1.16.2014

Roy Leonard: fun success

Roy Leonard has had a long career in media: radio, TV, and online. He talks about his start in the 1940s; his radio work in Salem and Framingham Massachusetts; army radio in Nome, Alaska; his theater background and meeting his wife, Sheila, there; working at WHDH and WNAC in Boston; finding out about WGN from sportscaster Curt Gowdy in the late 1960s; filling in for Wally Phillips; moving to Chicago in the late 60s; broadcasting Chicago Bulls home games with Vince Lloyd; living in Kenilworth; how he helped get Johnny Mathis exposure; the early days of TV and heydays of radio; why he likes Garry Meier's show; how he was the first theater and movie reviewer and interviewer; Kathy & Judy; Larry Lujack's real personality; his good attitude; interviewing John F Kennedy, John Cleese, Timothy Dalton, Henry Fonda, and Tippi Hedren; celebrity worship; his passion for theater; knowing Pearl Bailey, Marcel Marceau and Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits; hosting Family Classics; why he talked about his family on the air; his son Kelly Leonard (a Second City executive); why he retired; what he thought of Garry Meier and Steve Dahl making fun of him on their show; why he put Nick Digilio on the air, and more.

Click the link below to play, or download it by right-clicking (on a PC) or holding down the CTRL key and clicking on it (for Mac).

http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG120.mp3