R.I.P.: Former Madison Radio News Anchor Bill Short

Undated photo of Bill Short

William “Bill Short” Kiss, one of Madison’s most prominent news broadcasters, died on Monday in Stoughton.

He was 80, accoridng to The Wisconsin state Journal.

Short worked as a morning news announcer for Madison’s WISM radio station, later rebranded as WTDY, from 1971 to 1988.

Friends who worked with Short remembered him as a “remarkable newscaster” who could get city or state leaders on the phone at any hour of the morning and tell stories no one else could.

“He was this larger-than-life figure in terms of the way he approached his job and the way he approached radio,” said Dan Ronan, who worked with Short for three years. “And he really respected his audience.”

In 1988, Short was fired from WTDY, upsetting many in his dedicated audience. WTDY said Short “no longer fit into the format” and that station managers were unhappy with the way his morning talk show had progressed.

“I’m not really sure what I’m going to do now,” Short told the Wisconsin State Journal at the time. “I thought I would die in this newsroom. I thought I’d have a heart attack during a blizzard while I was reading a school closing.”

Madison resident Wayne Corey was Short’s boss at WISM from 1972 to 1979. He described Short as an amazing talent who was able to draw enormous audiences each morning.

“He sounded like he knew what he was talking about, and that’s because he knew what he was talking about,” Corey said. “Bill would get it fast and get it right, and he was very, very good at it.”