Help please. Time is short.
I want to nominate old time WCLS & WDAK radio DJ Chris Brannon, who died 5 years ago next week, as a candidate to be a Legacy Inductee to the Georgia Radio Hall Of Fame, to be honored at the awards ceremonies in the fall.
The likelihood that my nomination will be selected as a candidate is directly affected by the amount of material submitted with the nomination. Chris’s chance of being selected would be increased by having complete bio information, pictures, and audio. Nominations are due Feb 1st. I know nothing about his awards, education, other markets he worked before Columbus. Nor can I find any pics at all on the web.
When he died Jan 29,2010. the Columbus Newspaper didn't have an obit that I could find, but writer Richard Hyatt wrote:
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA)
2010-03-05
A voice goes still
by Richard Hyatt
Chris Brannon’s voice made little girls swoon. He was on their radio every night, playing the big boss hits from the big boss charts while the teenyboppers did their homework or gossiped on the telephone.
Old-time rock ‘n’ roll wasn’t a bunch of old records on the shelf. It was AM radio and spinning the wax were disk jockeys like Brannon. They thought they were stars and for a moment they were, sending out gushy requests to anxious listeners who stayed close to the radio until he played their favorite record.
First on WCLS and then on WDAK, Brannon found an audience that could not have connected his radio pipes with the cut-rate toupee he wore on his head.
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to play records all his life, Brannon turned to sales. Up and down the dial, he worked for local stations, using patter and gab to make advertisers want to spend money on his station.
The guy could talk and the guy could sell but he was never able to sell himself. He drifted from station to station, never recapturing the on-air magic.
His voice and personality were all but forgotten except to friends in the business when he died a few weeks ago. There was no audience and no music.
He died alone in his bed, and only then did many of us find out Chris Brannon was not even his name.
Tommy Harris was his given name. Someone must have convinced him that was not a name for radio.
When his body was discovered no one could claim it. He had no next of kin so his remains were kept in limbo. Friends tried to intervene but the law stood in their way. He had two ex-wives but neither was legally related anymore.
There were questions about whether there was enough money to bury him. One old friend laughed and said if Chris was here, he could go out and talk someone out of the money in no time.
Weeks after he died, arrangements were made to release his body to his first wife. He was cremated Feb. 18. His second wife will take his ashes to Florida and, as requested, scatter them on the beach.
As word of his death spread, people remembered the outrageous and funny. There was his dog, Peggy Sue, and his love of driving too fast.
There was the time a former boss asked two co-workers to stay late. She was going to fire Chris and she wanted moral support. Chris stayed inside her office for a long time. When he left, his superior confessed that he had talked her out of firing him.
A celebration of life for Chris, aka Tommy, is next Thursday at the River Church, 2951 Norris Road. It starts at noon.
Few local radio jocks survive. That voice you hear may be in Columbus or it may be coming to you from parts unknown.
Chris Brannon outlived the AM era but maybe Thursday someone will have a stack of 45s and play one for him.
============================================
I'm trying to find any pictures, awards, etc. to send to GeorgiaRadio HallOfFame with my nomination. He deserves it.
Tom
I want to nominate old time WCLS & WDAK radio DJ Chris Brannon, who died 5 years ago next week, as a candidate to be a Legacy Inductee to the Georgia Radio Hall Of Fame, to be honored at the awards ceremonies in the fall.
The likelihood that my nomination will be selected as a candidate is directly affected by the amount of material submitted with the nomination. Chris’s chance of being selected would be increased by having complete bio information, pictures, and audio. Nominations are due Feb 1st. I know nothing about his awards, education, other markets he worked before Columbus. Nor can I find any pics at all on the web.
When he died Jan 29,2010. the Columbus Newspaper didn't have an obit that I could find, but writer Richard Hyatt wrote:
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA)
2010-03-05
A voice goes still
by Richard Hyatt
Chris Brannon’s voice made little girls swoon. He was on their radio every night, playing the big boss hits from the big boss charts while the teenyboppers did their homework or gossiped on the telephone.
Old-time rock ‘n’ roll wasn’t a bunch of old records on the shelf. It was AM radio and spinning the wax were disk jockeys like Brannon. They thought they were stars and for a moment they were, sending out gushy requests to anxious listeners who stayed close to the radio until he played their favorite record.
First on WCLS and then on WDAK, Brannon found an audience that could not have connected his radio pipes with the cut-rate toupee he wore on his head.
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to play records all his life, Brannon turned to sales. Up and down the dial, he worked for local stations, using patter and gab to make advertisers want to spend money on his station.
The guy could talk and the guy could sell but he was never able to sell himself. He drifted from station to station, never recapturing the on-air magic.
His voice and personality were all but forgotten except to friends in the business when he died a few weeks ago. There was no audience and no music.
He died alone in his bed, and only then did many of us find out Chris Brannon was not even his name.
Tommy Harris was his given name. Someone must have convinced him that was not a name for radio.
When his body was discovered no one could claim it. He had no next of kin so his remains were kept in limbo. Friends tried to intervene but the law stood in their way. He had two ex-wives but neither was legally related anymore.
There were questions about whether there was enough money to bury him. One old friend laughed and said if Chris was here, he could go out and talk someone out of the money in no time.
Weeks after he died, arrangements were made to release his body to his first wife. He was cremated Feb. 18. His second wife will take his ashes to Florida and, as requested, scatter them on the beach.
As word of his death spread, people remembered the outrageous and funny. There was his dog, Peggy Sue, and his love of driving too fast.
There was the time a former boss asked two co-workers to stay late. She was going to fire Chris and she wanted moral support. Chris stayed inside her office for a long time. When he left, his superior confessed that he had talked her out of firing him.
A celebration of life for Chris, aka Tommy, is next Thursday at the River Church, 2951 Norris Road. It starts at noon.
Few local radio jocks survive. That voice you hear may be in Columbus or it may be coming to you from parts unknown.
Chris Brannon outlived the AM era but maybe Thursday someone will have a stack of 45s and play one for him.
============================================
I'm trying to find any pictures, awards, etc. to send to GeorgiaRadio HallOfFame with my nomination. He deserves it.
Tom