R.I.P.: Iconic Birmingham Radio Personality John Ed Willoughby

John Ed Willoughby

John Ed Willoughby, a Birmingham radio icon whose career spanned parts of five decades, died early this morning after a long illness.

Willoughby was 80 years-of-age, according to al.com.

Popular for his folksy wisdom and his quick-on-his-feet humor, he got started in radio as Tommy Charles' sidekick on Birmingham Top 40 WSGN 610 AM in 1975. He "retired" 30 years to the day later, on April 15, 2005, but continued to host a Saturday morning sport-talk show with Doug Layton until 2012.

"He was very, very Birmingham, which helped him in this market," Mr. Willoughby's son, J. Willoughby, said this morning. "This is coming from his son, but he really was one of the funniest guys I've ever met in my life.

Long before he teamed with Charles, Mr. Willoughby discovering he had a knack for radio while working for his father's furniture business, Willoughby Furniture, for which he did live commercials spots on Charles and Layton's radio show on Birmingham's WAQY-AM in the mid-1960s. He often stuck around to banter with the hosts.

Nearly a decade later, at the urging of a friend, Mr. Willoughby started calling into Charles' show on WSGN, posing as a foreign correspondent hiding out in Birmingham.

Mr. Willoughby became so popular that Charles asked station manager Ben McKinnon to hire him full-time.




Charles and Mr. Willoughby later moved to news station WERC 960 AM, where they were among the pioneers of talk radio in Birmingham.