Walter Phillips (July 7, 1925 - March 26, 2008) was an American radio character who was famous for bringing WGN's morning radio show from Chicago for 21 years from January 1965 to July 1986, and became number one in the morning slot from 1968 until he left for an afternoon radio slot in 1986.
As a pioneer of call-in radio talk show format, Phillips is pleased with the form now banned by the FCC: placing people in the air without their knowledge.
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Phillips was born in Portsmouth, Ohio. Six years later, after his father's death from tuberculosis, his family (including three siblings) moved to Cincinnati. Phillips then dropped out of high school to join the Air Force of the United States Air Force during World War II, but he ended up in Georgia in a crane target team assigned to flying practice targets for fighter pilots and anti-aircraft artillery.
After the end of World War II, he studied in drama school for a while and then became a disc jockey in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A year after starting his DJ career, he returned to Cincinnati.
Maps Wally Phillips
Radio career
Cincinnati
Phillips expanded his career as a radio character at the WLW in Cincinnati where he defined his incoming call format and his trademark style to reconcile previously recorded interviews as comedy parts. He was eventually fired after he put the counterfeit goods into the news broadcast. Discussing this section in a 1976 interview with Chicago Tribune, Phillips said,
"I wrote, 'All members of the infantry company so-and-so immediately report to your draft board,' and I described a rebellion in a fake country.He reads it in the air.Hell, they even have an entire FBI station." >
Chicago
Later, Phillips moved to Chicago, Illinois along with broadcaster staff, and future stars of Bozo the Clown, Bob Bell. Both began in WGN (AM) in 1956 after being introduced as "comedians from Cincinnati".
His WGN morning show was consistently rated high in Chicago, and led to him being labeled "the morning radio monarch." At the peak of its popularity, Phillips attracted nearly 1.5 million listeners, who are now inaudible half of the audience of market listeners.
Innovation
Phillips was one of the first broadcasters to routinely use cute and unofficial phone calls on his show, including prank phone calls. Sometimes, he calls a random phone to see who will answer. For example, he called a pet burial to arrange his funeral, and on another occasion he tracked down Benjamin Gingiss, founder of Gingiss Formal Wear, while he was on vacation in the Bahamas to ask where fire extinguishers were kept in the store.
Another time, Phillips called Ipanema, a neighborhood located in the southern city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and asked if there was a woman there "tall and tan and young and beautiful." He tried to order pizza from Rome and even tried to restore a week's natural Christmas tree to the new year because it was tanned and lost all the needles. On one occasion, he managed to get Luciano Pavarotti's hotel room number, and called to ask if the singer would give Phillips opera lessons and "teach [Phillips] to sing flat, as you do."
Phillips was the first to offer a $ 1 million reward for listeners - as part of the most famous and longest promotion in which he would eliminate self-proclaimed prejudices as paranormal in the air. Listeners are invited to guess what celebrity's name is written in "Wally's Black Box." No one ever guessed his name. He finally revealed a note bearing the name of Jean Rogers, a hero of the Phillips movie who is admired for his role as Dale Arden in several Flash Gordon film series.
Another unique aspect of the Phillips show is the huge library of sound bites, each just seconds, which can be played in a short time in response to something being said. The usual example is an announcement by Phillips followed by Groucho Marx's voice (from the inside line of Soup Duck ) that says, "Make that note!" Instead of using carts or rolls, Phillips engineers find it easier to cut a disc with transcription lathes to keep everything ready. WGN is still using the device strictly for the Phillips exhibition until the end of 1985, costing more than $ 20,000 per year.
Retirement
In 1998, he retired from WGN radio after 42 years, twelve years after leaving the morning show where he was replaced by Bob Collins, who continued the format and high ranking. Phillips then hosted a two-hour Saturday morning radio show at WAIT in Crystal Lake, Illinois for several years afterwards.
Phillips was sworn in as National Radio Hall of Fame, at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in 1993 and became the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1997, marking the 50th year on radio.
On October 21, 2004, the street corner of Rush Street and Delaware Street in Chicago was designated as the Honorary Wally Phillips Way .
Personal life
In 1969, Wally Phillips founded the Neediest Kids Fund, which has raised $ 35 million for charity.
Phillips married three times - all to the same woman, Barbara. She has two daughters Holly and Jennifer, and a son, Todd.
He died in Naples, Florida on March 26, 2008 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for the previous five years.
References
Further reading
- The Wally Phillips: 1,762,913 heads better than one , Wally Phillips, preface by Bob Newhart & amp; Mike Douglas, ISBN 0-89803-012-9, 1979.
- The Road to: Staying In This World Until Something Better Happens Together , Wally Phillips, ISBN 0-688-03907-3, 1985, William Morrow and Company, New York.
External links
- WGN Summary about Phillips career
- Wally Phillips at the National Radio Hall of Fame
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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