Bill Schoening, who has broadcast the most remarkable era in San Antonio Spurs history, is calling it a career. The longtime radio voice of the Spurs announced that he will retire after the season. The end will be Sunday’s regular-season finale at home against the Toronto Raptors.
Schoening has called Spurs action since the 2001-02 season. His 24-year run includes four of the franchise’s five NBA championships. He also owns one of the most impressive streaks in radio history, broadcasting 2,280 consecutive games.
Schoening, who also spent 12 years as the radio play-by-play announcer for the University of Texas, is a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. We recently caught up with him to chat about his career and future.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Awful Announcing: Why are you retiring?
Bill Schoening: “My wife just retired. She did a really good job taking care of the finances. I’m 66 years old. I’ve been doing this for 46 years, and I just felt like it was time. I’ve got all these other interests, and there’s a lot of different things that I like to do. I like to write. I’m involved with music. I want to do some more mentorship. I’m going to be involved in this program that Dave Goren is setting up. He’s the head of the National Sports Media Association. I think I’m going to be working with some young aspiring play-by-play guys just in a mentorship-type deal, and I’ll do some volunteer work.”
What else do you plan to do?
“We’ve already got a trip lined up to Croatia and Slovenia, which is someplace I’d like to go because we have so many players from Eastern Europe now in the NBA. We’ve had a number of them from Slovenia, especially. They keep bragging about how beautiful it is.
“I’m not going to hang up the microphone completely. I’m hoping to do some fill-in work, college baseball and college football. Since I took the Spurs job, I haven’t had an opportunity to do those other sports because my schedule’s been full. (There are) national parks, my wife and I (want to see). We’ve already done 33 of them. We’ve got five more scheduled this year. I don’t know if we’re going to get to all 63, but that’s something we can shoot for.”
Cheers to 24 years 🤍🖤
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) April 4, 2025
Bill Schoening, the longtime radio voice of the Spurs, will retire at the end of the season signing off for the final time on Sunday, April 13th. Thank you, Bill for the unforgettable calls and commentary for the last 2,280 consecutive games! Forever a… pic.twitter.com/AoBA4Jj8ci
How long have you been mulling over retirement?
“This was the third year of my eighth contract. Each contract I’ve done is a three-year contract. This is the conclusion of the contract. I knew going into this last year that this was probably going to be it. I visited with my boss, Mike Kickirillo, director of broadcasting. He’s been easy to work with for 24 years. I was upfront with him. Then about midway through the season, I felt like this was going to be it. No regrets at all.”
How emotional will you be for your final broadcast on Sunday?
“My whole family is going to be there. I’ve got an older son (Eric) who is a meteorologist in Salt Lake City. He works for the National Weather Service. He started doing spotting for me when I was doing Longhorn football. My other son (Karl), a sportscaster for the University of Texas at San Antonio, will be there. My wife (Gerry) will be there. She’s been with me the whole journey. It’ll be special to have those people there.”
How did you first get this job?
“I was with Longhorns for 12 years, and then out of the blue in ’01, the Spurs just called. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I didn’t think I was going to leave the Longhorns, because it was such a great gig. But I had a talk show, and I only had about three weeks off every summer. The Spurs offered me this gig and all summer off. I didn’t have to go to work until training camp started in October. So, that was an easy decision to make.”
What’s the closest you’ve come to missing a game?
“In 2017, we played the Jazz in Salt Lake City. I had no voice. I felt fine, but I didn’t know what was going on with my throat. I got through the game. They thought about yanking me, but I begged not to get off the air because I wanted to finish. I didn’t want my streak to end because I had it going on for at that point like 16 years. I got through it. I got a text from a friend who said I sounded like Kermit the Frog after smoking a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes.”
Has your final season been a bit of a disappointment with Gregg Popovich and Victor Wembanyama out?
“It’s been uneven. There have been some good, cool things to see, like Stephon Castle. I think he’s probably going to get Rookie of the Year. It’s cool to have back-to-back rookies of the year. There have been some bright spots. I’ve always liked Harrison Barnes. The fact that he’s playing for the Spurs is pretty cool.
“It’s disappointing to see Wemby get hurt because he was making strides to take that next step. We get De’Aaron Fox, then he’s hurt, and they’ve got to shut him down. The future is bright. You’ve got to get off the ride at some point. This is where I’m getting off.”
Do you have an all-time favorite Spurs player?
“I’d have to say Manu (GinĂłbili) is my favorite simply because I called every single game of his career. I was also there for every single game the “Big Three” played together: (Tony) Parker, Ginobili, and (Tim) Duncan. They had an incredible run. But because of just the way Manu treated the media, the fans, the game, and very rarely would you see him sit out. If he sat out, it was because he was really hurt. He would play hurt a lot. He played banged up and bandaged. He was a real warrior.”
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be the next Bill Schoening?
“Be ready to work a lot of hours. Don’t chase dollars. Don’t necessarily think it’s all about the money. Sometimes you’ve got to do some stuff for free. Learn how to write because I had to write a lot of intros. I had to learn how to write news. When you first start, you’ve got to do a lot of different stuff. The industry has changed a great deal, but I still think that writing is very, very important because it’s the basis of how you want to communicate.”
Could you tell us more about your music?
“I write songs. I’ve released four independent CDs. I’ve got four or five songs written. I’m going to go into the studio when I get an opportunity to work on those right now. Not that that’s a big moneymaker. Brent Barry, the former Spur, used to always say all my songs are million sellers. I got a million in my cellar, which is pretty true. But it’s okay. It’s a hobby. I have some friends and we play gigs and have fun. I live in Austin, Texas. It’s the live music capital of the world.”
