R.I.P.: Alaska Broadcasting Legend Dick Lobdell Passes

RIP: Dick Lobdell

Dick Lobdell, legendary broadcaster whose rich, golden voice was heard on Alaska radios for more than 40 years on KENI 650 AM, passed away over the weekend.

He had been ill for quite some time.

Most recently, he mostly did play-by-play for sporting events, high school games and University of Alaska Anchorage basketball.

But while in his early 60s, according to a blog by KENI's Scott Rhode,  Dick was billing himself as "The World's Oldest Living Radio Communicator," as recognized by the Anchorage Assembly in 1999.

According to Rhode,  he justified that on a technicality.

He wasn't a personality, like Paul Harvey (who was, of course, born old); he was a communicator. Not that Dick didn't have a recognizable personality. But with his broadcasts, the message was more important than the messenger. He may have learned that from sports, where the game is all that matters and the announcer must not get in the way. 

The show Dick was running when I joined it in 1997 was an old-fashioned on-air town hall. He had trivia contests, he hosted guests, he moderated political debates. He announced school lunches, for crying out loud! Phone calls were always part of the show, but when he put callers on the air, it was as if he was taking testimony on public issues, not just venting. Dick himself had opinions, but that's not what his show was about. KENI's opinion-driven talk didn't begin until after he signed off at 9am, with Rush Limbaugh.