D/FW Radio: WBAP's Hal Jay Waits For A New Heart

WBAP's Hal Jay

Hal Jay, a Texas Radio Hall of Fame personality who has been with WBAP 820 AM for 42 years is recovering at his home after collapsing with an irregular heart rhythm and is awaiting a heart transplant.

The Dallas Morning News reports Jay has been off the air since Jan. 10 when he collapsed at home from a bout of ventricular tachycardia. He was taken to Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth then transferred to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Jay told listeners he suffered another incident at Baylor a few days later while being visited by friends and colleagues.

“I asked the doctor ‘How sick am I?’ And he said, ‘You’re real, real sick.’ He goes, ‘Your heart’s done,’” Jay told his co-workers and listeners from his hospital bed at Baylor.

Jay suffered a previous heart attack in 2006.

Dr. Shelley A. Hall, chief of heart transplants for Baylor University Medical Center, told WBAP Jay could face a wait of “somewhere from two to six months” for his.

Jay said he is on level four of the national heart transplant waiting list. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, patients categorized as Status 1 and 2 have top priority.

Bruce Collins, WBAP program director, said Wednesday that the station doesn’t have an update but eagerly awaits Jay’s return.  “Our thoughts and prayers are with him,” he said.

Jay managed to keep his sense of humor during his updates to co-hosts Ernie Brown and Brad Barton.

“They asked me if I’m allergic to anything before they started all this, and I said, ‘hospital bills,’” he said.

The Fort Worth native began his broadcast career as a teenager in Liberal, Kan. He worked at stations in Fort Worth and Memphis before joining WBAP in 1981.