The Year in Review 2015: Those We Lost

By SCOTT FYBUSH

As we close out our holiday week here at fybush.com (where the 2016 Tower Site Calendar is still available if you don’t yet have yours for the new year!), we hope you’ve enjoyed our Year in Review coverage. If you missed any of it, all four parts are still available: the year’s top ten stories, parts one and two of the year in people and formats, and the year in station sales.

We’ll resume our regular NorthEast Radio Watch report on Monday, January 4, 2015, and Tower Site of the Week is back Friday, Jan. 8 to ring in the New Year. (And in the meantime, our own Twitter and Facebook feeds and RadioInsight will be here with any breaking news!)

But first, we close out Year in Review with our annual recap of those whose lives touched the worlds of radio and TV, and who we lost in 2015:

SCOTT DOSZTAN, 44, North Country newsman (Jan. 5)

LOWELL “Bud” PAXSON, 80, HSN, Pax TV founder (Jan. 9)

LOU MILIANO, 67, WCBS, RKO, CBS News reporter (Jan. 12)

CHARLIE ZARBO, 65, WCFE-TV chief engineer (Jan. 13)

BOB WILSON, 85, Bruins radio voice (Jan. 15)

JOHN LAROCQUE, 79, CHSC morning man (Jan. 17)

JOE FRANKLIN, 88, WOR/WOR-TV talker (Jan. 23)

BOB (Adams) SHANNON, 72, WKBW/KDKA jock (Jan. 26)

MIKE WEST, 65, WTIC-FM, WCTB jock (Jan. 27)

MANNY PANOSIAN, 92, WIQT/WQIX Elmira owner (Jan. 27)

LEE “Baby” SIMMS, 72, WPOP, West Coast jock (Jan. 28)

FAYE GADE, 65, WHTG co-founder (Jan. 29)

JIM LEEK, 58, CJYE morning man (Jan. 29)

RAY MARKS, 70, Buffalo newsman (Feb. 4)

TOBY GOLD, 70, Rochester newsman (Feb. 5)

RICHARD SHER, 66, “Says You!” creator/host (Feb. 9)

CEPHAS BOWLES, 62, formerWBGO CEO (Feb. 21)

DON BERNS, 67, veteran jock, programmer (Mar. 1)

SUSAN KEESE, 67, VPR southern Vermont reporter (Mar. 7)

JOE DAY, 78, Boston TV reporter (Mar. 8)

DON WEEKS, 76, Albany radio, TV veteran (Mar. 11)

NEIL JACKSON, 64, Hartford jock (Mar. 11)

LARRY HERBSTER, 71, TV general manager (Mar. 16)

ALLAN ROWE, 58, Maritimes broadcaster, politican (Mar. 16)

RON BEE, 67, Syracuse morning man (Mar. 18)

DANNY SCHECHTER, 72, Boston “news dissector” (Mar. 19)

LISA COLAGROSSI, 49, WABC-TV reporter (Mar. 20)

SCOTT CLEVELAND (Howard Sgoda), 53, WXRL morning man (Mar. 20)

CARL SPAVENTO, 96, Buffalo announcer (Mar. 20)

MARK KATIC, 53, WBZ reporter/anchor (April 10)

KEN PREWITT, 68, Bloomberg Radio anchor (April 11)

MARIETTA AVERY, 65, WDKX general manager (April 15)

LAURENCE GLAVIN, 74, longtime NERW contributor (April 19)

JOEL CHANDLER, 87, Vermont DJ, TV host (April 23)

RON SMITH, 75, former WMGM-TV GM (April 24)

BOB WILSON, 81, KQV, WKTQ DJ (April 25)

GORDON BURNETT, 94, CHOW Welland founder (April 25)

EMIL T. BECK, 87, WMCK, WJAS DJ (April 27)

MAX MAREK, 87, WWLP-TV engineer (April 29)

CHARLIE (Whetzel) WESTON, 65, WRTA, WFBG host (May 1)

HARVEY COX, 70, former WMGM-TV news director (May 2)

LAUREN DAVIS, 24, CFRA Ottawa anchor (May 4)

KENNY RHULAND, upstate NY engineer (May 5)

LOU DUMONT, 90, New England broadcaster (May 7)

BILL McDERMOD, 65, WHEB-FM jock (May 8)

KELLEY MITCHELL, 58, Pittsburgh anchor (May 8)

JOE GALUSKI, 64, WSYR morning host (May 14)

TOM NIVEN, 78, WKER/WGHT jock, owner (May 14)

GWYNETH “Dandalion” SEESE, 77, PA country jock (May 15)

ROBERT LEE HILL, 76, WHRL Albany founder (May 18)

RON BARNES, 49, Connecticut engineer (May 18)

MARSELIS “Div” PARSONS, 70, WCAX newsman (May 27)

ERNEST BATCHELDER, 99, WNBX/WKNE engineer (May 30)

TIM PERRY, Utica, Watertown engineer (May)

GARY DIXON, 65, Maine DJ (June 1)

MARGARET JUNTWAIT, 58, WNYC, Met Opera announcer (June 3)

L. STANLEY WALL, 78, WLSW owner (June 3)

FRED HIRSCH, 62, former WDME owner (June 11)

ALAN ALMOND, 67, late night DJ (June 16)

RICHARD COSTLEY-WHITE, 48, Blackburn Radio head (June 16)

NELSON DOUBLEDAY, 81, Mets, WFAN owner (June 17)

ANDY BLACKSMITH, WHEB/WGIR morning man (June 20)

BOB MILLS, 83, Rochester anchor (June 25)

JIM WEITZMAN, 68, WNWR Philadelphia owner (June 25)

LOU DOUGLAS, 85, Buffalo newsman (June 25)

JAY DANIELS (Jeffrey Longaven), 61,WEZX morning man (June 28)

JAY WAGGONER, 55, Scranton engineer (June 30)

DAVE BARGER, 64, WRTA, WBXQ owner (July 3)

DAVE BARBER, 60, former WPRO host (July 4)

BEN TONGUE, 90, WBTB-TV owner (July 4)

STAN CAREW, 64, CBC Halifax host (July 6)

FRED HORNBY, 76, WINS morning editor (July 15)

VAN MILLER, 87, Bills announcer (July 18)

Dr. MURRAY FEINGOLD, 84, WBZ-TV health reporter (July 18)

ED HENRY, 88, Connecticut polka host (July 18)

GENE DILLARD (Dillard Bird), 73, WFIL, WPEN newsman (July 24)

ANDY BRIGHAM, 76, Syracuse newsman (July 24)

“Jolly” JOE TIMMER, 85, WGPA Bethlehem owner (July 27)

“Radio Rohn” STEPHENS (Ron Stekeur), New Jersey DJ (July 27)

“KATE MOSS” (Holly Golembiewski), 36, WSJR Scranton DJ (Aug. 3)

BILL CAREY, 61, Syracuse newsman (Aug. 7)

FRANK DELFINO, 91, WCDQ Hamden owner (Aug. 17)

AL KULAS, WKBK Keene morning man (Aug. 18)

JOHNNY NIECKO, 77, Long Island polka host (Aug. 19)

DAVE PARKS, WFIL “Boss Jock” (Aug. 24)

CHRIS (Caggiano) CAGE, 67, Niagara Falls jock, WRKI GM (Sept. 1)

CHUCK MORGAN (Bob Michaud), veteran programmer, production guru (Sept. 6)

JOE GEARING, 80, Pittsburgh talk host (Sept. 14)

DAN PRIESTLEY, 68, Maine radio owner (Sept. 15)

MILO HAMILTON, 88, Pirates (and Cubs/Astros/Braves) announcer (Sept. 17)

BRUCE ARNOLD (Salvucci), WCCM veteran host (Sept. 20)

NOLAN JOHANNES, 81, WKBW jock turned WNEP anchor (Sept.)

MAX KEEPING, 73, CJOH anchor (Oct. 1)

JIMMY ROBERTS, WROR, WKLB, WPRO-FM jock (Oct. 4)

ANDRE LALLIER, 52, Montreal programmer (Oct.)

DAVID FINNEGAN, 74, WBZ host, mayoral candidate (Oct. 12)

ED O’BRIEN, 59, Albany anchor (Oct. 13)

FRANK HOLLER, 66, WDRC/WHYN jock (Oct. 15)

KEVIN DORAN, 77, WCKR/WLEA Hornell owner (Oct. 20)

NEIL SMITH, 81, Empire State Building engineer (Oct. 24)

PINKY KRAVITZ, 88, veteran Atlantic City host (Oct. 31)

DAVID TOMM, 49, New England DJ, Mediabase veteran (Oct. 31)

CONRAD WHITE, 80, former WGBH production staffer (Nov. 9)

JACK KINNICUTT, WBBF, WHAM talker (Nov. 14)

JIM PERRY, 82, WABC overnighter turned game show host (Nov. 20)

TOM KELLY (Pagnotti), 57, veteran DJ, voiceover talent (Nov. 30)

PHIL ADAMS (Fatica), 75, Erie newsman turned politican (Dec. 6)

WENDY KING, 92, KDKA “Party Line” talk pioneer (Dec. 7)

RALPH VARTIGIAN, 89, WTEN Albany’s “Commander Ralph” (Dec. 12)

PHIL PEPE, 80, NYC sportswriter, WCBS-FM sportscaster (Dec. 13)

MARIJANE LANDIS, 87, 41-year WGAL-TV host (Dec. 22)

JORDAN SCHUMAN, 22, Long Island native, TV reporter (Dec. 23)

ANNE KEEFE, 90, WHAM/WROC-TV Rochester pioneer, KMOX St. Louis (Dec. 29)

Our thanks to all the sponsors who made Year in Review possible this year. We’ll see you Monday as we kick off 2016.

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