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MEET YOUR KINGS IN-ARENA PERSONALITIES
DAVID COURTNEY
PUBLIC ADDRESS ANNOUNCER
David Courtney is in his 21st season as the Public Address Announcer for the Kings and 32nd season overall working for the club in 2008-09.
Born in New York City, Courtney and family moved to Los Angeles 1963 when his father, Alan, a network television executive, became President of MGM Television.
He saw his first Kings game in 1968 on a school recreational group outing and fell in love with the sport and the Kings. At first, he wanted to be “one of the guys in the cool NHL blazers (off-ice officials),” and wrote then-NHL President Clarence S. Campbell to offer his services. Mr. Campbell's office encouraged him to follow a path through the team and in 1971, at age 14, he was given a job as a “go-fer” in the Kings' Public Relations Department.
Over the next seven years, he did just about everything but coach or play for the Kings: assisting in the press box, working the locker room and filling-in as a stick boy, running the scoreboard, writing press releases and coordinating player appearances, ticketing operations and even learned how to drive the Zamboni.
His favorite job though, was serving as the announcer for the youth hockey games that would precede Kings games. Under the guidance of legendary P.A. announcer, John Ramsay, and by doing games for his Beverly Hills High School varsity football and basketball teams, he learned the craft well enough to become Ramsay's back-up for both the Kings and the Lakers. Ironically, the first game he announced by himself professionally was for the then-rival Los Angeles Sharks of the World Hockey Association in 1973.
In 1978, at age 21, Courtney reluctantly left the Kings to take his first full-time job as P.R. Director for the Houston Aeros of the WHA in their last season before the club ceased operations. After the Aeros folded, he remained in Houston and began a successful broadcasting career in both radio and television and found himself in demand as a P.A. announcer; eventually handling the Houston Rockets, USFL Gamblers and sharing the Houston Astros.
But the Kings and hockey remained his first love. In 1985, friend and mentor, Bob Miller, alerted him to an opening and Courtney returned to the Kings as P.R. Director. After four years, a desire to explore broadcasting opportunities led Courtney to leave his full-time position but remain with the Kings as their P.A. Announcer beginning with the 1989-90 season.
In addition to the Kings, he has since become well-known as the P.A. Announcer for the Angels baseball team (16 years) and was the announcer for the Rams the last three seasons before the team moved to St. Louis. Courtney is in his second season as the announcer of the Clippers, marking the second time he has been the voice of three major league teams at the same time.
He has also announced at least one or more games for the Lakers, Dodgers, Raiders, USC football, UCLA basketball and the Pac-10 basketball tournament. His work as an announcer has also led to voice roles in the movies including the soon-to-be-released "Tooth Fairy," “Angels in the Outfield” and “61*” and television's “Home Improvement.”
Since 1992, Courtney's full-time work has been with Metro Networks as a traffic and news reporter, heard daily since 1994 on KABC 790 AM and recently KOLA 99.9 FM in the Inland Empire.
Courtney, 53 and his fiance, Janet Fisher, reside in Rancho Santa Margarita.
DIETER RUEHLE MUSIC DIRECTOR
Ever wonder who's behind "Go Kings Go!" on the organ? Or who the DJ is that's playing your favorite songs before the puck drops? Or who's responsible for sounding the train horns when the Kings score? It's all done by one guy, our Music Director Dieter Ruehle.
The 2009-2010 season is Dieter's 14th with the Kings, and 20th consecutive NHL season.
2010 marks a special year for Dieter! He's been chosen as Music Director for Ice Hockey at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February. He'll be playing the organ and DJ-ing at Canada Hockey Place (GM Place). This will be his 4th Olympic Games.
A native of Los Angeles, Ruehle started his music training at the age of 9 by taking classical piano lessons. His love of music and sports as a child led to his interest in sports organ music. At the age of 11, Dieter wrote a letter to KABC-TV expressing his interest in participating in a sports segment feature of the local news called "Sports Fantasy". Dieter's request was to play the organ at a Kings game. His "Sports Fantasy" came true on his 12th birthday in November of 1980.
After having a taste of performing at a Kings game at such a young age, Dieter pursued the position of organist with all of the teams at The Forum. He was hired in 1984 by the Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
In the summer of 1989, at the age of 20, Ruehle was hired as the Kings organist at The Forum. However, in the spring of 1992, after 3 seasons with the Kings, Dieter moved to the Bay Area and was eventually hired by the San Jose Sharks. For five seasons ('92-'93 thru '96-'97), Ruehle was the organist for the San Jose Sharks; then he worked the '97-'98 season for the Phoenix Coyotes. After 6 years away, Ruehle returned to Los Angeles and the Kings in 1998, just in time for the final season at The Forum. After moving to STAPLES Center, Ruehle was hired by the Los Angeles Lakers and Sparks. Ruehle's currently in his 9th season with the Lakers, and has worked several NBA Finals.
Dieter's work with the Kings and Lakers has led to other opportunities outside of STAPLES Center. He's proud to have been a part of three consecutive Olympics. He worked as Music Director for Basketball at the 2004 Athens Summer games, and for Ice Hockey at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games and 2006 Torino Winter Games. This February, Ruehle will be working his 4th Olympics, at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
Ruehle has also freelanced with the NBA, working NBA All-Star games in 2004, 2005 and 2007, as well as NBA events in Spain and China. He's also the DJ at the US Open Tennis Championships in New York every summer, and works other USTA Fed Cup and Davis Cup events. Dieter also performed the organ music on the popular video games NHL '94, NHL '95, and NHL '96 for EA Sports.
Dieter resides in Burbank.