Bruce Williams has announced that he will retire from the talk radio game March 5th.
I don't remember when we first started programming Bruce Williams on KAST but it's safe to say he was among the first hosts we added when we were first puttering around with the idea of building a news and talk format. He was that calm voice in the night helping people all over the country with solid advice on any number of matters. Rarely controversial but always entertaining and informative.
Here's what Bruce says in an email to me a couple of days ago:
I have learned “never say never”. This moment is closing a chapter of my life, which has meant a great deal to me. I have no broadcast plans. This is not to say that if someone made an overture that I would automatically say no. Unlikely, but the door is never firmly closed.
A great many factors went into making this decision. I have agonized over it for some considerable period of time. The decision was not made lightly but I firmly believe it is the correct one. Over these 3 ½ decades I have been honored to have spent some time with you. At least for a few years I was number one in my profession, an honor that is accorded to very few. I was always grateful for being inducted into Bruce Dumont’s Radio Hall of Fame. These are little things that won’t matter very much in the long run but they surely mattered to me.
I was always sorry that my Pop wasn’t around during my radio years but he passed away well before I had a thought about radio. My mom saw it happen and there is solace in that.
Two weeks from today I will get up on Monday morning and find my newspapers on my coffee table as they have been for many years, provided by the thoughtfulness of my wife Susan. But that day will be a different experience in that I will be reading those papers with the same intensity and the same interest however, I’ll be reading them entirely because I want to read them not because it’s necessary to be prepared to do a program. Quite a change after 30 years.
Thank you Bruce and "I wish you well"
Bruce set the standard all call-in talk shows were modeled from didn't he?
ReplyDeleteWhat a presence and strength to be so popular for 35 years and he will be missed but, his retirement, I'm certain by those that love him, is well earned.
Bruce was a virtual father-like figure even before virtual became virtual via the internet. His voice was probably used by many a radio producer to compare to potential new hires over the years, as it truly was/is such a soothing one. He could recite Jack and Jill over and over on air and it would produce a desirable affect.
ReplyDeleteI recall the years when Bruce was indeed one of the rare voices on night time radio. I have to say, even then, I wished that he would voice his opinion a little stronger, but he did a pretty good job of quietly inserting it in between the lines, always gently of course. Nevertheless, I always thought his program, targeting random discussions with callers, was a bit too restrictive because it tended to require him to go where the callers went rather than where Bruce might wish to go; we never really got to find out where he would have gone if the program had been organized to push him to do so. But he liked the chosen format, and was successful, so no criticism intended here.
It would be remiss if I didn't indeed make the comparison of your own on-air voice with Bruce's, as there are many comparisons to make, along with the good advice it accompanies. It must have been fun being a part of this profession over the years.
Art Hyland