Posted by Bob Gibson on August 06, 2004 at 21:48:45:
In Reply to: The Passing of John Causier... posted by Ellen Causier Carver on August 06, 2004 at 21:16:04:
John Causier who was a New York-based ABC staff announcer for nearly three decades until retiring in 1986 to chase the little ball in the golf capital of the world, Pinehurst, North Carolina, has died at his home in that community at age 82.
The family says John passed away Thursday morning just days after suffering his second stroke since late May.
John, who liked to be called Jack off the air, was a fun-loving, easy-going pro who was equally at home in broadcasting the local and network news as he was hosting a classical music program on WABC-FM or a popular music broadcast on the ABC Radio Network.
Of course, there were also countless network and local television assignments and Jack, I recall, was for many years the announcer on the ABC News weekly broadcast, Issues & Answers.
Jack also used his retirement years to keep his hand in his other professional interests, acting and singing. Several years ago he sent me a cassette with a number of popular songs that he and members of the group, The Mello-Larks, had recorded. I was favorably impressed, and that's NOT just lip service. I made it a point of telling Jack that and hoped he might consider taking the routine on the road, but he informed me, that was not part of the plan.
Though it was long ago, I have two favorite stories about Jack. The first being that the
two of us came face to face as we were entering the radio building one afternoon, which was not uncommon. But, the afternoon I'm thinking of was November 22nd, 1963. It was only a couple of hours after we had all tried to digest the news that President Kennedy had been killed by an assassin in Dallas. Jack and I knew one another and never had a problem expressing ourselves except on that day when I recall him saying something to me about the shocking aspect of it all, and my reacting along the lines of "can you believe this?" The expression on our faces said it all. We were virtually rendered speechless by the events of that day.
My final story about Jack involves his hosting a music program on the radio network in the early 60s and he had said something to me that if I'm ever around on a Saturday night...he'd love to have me on as a guest for a few minutes. Well, this was AFTER my first tour of duty at the company as a page, program monitor and night programming assistant, and I stopped by and sure enough Jack kept his word. I have no recording of this but I know Jack took a few minutes to talk to me and ask me about the on-air radio and tv job I had taken in Connecticut. To say for a young broadcaster to be LIVE on network radio with Jack Causier for a few minutes was a thrill, is a definite under statement!
I'll always remember Jack for his professionalism and sense of humor, and I know I'm not alone!
At the risk of sending him a cue, I know that the Board's proprietor, Allan Sniffen, had posted a picture or two of John in the past and one of those 'shots' appeared on two separate occasions as The Picture Of The Week. Furthermore, for anyone interested in three short samples of Jack's work, they're contained in the announcers' montage on Allan's WABC website near the end of the section The Sounds of MusicRadio77 WABC.