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Lt. Al Ford 1250 WDAE

Now he can really pilot the "Skyyyyy Patrol" I remember him on 620 WSUN when they had a country format. My thoughts are with his family....
 
tparadio1 said:
St Petersburg Times reporting that Tampa Police Lt. Al Ford traffic reporter for many years on 1250 WDAE
had passed away November 8th at age 80.

Here is the St Petersburg Times story link http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/article908545.ece
Click to expand...
Sad news, another great radio person lost.

If I'm not mistaken, wasn't Al Ford the person, who named the intersection of I-4 and I-275 "malfunction junction"?

My condolences to his family and friends.

drt
 
Taft, with Randy Michaels and company had just taken over WDAE..we were still in the old 101 N Tampa Street studios..with the big old self-supporting tower that highlighted the downtown skyline..Bob Schuman was doing news that morning when Al barked on the two-way to put him on the air NOW! He said that he had just heard on the scanner that the Sunshine Skyway bridge had been struck by a freighter. He made his way to the south end of Pinellas Point, in time to see..through the thick fog..the front end of a greyhound bus..sinking in the water..several overturned cars were still floating surrounding the twisted remains of the bridge..and Al reported that he actually SAW the bus driver's hat..floating in the bay. The rest of the day was the essence of radio's ability to paint a picture, tell a story and otherwise compel the listener to the point of tears..the ability of these professional radio people to scramble to present thier craft to the listening public. Instead of just getting the official information from the authorities, Bob got the phone number of a public phone booth at the Palmetto Greyhound station..called it and asked to speak with someone waiting for that bus..He got some of the most amazing audio ever broadcast..real..arresting radio!

All other stations in the area followed suit, but 1250-WDAE was over it all with the likes of Al Ford, and his amazing ability to tell the story, and roll a movie in your mind.

I am proud to have been able to work with him.
 
Lt. Al was on the same vhf 2 way radio frequency that was also assigned to WBRD am1420 / WDUV fm103.3 back in the mid 70's... I was in news &
used to chat with him now and then when he was "off" the air...

A true Tampa Bay legend... thoughts and prayers to family...
 
There's a book that's fairly easily available (I say this because if it's in libraries here in Miami and up in Gainesville where I went to college then I'm sure it must be in several places in Tampa) called "WDAE: Florida's First Radio Station", that I think of every time I'm stuck in traffic and a train is in the way. It was written on WDAE's 50th Anniversary (1971) and speaks of Al Ford. Supposedly a Seaboard train was delaying things for motorists one day a little longer than it should've been, and "Sgt. Al" landed the chopper and wrote the conductor a ticket.

I only wish those kinds of things would happen more often.
 
Hum... I have a copy of that book by Hampton Dunn somewhere, probably in storage... BUT.. I thought Lt. AL always flew a fixed winged aircraft IE: airplane...
 
I dont ever remember Al Ford piloting a helicopter. I do recall Tampa police regularly ticketing trains for blocking crossings for extensive periods of time. 970 WFLA was to only radio station that I recall using a helicopter and if I recall, it was in conjunction with one of Tampa's TV stations. Years ago, when a highway patrolman crashed his Cessna 182 just north of Sarasota airport looking for a criminal, I recall their helio being over head for quite a while.
 
Didn't really put emphasis on the helo vs. plane.....You are probably right if it was a plane, that was a detail I don't recall as I read the book over 10 years ago.

Was looking more at the "live ticketing of the train on the air" part.
 
I had the pleasure and priviledge to work with Al Ford , a Real Person and Cop who loved his work and was Good at it, back in the Glory Days when "DAE" was Nostalgia Big Band and doing the Numbers , let him go down in the annals of Radio along with the the late Jay Miller , Larry Anderson ,Dan Scott and the others we lost from that Great Station , now Al can really patrol the Sky , May they not be forgotten..
 
Lt. Al Ford was the first traffic reporter with a personality that showed thru all of his reports. I remember him also calling the interstate thru Tampa.."The Roller Coaster" because of the hills and valley's that created the blind spots....the designers were definately the "lowest bidders" that also equated with their design expertise.They definately graduated at the bottom of their class IF they graduated at all!
 
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