...

and capture their 15th NBA title. Tanter played an instrumental role in re-creating a home feel for Lakers "home" games in the

2020 NBA Bubble The 2020 NBA Bubble was the bio-secure bubble at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, that was created by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to protect its players from the COVID-19 pandemic during the final eight games ...

, as the league returned to action following a hiatus due to the ongoing

coronavirus pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared a public health emergency on Janu ...

. Tanter recorded an array of starting lineup introductions, accounting for potential lineup permutations and team accomplishments, at a home studio in the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles in July. Matt Shelton, the Lakers' director of game entertainment, then spliced together Tanter's tracks using

Adobe Audition Adobe Audition is a digital audio workstation developed by Adobe Inc. featuring both a multitrack, non-destructive mix/edit environment and a destructive-approach waveform editing view. Origins Syntrillium Software was founded in the early 1 ...

editing software. As the Lakers advanced in the postseason, Tanter was a part of the game presentation. The Lakers went on to win their 17th NBA championship. Tanter is known for his smooth baritone voice and affinity for jazz music. For three decades, he has been a disc jockey for various jazz stations in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, including

KTWV KTWV (94.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, and broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs a rhythmic adult contemporary radio format. KTWV has studios ...

94.7 The Wave. Additionally, he is the announcer for LTV, the Lakers pre/post game show on

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). The two stations share studios at the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanter, Lawrence Living people American sports announcers Dubuque Spartans men's basketball players Los Angeles Lakers Los Angeles Lakers announcers NBA public address announcers People from Chicago Mass media people from Los Angeles 1949 births