Monday, March 2, 2015

R.I.P.: Legendary Top40 Radio Personality Don Berns

Don Berns
Legendary radio personality Don Berns passed away in Toronto on Sunday.

Originally from Hartford, Ct, Berns'  radio career included stops at some of the greatest stations in the country. WICE in Providence, WDRC in Hartford, WTRY in Albany, WKBW in Buffalo, KLIF in Dallas, KFMB-FM in San Diego are just some of the stops in America and in Canada.

In a Rock Radio Scrapbook interview, Berns commented that of all the stations where he's worked "WKBW (1970-75) was probably the best in terms of personalities because of the completely difficult styles of the people who were on the station, as well as the expert guidance of the man I still consider to be the most innovative and creative I have ever worked for - Jeff Kaye. When you consider that 'KB had such diverse personalities as Dan Neaverth (homespun/warm/funny/Buffalo-born and bred); Sandy Beach (not a jock; an entertainer who is most likely the funniest, quickest person I have ever worked with on the air), Jack Armstrong (the fastest mouth in the world; not all of his bits worked, but they went by so fast you never noticed.. It's no wonder that the station was a winner, although we never did beat WBEN, the old-line MOR that totally dominated the market."






1 comment:

  1. RIP to my friend and acquaintance of almost 50 years. We started at WBRU at Brown and were two of the pioneers who made that station a commercial progressive rock powerhouse completely run by college student sin a top 25 market. And "our baby" (his, mine and dozens of others who put their hearts and souls into the place) is still doing a logical extension of the same format today!

    I still can't believe he's gone - I expect to open my inbox and find another joke or trenchant comment - or maybe a note saying, "Had ya going for a while, didn't I?"

    Don was always a really good guy, a superb broadcast talent and a musical pioneer; it's a shame he had to pioneer "leaving the gig early." RIP, my friend.

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