Rome, Italy, Europe 2009: Before Trevi Fountain during a stroll through the ancient city, the Lings marvel at all that has gone before them and all that remains to be discovered. A lifelong journalist at heart, Trent fully enjoys perspectives missed by others. Enjoy his ever-interesting observations.
Trent Ling’s Airwaves Page houses some of his most memorable exploits as a figure in the press and as a member of the press. Across five decades, Trent has intertwined his eclectic life with mass media. Whether on television, over the radio, in print, or across the Internet, Trent has always been up to something.
Continuing in this present media age, Trent employs an intuition from his youth that has served him well while leaving a sea of ruffled feathers in his wake. Through it all, Trent proves to be a relentlessly independent voice across any and all platforms of inquiry, thought, and heart.
On a rolling basis, this Airwaves Page self-populates with the classic, the hilarious, the poignant, the professional, and the unique. Enjoy this one-of-a-kind page spanning a lifetime of originality.
Trent first took to the television airwaves in 1972 as a birthday guest on “Uncle Jimmy’s Clubhouse” in Yakima, Washington. Aired over KIMA/KEPR television, Trent’s appearance as a fresh 8-year-old may have been the first sign of impending trouble, though his goals for that day included only trying to pay attention, not rock side to side, and to share and show his new watch. Photographs of this riotous occasion will be coming to this site in due time.
Fast-forwarding to late 1979, Trent’s first call-in to radio talk-show guru, Larry King, marked a renewal of Trent’s media foray. Such would be the first of several calls that 14-year-old Trent would make to King and others. A year later, in early 1981, Trent made his basketball play-by-play commercial radio debut having just turned 16 years old. This outing gained Trent the full-time radio play-by-play gig for High School football and basketball “Games of the Week” for the next two years (Trent’s Junior and Senior years of High School). It also garnered him an immediate and prominent role for the next 14 years spearheading continuous radio coverage of the Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Series.
After High School, Trent continued his radio sportscasting career as the voice of University of Puget Sound football and basketball for two years (1984-1986), and then the voice of his own Pacific Lutheran University football and basketball for his last two years of college (1986-1988). Trent received accolades from both University Presidents, even receiving a thankful letter from UPS President Phibbs in 1986. Across four years of travel throughout the Western United States calling rapid-fire, football and basketball play-by-play at the championship collegiate level, Trent’s radio sportscasting exploits were crowned and epitomized best by his dramatic call of the 1987 National Championship football game between Pacific Lutheran and Wisconsin Stevens Point.
Following college, Trent retired from broadcasting to focus his efforts at Duke University Law School, from which he graduated in 1991. His conversion to Christ intervened in 1990 and overhauled and redirected his dreams and plans, sending him on a wild ride which brought marriage, children, his own law firm, and impassioned and relentless ministering around the clock and across the years.
Taking advantage of a rare window of opportunity in 2002, Trent’s communications company acquired the ESPN broadcast rights to the Unlimited Hydroplane Series. This undertaking brought full circle Trent’s childhood love of Unlimited Hydroplanes and his early career as a sportscaster. Trent’s ESPN splash was highlighted by his thrilling call of the breath-taking final heat in his hometown race, the 2002 Columbia Cup on ESPN.
This page will continue to update over time as more life-changing Airwaves posts make their way onto the website. While this page features only highlights of Trent’s presence on the Airwaves across the decades, the Vault Page houses an orderly index of all such entries immediately as they come available upon the site.