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Mal Bellairs recognized

I was a Sunday Afternooner in the WBBM days. Pleased to see this recognition..
And with today's passing of John Callaway, the first News Director of WBBM when it changed formats in 1968 and became NewsRadio78, I'm reminded that Mal Bellairs was on that staff, too. The day they debuted the All News format, in May of 1968, I remember listening to Mal Bellairs and their first live event....the topping out ceremony for the John Hancock Center.
 
Barefootom said:
I was a Sunday Afternooner in the WBBM days. Pleased to see this recognition..
And with today's passing of John Callaway, the first News Director of WBBM when it changed formats in 1968 and became NewsRadio78, I'm reminded that Mal Bellairs was on that staff, too. The day they debuted the All News format, in May of 1968, I remember listening to Mal Bellairs and their first live event....the topping out ceremony for the John Hancock Center.
Click to expand...

When did Mal leave WBBM?
 
radioman148 said:
Barefootom said:
I was a Sunday Afternooner in the WBBM days. Pleased to see this recognition..
And with today's passing of John Callaway, the first News Director of WBBM when it changed formats in 1968 and became NewsRadio78, I'm reminded that Mal Bellairs was on that staff, too. The day they debuted the All News format, in May of 1968, I remember listening to Mal Bellairs and their first live event....the topping out ceremony for the John Hancock Center.
Click to expand...

When did Mal leave WBBM?
Click to expand...

Answer: http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=120935.0 The first post says 1969, but I thought WBBM 780 went all-news in 1968 - since 780 had their 40th anniversary last year, 2008, as an all-news station. So either Mal stayed around a while at 780 or he was not on the air for a while before buying WCLR-AM (no connection to the later in time WCLR-FM from Skokie) in 1969 and changing the call letters to WIVS ("Wives" - daytime programming to reach a female demographic)

See also: http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/06/18/r_jn9tng0jtpmdfssphmjaog/index.xml
 
stormy01 said:
radioman148 said:
Barefootom said:
I was a Sunday Afternooner in the WBBM days. Pleased to see this recognition..
And with today's passing of John Callaway, the first News Director of WBBM when it changed formats in 1968 and became NewsRadio78, I'm reminded that Mal Bellairs was on that staff, too. The day they debuted the All News format, in May of 1968, I remember listening to Mal Bellairs and their first live event....the topping out ceremony for the John Hancock Center.
Click to expand...

When did Mal leave WBBM?
Click to expand...

That's what I was wondering--whether Mal was with BBM after they went all news. I guess for awhile he was.
Answer: http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=120935.0 The first post says 1969, but I thought WBBM 780 went all-news in 1968 - since 780 had their 40th anniversary last year, 2008, as an all-news station. So either Mal stayed around a while at 780 or he was not on the air for a while before buying WCLR-AM (no connection to the later in time WCLR-FM from Skokie) in 1969 and changing the call letters to WIVS ("Wives" - daytime programming to reach a female demographic)

See also: http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/06/18/r_jn9tng0jtpmdfssphmjaog/index.xml
Click to expand...
 
radioman148 said:
When did Mal leave WBBM?
Click to expand...

I think he hung around briefly after the flip, and probably could have stayed on for a while longer if he had wanted to. He was a good interviewer, but he and the format didn't really fit each other. I think everyone....including Mal....knew that. Whatever, he basically left on good terms. When I worked for him nearly ten years later, he was still close with a number of his ex-colleagues and doing quite a bit of voiceover work for 'BBM sponsors.
 
Congrats to Mr Mal Bellairs! I listened to him from my teen years to middle age. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a pre-cana conference prior to my marriage to my wife (now of almost 50 years)! He was one class act and I was a member of the Sunday Afternooner's listening to WBBM (I think it was BBM).

Are there any tapes available of Mr. Bellairs on the internet? If so, I'd like to hear them. I was lucky enough to work in radio and TV in the late 50's and early 60's, which I say was our golden age of radio/TV.

Bill Ritchie
WKRS - WTTW - WLS-TV
 
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