Wally Phillips - Pioneer of Talk Radio?

[Scott Fybush]

Roger Kirk wrote:
> According to WATN (Where Are They Now?), Wally Phillips, 82, American 
> radio personality, pioneer of talk radio, died on 3/26/08 of Alzheimer's 
> disease.  
> Anybody know what market he was in?
> 
> 
> 

WGN, Chicago, where he was the morning man for 20-some years. He moved 
to afternoons in the late 80s, then retired from WGN completely in 1998. 
He returned for a few years on suburban WAIT (850) before retiring for 
good in 2002.

Interesting trivia: Wally was probably the last person still using 
transcription discs on the air. As late as 1985, WGN was spending more 
than $20,000 a year to maintain its disc cutters so that Wally could 
play his ads and sound bites off disc. That way he could easily lift the 
arm off the turntable, "respond" to the audio, and resume where he left 
off...

s