Helicopter Traffic Reports

[Eli Sherer]

First, thanks to Bill Smith for not forgetting me :-)

Secondly, (actually a few things). The start of the flying traffic reporter
era was a bit before my time, so I cannot tell you when the practice began
in Boston (or other places...). But I can say that Kevin O'Keefe
(previously known as Dan Donovan, but legally Arthur MacTague), started in
a fixed wing over Boston, working for WHDH. Not sure if Joe Greene was his
pilot, but Joe was the first to fly helicopters in Boston. (On reason his
reports always sounded so garbled, was that he often reported with a cigar
hanging between his teeth. Quite a sight, considering he wore (as did we
all), split David Clark H10-30 headsets with two boom microphones, one for
broadcast and one for aircraft communications). Aside: There is a true
story where Joe was in the middle of a broadcast in the late 1980s and
stopped his report quite suddenly. When other copters inquired if he was OK
(everyone listened to each other, because even at 110 knots, you can't be
everywhere at once), Joe said, "It's OK, just dropped my cigar."

As I recall, there were no more than 3 helicopters in the air in Boston.
Kevin (WEEI) and I flew in one, Officer Bill Connell (MDC police) flew for
WHDH, Joe Green flew for WBZ. As the winds shifted, Kevin spent a year on
the ground (actually at the top of the Pru, in the Metro traffic studios),
and Metro started flying it's own helicopter to supplement the fixed wing
plane that could no longer traverse the Boston TCA. I was first in that
helicopter (at first with Kevin, but later when he was grounded, I flew in
a Robinson R-22 off the roof of the Museum of Science garage).

Eventually, WEEI realized that having Kevin in the air was more important
than the barter bucks they were getting from Metro (or maybe they were
giving up too much inventory), so Kevin took to the skies again, right
around the time that Officer Bill "retired" and then re-appeared flying in
another machine for WVBF. Here, it gets fuzzy. WHDH made a deal with the
State Police to fly trooper Grant Moulaison "for free" in their helicopter.
I moved from Metro to other radio stations (WROR, WBOS and eventually,
WBCN) and started flying side by side with Kevin again. But the WHDH deal
called for a helicopter that they could not afford on their own, so Grant
came up to Beverly and flew with Kevin, myself, and Malcolm Alter (who was
broadcasting for WRKO at the time... maybe a few others). Push came to
shove, and I ended up in the back seat, while Grant took the left side
front next to Kevin (for him, we took the dual controls out :-)).

As Metro became Westwood One (eventually Clear Channel), others have gone
in and out of the copters. Malcom is one, Joe Morgan another, most flying
in the same machine, side by side, like a fleet of one.

When Kevin left, after 25 years, there was a luncheon and speeches. Last I
heard, he's retired and living happily in Florida. Joe, on the other hand,
just gave 'BZ his two weeks notice and disappeared to the back woods of New
Hampshire. He didn't want all the pomp and circumstance of a huge
retirement party.

I flew off and on with Kevin through the 1980s, and it was the best (aside
from the 5am alarm). Joe passed away a few years ago, and though I saw him
every day, I only flew with him once (when Kevin was ill and his
replacement, John McKenna, was on reserve duty, I got to fill in on WEEI,
while flying in the 'BZ copter with Joe). He was also very nice, and very
personable, though he never did offer me a cigar.

Oh yeah... and the Chip Whitmore incident: Rex did own the helicopter, but
was not able to fly that day. I believe that Kevin was back from vacation,
but was not able to fly for some reason either (maybe he was not feeling
well). I don't think anyone ever found out what happened when it went down.
The heat from the fire destroyed any evidence that could have led to a
cause.

-- 
-Eli "Wicked High" Sherer