We regret to share that legendary radio personality, historian, and voiceover talent Richard Ward Fatherley has passed. Fatherley, who had suffered a heart attack February 14th, passed away Monday afternoon at St. Margaret's Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas. Services are pending, and when information becomes available, we will post it here.
Fatherley's distinguished radio career began in 1959 at WSTC-AM, a then 250-watt daytimer serving Stamford, CT. He would remain in the northeast for the next five years, mostly in Connecticut, though he did spend a short time at WABC in New York City during 1961. It was in 1964, when Fatherley would begin his association with Storz Broadcasting, as he joined the company's KXOK in St. Louis. (Click HERE for a page featuring an audio introduction by Fatherley.) The union was formed a year after the death of Top 40 pioneer Todd Storz, whose life and career Fatherley would begin researching early in his tenure.
In St. Louis, Fatherley's future as radio historian would first be foreshadowed. In 1965, he began a promotional brochure for Storz, and though the project wasn't completed at the time, it would serve as the starting point for his audio history "Radio's Revolution & The World's Happiest Broadcasters" when he rediscovered it in the mid-90s. Also at KXOK, Fatherley would take the time to record some 8mm footage of the station's location and events, a portion of which has been digitized by the folks at stlmedia.net. In the silent clip below, you can see the station's Radio Park signage (which inspired the same on-air brand at Kansas City's KCKN), and even a clip of Fatherley himself in his KXOK baseball uniform.
Since the fall of 1967, Fatherley's legendary voice has been a Kansas City institution. He began here with a transfer from KXOK to Storz's Kansas City outlet, WHB-AM. Following two years as WHB's Program Director, he went on to have a hand in numerous other local stations, including WDAF-AM, KLTH, KEXS, KFEZ, and even KYYS, where he did sales in the earliest days of KY-102. With his authoritative voice, Fatherley was an in-demand voice-over talent for many years through his firm AdVoice LLC. Among his long list of clients were numerous local and national businesses, radio stations who utilized him as their imaging voice, and many charities, for whom he was always willing to provide his services at no charge.
In addition to his voicework, Fatherley contributed immesurable time and energy in recent years to documenting and preserving the history of Kansas City radio and the Top 40 format. In April 1993, Fatherley took part in the WHB 71st Anniversary celebration (see audio below), where fellow WHB alum Jim Moore called him, "the greatest voice this market has ever had." By the end of the decade, he had completed his audio production "Radio's Revolution & the World's Happiest Broadcasters" (in the process, shedding light the previously un-resolved birthplace of the Top 40 format). He also developed a website to pay tribute to WHB.
In recent years, Fatherley had produced audio productions that featured other legendary Kansas City talent, like Max Floyd, Walt Bodine, and Ted Cramer. He played a leading role in the Great Plains Radio History Symposium, and at the time of his death, was writing a book to chronical the history of WHB from its beginnings to the present day. In 2005/2006, he was honored with induction into the St. Louis Radio Hall of Fame.
Along with his friends and family, Richard leaves behind a loving and devoted radio family, both in Kansas City and St. Louis, and scattered throughout the country. Some of them have already contacted us to share their thoughts and memories...
Scott Cunningham
"By 1978 when I began working in the radio biz, who hadn’t heard of Dick Fatherley? He was already an icon in Kansas City radio.
"In 1985, I briefly met Dick and he seemed bigger than life. But I really met him in 1992 at KFEZ. He was the PD for, then a "Big Band" radio station format. We talked for quite some time about numerous radio stations and formats that had come and gone. For me, it was the first time to meet him outside of his DJ studio. His charm, good nature and humor was extraordinary. Since 2003, I’ve had the privilege of recording VO and working with Dick on numerous audio projects. After each session, he always wanted to sit and talk. He was always curious about the "industry" gossip…and always made it known that he would not charge anything for charities and churches. Dick actually went out of his way to help me on a local boys youth home project and the audio is quite stunning to listen to.
"Today is a sad day. But, I’m proud to say Dick Fatherley was my good friend. I loved him and he will truly be missed."
John Paul Gasca - KC Radio alum
"I asked him to do some voice work for me once and he put a ton of flare in it and made it better than I ever imagined... He let me read two songs he wrote that he wanted Jerry Reed to sing... they were hilarious. He used to do mock commercials that were a scream and when he would sign off at the end of a shift he would always squeeze in something about "as the sun slowly sinks in the west" and on and on with a good evening to all. What a guy!"
Wyatt Cox - KELY/Ely, NV
"Richard's wit, humor, and warmth is the reason that I got into the business before it was gutted with Cookie Cutter Radio. He was always generous with me, and to his many friends. He will be the voice of my little radio station here in Ely, Nevada as long as possible."
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As for me... Though I only met him last summer, I still feel so honored and privledged to have known Richard the past few months... What a great guy. I still remember "discovering" him online almost a decade ago. When I learned of his "Radio's Revolution" project HERE I was just a high school kid who really liked radio - without much of a clue about that era. Little did I know that come July 2009, I'd get to shake his hand, and he'd hand me a business card & a stack of CDs - including Radio's Revolution, and a number of others he'd been a part of. I couldn't believe he was loaning me those treasures. Two weeks later, I'm at my second Legends meeting ready to return them and he says that no, they're mine to keep. What an honor. And he was so interested in which one I liked the most... Wouldn't take my "loved them all" for an answer, so I finally said "Radio's Revolution" - since I'd only had my eye on it since it first came out many years before. :-)
Another thing I'll remember is his presence. Not just the voice, but the way he walked into the room, handshakes all around, and a, "Hello gentlemen." Then he'd always ask (and I know I'm getting this wrong), "Any big news? Rumors? Inuendos? Hirings? Firings?" and all the rest of that (awesome) saying that I forget.
When David Brewer shared his audio collection with me a couple of months ago, I was so excited, because the first thing I listened to was the WHB 71st Anniversary broadcast. Right there in the middle was a segment where Richard was in studio with some of the other alums. I'd hoped that after the site relaunched we could sit down & talk WHB and I could play it for him. Or that maybe he'd recall some of the people & programs on the Dan Diamond reel-to-reel collection I have. Unfortunately the relaunch has taken forever & and I never got that chance. I want to share that audio here though, because it encompasses so many important parts of his life - from WHB & voiceovers, to Kansas City and family. (There's some other talk with Jack Diamond, and fellow alumni Jim Moore, Wayne Beavers, and Jeff Roberts on there too.) Here ya go...
April 15, 1993 - WHB's 71st Anniversary segment w/ Richard W. Fatherley (06:27)
When it comes to local radio history, Richard was - and IS - the guy. He not only lived it, but he MADE it, and devoted untold hours and years to preserving it. Before I even knew him, he was an inspiration to what we try to do here. And he will continue to be an inspiration to our efforts, though I know I'll never be able to match his knowledge and contribution.
John Paul Gasca may have put it best. "As Dick Fatherly would say when he would start his sign off... 'As the sun slowly sinks in the west' so does the life of another great broadcaster... so we bid you farewell Mr. Fatherly as your powerful voice goes silent... you will however live on forever in our ears and our hearts."
Richard Ward Fatherley was an original and a legend. And we were so blessed to have known him. Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers. If you have any thoughts or memories you'd like to share, feel free to contact us, and we'll post them here.
More Feedback on Fatherley...
Randy Raley - PlanetRadio.us & KC Radio alum
"I came to KY as a punk, long haired kid. One of the first people I met was Dick. He took me under his wing and gave me pointers in the production room, how to be a professional and many pieces of wonderful advice. I saw him six weeks ago at Max's roast "Rrrrrrrrrandy Rrrrrrrrraley, how goes the journey?" He about squeezed the life out of my hand and gave me a big hug. He looked and sounded great. Even though our studios were down the hall from each other, I swear I could hear him in the KY studio.He had that voice. Thanks, Dick, I appreciate you showing me the ropes. He is radio royalty for me and always will be."
Just wanted to make a quick post with an update on the BroadcastKC redesign that's currently in progress...
-- I've been hesitant to keep posting updates here the past few weeks, as our redesign is both time-consuming AND from the ground up (meaning it's just more content to transfer later). Also planned to be done with the relaunch a week or so though, so if it takes much longer, I'll go ahead and make those updates available here. There's been quite a bit going on (Dave Fogel leaves Star, Cowboy leaves 610, Mancow out at WLS/Chicago, Mathew Blades heads to Phoenix, etc) and despite being on the verge of a relaunch, I don't want to let what's actually posted get too far behind.
-- As of this morning, new user registration is currently turned OFF. All content here is viewable without registration, and frankly, the registration system that's in place gets 10-20 spam registrations from bots every DAY. In our next incarnation, we'll have a some measures to prevent that, which in turn will speed up registration approvals, as I'll no longer be wading through the spam. It looks like current memberships CAN be migrated to our updated site.
-- Our new look will be optimized for widescreen monitors (why I didn't think of that the first time, I'll never know). Also, no more of that light grayish background, which looks more and more "dirty" to me every time I see it.
-- If you have any thoughts or suggestions on new features we should incorporate in our redesign, please let us know! Be on the lookout for easier access to key content, more frequent updates, and some member-exclusive enhancements as well. More (hopefully, a LOT more) later this week...
We've got some audio for you today, courtesy of a Kansas City radio alum by the name of Wyatt Cox. You may remember Wyatt from KUDL-AM/FM in the 1970s, but these days he's based in Ely, NV at KELY-AM (where, it should be noted, Richard Ward Fatherly is the station's voice). In addition to his duties at KELY, Wyatt also hosts the syndicated American Sunrise program, and others which you can find listed on his website.
A month or so ago, Wyatt was kind enough to send us some classic Kansas City jingles he found on a jingle album he had picked up on eBay. The jingles were heard on KANS (1510AM), and one even mentioned then-Program Director Ted Cramer by name. I was lucky enough to get to play them for him recently, and he says they would have aired in 1957, making them by far the oldest audio we've posted here yet. Give them a listen!
