THREE YEARS AGO TODAY, I POSTED on Facebook THIS HUMAN INTEREST STORY ABOUT A GREAT VOICE IN THE WORLD OF RADIO ... HIS PASSING LEFT AVOID THAT HAS YET TO BE FILLED. TODAY, I WONDER WHAT THIS 'LOVER ... View MoreTHREE YEARS AGO TODAY, I POSTED on Facebook THIS HUMAN INTEREST STORY ABOUT A GREAT VOICE IN THE WORLD OF RADIO ... HIS PASSING LEFT AVOID THAT HAS YET TO BE FILLED. TODAY, I WONDER WHAT THIS 'LOVER OF FREEDOM' WOULD SAY ABOUT ALL THE LAME STREAM MEDIA, ALL THE CENSORSHIP BY BIG TECH AND THE VOTING SCANDAL THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BRING THIS NATION TO HER KNEES ... ROBERT D. RADFORD, "WE THE PEOPLE MISS YOU AND NEED YOUR HOMESPUN ADVICE NOW"....
Ray Mckinney
Nov 18th, 2017
A LEGEND HAS DIED � THE PEOPLE'S VOICE IS SILENT �
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS NOW RUNS AMUCK ...
WILL ANOTHER ROBERT D. RADFORD PLEASE STEP FORWARD !!!
Friday, November 16, 2017, a great man of radio died.
Robert D Radford, 89, of Charlotte, passed away.
He was best known for his contributions to the �John Boy and Billy� show that ran daily from the Charlotte radio station, WRFX-FM broadcasting out of Charlotte, North Carolina.
But Robert D. Radiford�s career in radio had a much longer history than just the �John Boy and Billy� show.
Radford was born in 1927 and he had lived a long and colorful life on many radio stations. He had been fired and rehired more times that �Carter has little liver pills�.
He was indeed a Legend. He was an 'Unrepentant Icon' whose war against political correctness was the focal point of all his radio chats.
For 30 years, Radford served as the �Go-to-Guy� on the John Boy and Billy show when any besmirching was to be done�
He was the �expert� at bringing down the big boys in such a manner that made them humble�and happy when he stopped talking about them.
His career in radio goes way back in time. He started in radio in 1944 when he was only 17 years old in his native town of Concord North Carolina, only a �hop-skip-and jump" north from Charlotte.
He has the all-important job of reporting the play-by-play activities of the Concord Weavers, a minor league team that happened to have a very important pitcher who would eventually become famous with the Los Angles Dodgers�.Tommy Lasorda.
From there, Robert D Radford, as he liked to be called, went on to study communications and broadcasting at the University of South Carolina at Columbia.
By the early 1950�s he was the Lead Announcer at WBT-AM which at that time was a leading station in the nation. This radio station in Charlotte became known as �The Colossus of the South� and one would hear that often over the airwaves.
During the racial unrest years of the early �50s, Robert D Radford was a champion against racial bias. At that time, WBT had the policy of racial talk was �forbidden and off-limits" and would not be discussed on the airwaves.
Robert D. happened to be at the microphone in 1956 when Nat King Cole was racially attacked in Birmingham Alabama. Radford didn�t believe the racial bias shown to Cole represented the overall feelings of all native Southerners.
The station manager called him on the phone telling him to �get off that subject��.Radford kept on talking � he was fired over the phone and Radford soon was looking for new work.
To show his dislike for the station manager, Radford signed off the air with �this is Robert D Radford and the Nat King Cole song; �For All We Know, We May Never Met Again��a line in that song said, �We come and go, like the ripples of a stream���
Radford then went to work for WTOP in Washington. This was a CBS affiliate station.
One day in late November of 1963, he showed up for work and heard that John Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas Texas � the nation was in morning.
Three days later, he was selected to give the voice to the announcement of Kennedy�s procession and cartage, as it moved down Pennsylvania Avenue drawn by seven white horses with one leading and the boots, reversed in the saddle. . The entire nation watched and cried together.
Camelot was no more.
For 14 long minutes, everyone in America and the world, had their eyes and ears tuned to the voice of Robert D. Radford as he described every detail, small and large, of this sad event in American history.
I think it would be safe to bet that not one person in one hundred, or perhaps a thousand could have identified the voice of the description being given.
But that voice gave Robert D Radford an edge in radio.
While he worked for WOPT in Washington, he also came to be friends with another radio/later television great by the name of Walter Cronkite.
All of America later came to know Cronkite with his reporting of the Vietnam War and �dinner time CBS World News�.
It wasn�t until 1986, and several other radio jobs that Robert D. Radiford teamed up with the John Boy and Billy show broadcasting out of Charlotte Channel 36 television and their affiliate radio station.
The producers felt it would be a good idea to balance the show with Radiford�s no-nonsense approach and commentary. It made that show the success it later became to be known for.
Something I did not know but found out from the newspaper article that Radford played the part of a judge three times in the television show, �Matlock� that starred Andy Griffin, another famous North Carolinian.
Robert D. also loved his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, his parachute jumping ( which he did more than 2 dozen times with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, North Carolina), and his bungee jumping which he did from wherever he found a good spot.
Robert D. Radford lived life as it should be lived � 'one day at a time Dear Jesus'!
In doing so, he made a legend that will live for a long time. He wasn�t a great man. He did nothing extraordinary. No buildings or roads are named after him, but yet, his name will be around for some time in the future.
He was not a politician; I personally think he had a great disdain for all politicians. That was evident by the barbs and cuts he took with his tongue which was always razor-sharp.
In closing this post, and in my humble opinion, if we had more Robert D. Radford�s talking today and keeping the criminal mined politicians in line �. Then we would have a much better America tomorrow.
Do not misunderstand me, I am no Robert D. Radford � but;
All of Robert D. Radford�s are not all dead in this country.
In fact, I like to think a little bit of his wisdom and common sense has somehow rubbed off on me in my younger years � now it is up to me in my �twilight� to sharpen and hone my words and tongue to a state of perfection just as Robert D. Radford did
!
Be a LION � or � Be a Sheep �. Your Choice.
God Bless and Stay the Course Mr. President �. The people are still on your side.
