Frank Fixaris

Who was Frank Fixaris?

Frank Fixaris was an American sportscaster, anchor, reporter, and disc jockey, spending the majority of his career at WGME-TV in Portland, Maine. He also co-hosted a morning radio show on WJAB after his television run.

Fixaris attended college in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from Emerson College in 1956. He then worked at several radio stations early in his career before taking the job as a sports anchor at WGME in 1965 and continued there until 1995. He served as sports director there from 1967 until 1992. Coincidentally Fixaris' cousin, former Major League Baseball player Jimmy Piersall, also worked as a sportscaster.

He was the color commentator of the Maine Mariners, and later the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League. Although offered several network positions, he chose to remain in Maine. He was co-awarded one of the James H. Ellery Memorial Awards by the AHL for his outstanding work in 1978. In honor of his many years of work with the Mariners/Pirates, the press box at the Cumberland County Civic Center bears his name as a memorial tribute. A 2006 inductee into the Maine Association of Broadcaster's hall of fame, Fixaris is also remembered annually with an award in his name issued by the Portland Fire Department, as well as two scholarships for students studying communication science at Saint Joseph's College of Maine.