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Subject: Re: R.I.P., Carl DeSuze

I would suspect that there isn't anyone over the age of 25 who either now
 lives or have lived in the Boston area who hadn't heard Carl DeSuze's
 morning show on WBZ at least once.

Although his personality was--as Donna has noted--quite a contrast with
 the top-40 format WBZ had during the 1960's, Carl nevertheless was the
 dominant morning-drive personality in Boston for almost the entire time
 he was 'BZ's morning host (although Carl joined 'BZ around 1942, I
 don't think he began his famous morning-drive DJ show until about 1950).

To be rated # 1 in the same timeslot for 30 years is almost unheard of!
 I think only two other New England personalities--Salty Brine of WPRO
 in Providence and Bob Steele of WTIC Hartford--could also boast as
 long (and as successful) stints on the air.

In addition to his 40-plus years at WBZ radio, Carl DeSuze was also one
 of the pioneers of television in Boston. Legend has it that DeSuze's
 voice was the first heard on Boston television, when WBZ was running
 test patterns on channel 4 during late May and early June of 1948--
 the legend claims that DeSuze's voice would be heard saying something
 like "This is WBZ-TV Channel 4 Boston, conducting transmission tests.
 Regular programming will begin on June 9th".

Once Channel 4 began regular programming, Carl would, during the 1948/49
 TV season, host "Carl's Surprise Package", which was the first locally-
 produced children's program in the history of Boston television. I'd
 suspect the reason "Surprise Package" left the air was because Carl
 had gotten the 6-9 A.M. slot at 'BZ radio, and probably didn't want to
 have to linger around 1170 Soliders' Field Road between the time his
 radio show ended at 9 A.M. and the time his live TV "Surprise Package"
 went on the air at 6 (to 6:15 P.M.). During it's short time on the air,
 "Surprise Package" probably was quite popular with children who had TV
 sets because it came on immediately after "Howdy Doody".

Gary LaPierre had a brief tribute to Carl on today's (May 1st) Channel 4
 noon news. He noted the years of working together with Carl, and 
 concluded the tribute by saying "Carl, We'll Miss You!"

I think just about everyone 25 or older who either lives or who has lived
 in Boston would echo Mr. LaPierre's sentiments.

Carl DeSuze was proof that you could be witty (e.g. "Carl's Philosopher's
 Handbook" bits) without being sleazy. And that's something too many of
 today's radio personalities seem to have forgotten.

Joseph Gallant

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