Posted by Roddy Freeman on August 13, 2004 at 11:23:45:
In Reply to: Chuck Leonard Passed Away Today posted by Glenn Morgan on August 12, 2004 at 19:16:21:
I've been interested in, in fact addicted to, radio since junior high school. And Chuck Leonard is a huge part of my radio memories.
Baltimore is my home town, and I heard Chuck Leonard's very first show on the radio on Baltimore's WEBB, a black station, in 1963. I was just a kid getting interested in radio, and Chuck had been hired to do weekends.
I listened as he started perfecting his style and was later moved to middays during the week. He was "Chuck Leonard, sittin' tall and cool in the squeaky chair," one of the "WEBB Soul Rangers with their Soul 45's."
His disappeared during the summer of 1965, and I never expected to hear him again. Then that fall, I heard a Dan Ingram-voiced promo saying, "Join the newest All-American, Chuck Leonard." I thought, "it couldn't be." And even after hearing Chuck with the unique WABC processing, I didn't think it was the same person. I later learned he had moved from Baltimore to WWRL, and that WABC had lured him away.
Between the time I interviewed for a job in New York (pre-Thanksgiving, 1979) and the time I moved to New York to start that job, Chuck left WABC.
But I was happy to hear Chuck and his warm sound the following spring on FM 99, WXLO during its brief AC incarnation. And of course when WXLO flipped to Kiss in 1981, I was glad to hear Chuck on KISS, where he flourished.
At the end of 1980, I moved from New Jersey into the city and lived on West 57th between 8th and 9th. As soon as I moved, I started seeing Chuck Leonard everywhere--in the little grocery store in my building, in D'Agostino's, on the street, at the lottery store. I later learned he lived on 56th between 8th and 9th. I was too shy to tell him that I probably was the only person in New York who had heard his first radio show. And how I greatly regret never speaking with him.
Shortly before I moved to New York, I was listening to WABC, and Glenn Morgan was filling in on the overnight shift. I remember him saying that he finally fulfilled his long dream of doing a show on WABC. I also remember him saying, "As Chuck Leonard would say..." followed by a 4-word phrase that I can't remember.
My condolences to Chuck Leonard's family and friends. May he rest in peace.