Hartford Radio: Veteran WTIC-AM Morning Host Ray Dunaway Retires

Ray Dunaway  (Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant)

Ray Dunaway, the morning radio personality who followed the legendary Bob Steele on WTIC 1080 AM and won over listeners with a relaxed but informed conversational style, will retire from the radio station next month after 29 years.

“You just get tired of waking up,” Dunaway said. “You just do. I love the morning. I do. I wouldn’t do any other shift, but the thing is, after a period of time, it’s kind of like you’ve been there, done that. And I think it’s time for somebody fresh to take a look at it.”

The Hartford Courant reports the 72-year-old Dunaway said the decision to retire from the morning show, which airs weekdays from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., was entirely his own. His last show will be on Dec. 24

His co-host, Brian Shactman, will continue to host the morning show, the station’s parent company, Audacy, said.

Dunaway was hired to replace Steele in 1992, bringing with him more than two decades of radio experience elsewhere in the country.

Steele had a storied Hartford broadcasting career spanning more than five decades, and Dunaway would be Steele’s second replacement. Steele’s immediate successor lasted just a year.

“The fact of the matter is, it was nerve-wracking because I had gone to Trinity [College] and my roommate used to listen to Bob religiously,” Dunaway said. “He was really good. It was a great responsibility taking over that job.”

Quick acceptance wasn’t a sure thing for Dunaway with the memory of Steele still fresh and dissatisfaction among some viewers about a move by WTIC to talk radio.

Dunaway’s arrival also coincided with rapid changes in AM radio. WTIC’s daytime music listeners were moving to FM radio, leaving AM stations like WTIC to carve out a different niche, which turned out to be talk radio.

Dunaway’s popularity with listeners survived four ownership changes at WTIC.