Golden, Asher
Biographical / Historical
Asher Golden was born September 2, 1975 in Toledo, Ohio. In 1992, after his junior year at Spanish River High School in Boca Raton, Florida, he attended the National High School Institute at Northwestern. As a journalism “cherub,” Golden spent five intensive weeks learning skills related to the field and wrote for The Summer Northwestern. Asher Golden attended Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, receiving his undergraduate degree in Journalism in 1997. Upon entering Northwestern in 1993, he became a staffer for WNUR Sports delivering sports updates during WNUR news segments in the basement of Annie May Swift Hall.
On September 16, 1995, he handled his first football assignment as a sideline reporter (Miami (Ohio)). Next, Golden served as a play-by-play announcer for Northwestern’s homecoming win vs. Wisconsin (35-0) on October 21, 1995 which clinched Northwestern’s first winning season since 1971. His final assignment of the season was statistician for the 82nd Rose Bowl on January 1, 1996. The week also included working on live coverage in California (The SportsVoice: A Salute to Northwestern Rose Bowl pregame show).
Golden was on the broadcast crew for 10 of the 12 games during the 1996 season as a play-by-play announcer (at Wake Forest, Illinois, Purdue), color analyst (at Duke, Michigan), sideline reporter (Ohio, Minnesota, Penn State, Citrus Bowl) and producer (at Iowa). Golden also pre-recorded a weekly program with head coach Gary Barnett that aired during the pregame show. Sunday nights during this season he co-hosted The SportsVoice with then-linebacker Pat Fitzgerald who would eventually become head coach.
In 1996, Golden signed the first agreement between a student radio station and an airline (United) to fly the broadcast crew to football games. He was also part of the first student media crew in the history of Northwestern to fly on a team plane (Penn State), something he negotiated with then Athletic Director Rick Taylor and his staff.
Under his leadership, WNUR set a record for bowl coverage at the 1997 Citrus Bowl with live shows from Disney World, Universal Studios and a Salute to Northwestern. Golden is the only WNUR Sports staff member to cover both the 1996 Rose Bowl and 1997 Citrus Bowl and the only one to ever cover two Big Ten Championship football teams.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Asher Golden Collection
The Asher Golden Collection contains 29 audiocassette recordings and a small amount of paper documents from Northwestern University’s 1995-1997 football seasons. A sports reporter for Northwestern’s WNUR radio station, Golden covered Wildcat football between 1995 and the January 1, 1997 Citrus Bowl.