NERW Year in Review 2019: Those We Lost

The Year in Obituaries

It’s time once again for our Year in Review, the 26th time we’ve gathered up our headlines from the previous 12 months and tried to sum it all up for you.

Last week, we brought you The Year in Station Sales (here) and The Year in People and Formats (here and here).

This week, we’re doing the “Top Ten Stories of the Year” portion of our Year in Review in two installments: we counted down stories 10 through 6 Monday, and stories 5 through 1 yesterday. We’ll resume our regular NorthEast Radio Watch report with an update on Monday, January 6. In the meantime, our own Twitter and Facebook feeds and RadioInsight will be here with any breaking news!

As we do every year, we close out this final installment of our Year in Review with a look at the broadcasters and media people our region lost in the last twelve months:

BOB DURGIN, 75, WHP afternoon host (December 24, 2018)
JIM EISEMAN, 61, WPXY’s “The Iceman,” WABC, WHDH (December 25, 2018)
JOE STAPLETON, 55, WBZ, WBZ-TV, WHDH-TV  traffic; WAAF “Major Dick” (January 1)
SAUL “Sy” DRESNER, 89, WCCC owner (January 1)
ED BAER, 82, WCBS-FM, WHUD, WMCA “Good Guy” (January 1)
HARVE ALAN, consultant, programmer of WCCC, WAAF (January 6)
MARK ELLIOT, 65, founder, host, “People Helping People” (January 11)
BRIAN “Henny” HENDERSON, CHUM jock and newsman (January 11)
STEVE DODGE, 73, American Radio Systems chairman (January 16)
MORGAN KAOLIAN, 90, WICC aerial traffic reporter (first in region) (January 27)
DAVE DURIAN, 72, KDKA “Evening Magazine” host, anchor at WBAL, Maryland Public TV (January 28)
FRANK FRANCO, 93, partner in City Broadcasting Company (February 3)
GARY LAPIERRE, 76, longtime WBZ morning anchor (February 4)
DICK GLEASON, 71, launcher of WTOS, owner of Gleason Broadcasting Services (February 8)
BRUCE WILLIAMS, 86, “At Your Service” host, WMCA host, inaugural host of Talknet (February 9)
BILL DRAPER, former WKIP engineer (February 9)
X. RAY BURNS (KEN GREEN), WFMU “Glen Jones Radio Programme featuring X. Ray Burns” (February 10)
“Bullet” BOB OTTONE, WGLI host, “Super 6” WGBB crew, WNEW, ABC TV, WXBA manager (February 17)
BOB MEHRMAN, 91, WJIB morning man, Boston announcer (February 17)
KEVIN “The Bearman” SCHUTTS, 64, WZZO morning host (February 24)
DARREN “Dude” O’DONNELL, 48, CJMO night DJ (February 28)
RUSS KIMBLE, 67, former WYLF morning man, WYLF/WFLK owner (March 12)
BRIAN SCOTT, 56, CFLY host (March 12)
BOB SLADE, WRKS “Open Line” host (March 18)
MIKE RAUB, 67, WNLK host, WNLK/WTSC operations manager (March 19)
BOBBY GALE, 62, jock at CJPE, other stations (April 13)
BILL FLYNN, 60, broadcast historian (April 16)
GLEN CLARK, prominent broadcast engineer (April 20)
MARK GUY FINDLAY, 76, Erie DJ and talk host (April 22)
TOM ELLIS, 86, Boston TV anchor (April 28)
FITZROY GORDON, 65, “Dr. Love,” CHIN CEO (April 30)
AL BERNSTEIN, WLTW jock (May 2)
DENNIS KEEFE, 66, WHTT news director (May 17)
CHRISTINE CROSBIE, 52, CTV/Global news reporter (May 19)
DAVE “BOOKIE” BOOKMAN, 58, CIND personality (May 21)
GORD KIDDER, 74, CKTB/CHUM sales executive (May 22)
ARNO MEYER, 90, founder of Belar Electronics Laboratory (May 25)
WARREN GREENE, 77, Long Island radio personality (May 26)
“Humble” HARV MILLER, 85, top-40 DJ (June 4)
BOB EARLE, 93, host of “College Bowl,” voiceover artist (June 5)
LEW KLEIN, 91, WFIL program director (June 12)
JEAN SMITH, WHEN-TV host (June 20)
JIM TARICANI, 69, WJAR investigative reporter (June 21)
BOB CAROLIN, 80, WRRB/WHEN general manager (June 21)
DAN ELLIOTT, Inner Harbor Media sales manager (June 22)
RICHIE HERBY, 62, CBS Radio, Multicultural Radio Broadcasting engineer (July 11)
HOWARD LAPIDES, 68, radio producer (August 1)
MANUEL “Paco” NAVARRO, 82, WKTU jock (August 8)
HERB HOBLER, 96, Nassau Broadcasting owner (August 10)
BILL PARKER, 91, Binghamton “Dean of Broadcasting,” WNBF founder (August 15)
KELLY WEST, 67, WHP-FM/WARM-FM morning host (August 15)
JERRY FIORE, 88, WKTV/WROC/WXFL anchor (August 25)
JACK MALOY, WDVE overnight jock (August 28)
JIM MCCARTHY, 91, “Sports Huddle” host (August 28)
JEFF FRANK, 70, WAEB general manager (August 31)
RICK BORODOWSKI, 52, Media One station manager (September 14)
AL MCNAUGHTON, 81, WHDH photographer (September 22)
BOB ZELNICK, 79, Boston University journalism department chair (September 23)
HARRY WEST, 89, WARM morning host (September 27)
SID TOMPKINS, 81, CHUR president (September 28)
LARRY HODGE, 75, WNBF, WQYT/WHWK engineer (September 29)
JACK KEAN, 90, Connecticut Public TV pioneer (October 4)
BOB BURNS, WHAM announcer (October 10)
LOU PALMER, 83, original WFAN host, SportsCenter anchor (October 18)
JERRY FOGEL, 83, WBBF morning DJ (October 21)
TONY BOMBARDO, 78, WHEN’s voice of traffic “Captain Scott King” (October 27)
PAUL WILLEY, 89, Berkshire Broadcasting engineer (October 28)
RICK KENADEK, 68, Gois contract engineer (November 6)
HILLARY STEVENS, 82, WRKO “Gardening Show” host and Boston radio voice (November 6)
JACK MORSE, 84, voice of Syracuse Chiefs, WTLA sportscaster (November 14)
“Giant” GENE ARNOLD, 78, Philadelphia jock and Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame inductee (November 18)
HERB MCCORD, 77, CKLW general manager, Granum founder (November 19)
GREGG MACE, 65, WHTM sports director (November 23)
ED DAGUE, 76, longtime Albany TV/WNYT newscaster (November 24)
ROBERT F.X. SILLERMAN, 71, broadcast owner, partner, promoter (November 24)
JOSEPH “Jay” MCDONOUGH, 66, jock and LPFM founder (November 24)
MICHAEL “The Flick” PLATH, 71, WTRY/WDOT/WKOP-FM jock (November 27)
JOHN LYONS, 71, NYC engineer extraordinaire (November 29)
STEVE KRONQUEST, 85, WHEC/WIXT manager (November 29)
JOE SMITH, 91, record company executive, top-40 DJ (December 2)
DENISE D’ASCENZO, 61, WFSB anchor (December 7)
CARROLL SPINNEY, 85, puppeteer, Big Bird, Oscar The Grouch (December 8)
BOB KOPLER, 81, KDKA newsman (December 10)
DON IMUS, 79, WNBC/WFAN morning host and “shock jock” (December 27)
FRANK TAVARES, “This is NPR” voice, WNPR announcer (December 30)