R.I.P. Former WDAY Fargo Morning Host Earl Williams

Earl Williams

Earl Williams, co-host of “The Earl and Don Show” on WDAY 970 AM radio, kept listeners laughing from the late 1960s to 1981 has died from the effects of a stroke.

He was 79-years-of-age, according to Inforum.

Whether your radio was tuned to WDAY, or you met Williams at a coffee shop, you’d know him as the man with the wit that wouldn’t quit.

“Earl was the kind of guy, who you always walked away from smiling and laughing. He always had a funny story,” said Larry Gauper, a copy writer and radio commercial producer for WDAY from 1967 to 1975.

“Every time you’d see a group of people (at WDAY), and they’d be standing around in a circle and they’d be laughing and roaring, I’d go over there and there would be Earl, telling a story,” Gauper said.

He began his radio career May 15, 1954, in Glendive, Mont., at KXGN. Williams also worked at radio stations WJON and KKAM in St. Cloud, Minn., and at KOVC Radio in Valley City, N.D., before moving to Fargo in 1965. He worked for a time at KXGO radio in Fargo, before joining WDAY.

Williams ended his run on the WDAY morning show in 1981, returning to the air at Fargo’s KVOX 1280 AM in April 1983.

Williams worked in radio until 1986.