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RON CHAPMAN

5

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I NEVER GOT TO HEAR RON CHAPMAN AND I DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT HIM EXCEPT THAT HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A LEGEND. I KNOW YOU GUYS ON HERE LOVE THE GOOD 'OLE DAYS SO I WAS WONDERING IF I COULD GET SOME GOOD STORIES OF WHAT HE WAS LIKE OR WHAT MADE HIM SO GREAT. BETTER YET, WHERE I COULD FIND SOME AUDIO OR AN ARTICLE ON HIM. I DID NOT FIND MUCH WITH A GOOGLE SEARCH.

THANKS
 
Go to reelradio.com. You will have to make a donation, but it is WELL worth it. Not only are there some great airchecks of Chapman, but MANY others who are legends in this business. It is not a set donation, I think you can give about $5 and get in.

Ron was definitely one of the best. If you do go to that site, type in KVIL where it says "Look For or Find." It's been so long since I've visited the site, I forget what their search engine says, but I love the site and I have spend half a day on there sometimes listening to old airchecks. It's fantastic.
 
Did he have a American Banstand type show back in the 60's that was popular on television??
 
I think I have an aircheck of his last day on KLUV.
 
"sumpin else" on wfaa ch.8 in the mid 60's from Northpark Mall.
 
Boy, talking about memories. I remember Ron coming to my High School when he was part of Charlie & Harrigan at KLIF, the Mighty 1190! From that day forward I knew I wanted to be in radio. He and Jack Woods (Charlie Brown) were brilliant. From there I became a regular on his tv show as a dancer just so I could watch Ron work and learn from him. He was and will always be a true legend in radio and I salute the fact that he stayed true to his town and never left Dallas.
 
No, you would have heard about it. It would be major news. He's quite possibly the most popular radio personality in DFW history.
 
Ron and his wife Nance own a condominium on a super-luxury cruise ship that sails the seven seas. They come back to Dallas a few times a year to visit but the ship is their home.
 
Every once in awhile, some of Ron's "radio sons" get together for lunch. Paul Davis, Dan Bell, Eberhart, Mike Rey, me, etc. Two lunches ago, Ron joined us. Without the pressures of corporate, daily prep, managing a host of bumbling broadcast kids, and waking up at 3am...he looks better than ever and is vastly more relaxed. But some things never change. After an hour or so of swapping stories, laughing, reminiscing, and topping each others' lines...his phone rang. He took the call, got up, and disappeared. After about 10 minutes, we realized - he'd gone. Just left. Hit the jingle and got out. We all looked at each other and died laughing. Perfect...or at least, perfectly Ron. The next time we got together Scott Sams joined us. I called Chapman the day before...but Ron went to the wrong restaurant. He called me to find out where we were, and showed up for the last 10 minutes to say "hi" to Scott. I think we all had our cell phones out when he walked in. Not sure he noticed, but we enjoyed it. ;D

For what it's worth, Ron's brother (a long time minister and retired USAF colonel) is gravely ill. I hope you'll keep the family in your thoughts and prayers.
 
Thanks for the update Jody. Great story. And, congrats on a good book. :) We'll keep Ron in our prayers and thoughts.
 
VOXPOP said:
Ron and his wife Nance own a condominium on a super-luxury cruise ship that sails the seven seas. They come back to Dallas a few times a year to visit but the ship is their home.
Click to expand...

???? What happened to his $5 million home in Florida (where he did shows on KVIL at times)?? That was his retirement home afaik...(Tampa area iirc)
 
I believe Mel Karmazan bought that and Ron's car..seriously. That is the story I heard.
 
KPLEXCOMPLEX said:
I believe Mel Karmazan bought that and Ron's car..seriously. That is the story I heard.
Click to expand...

I don't know about the car but Mel did buy Ron's house in Florida for a LOT more than $5 million.
 
Ron used to talk about his Sister frequently during the KVIL days, once had her on the air. Wasn't she involved in some type of motivational or inspirational work?
 
Mel wanted to buy Ron's West Naples house since it was close to an ill relative of a friend. Upon his first few offers, Ron told Mel that since it was Mel's Infinity paychecks that bought it, Mel could have it for free. Mel insisted that he pay for it, and finally called Ron just as Chapman was just leaving the air one day. Karmazin made a generous offer, Ron said something to the effect of "then you're getting everything including the furniture, clothes and cars"...and it was done over the phone. Not sure they ever even used lawyers to write it up. At any rate, Ron and Nance still have their house in Dallas...some land in Ellis County, I believe...and the cabin aboard the cruise ship known as The World.
 
OK, here's my Ron Chapman Story-

About 12 years ago, I started thinking about a girl I had a crush on at UNT in the mid-60s. All of a sudden I couldn't get her off of my mind, so I decided I'd track her down to see how life had turned out for her. After all, 30 years had passed since I had last seen or heard from her. Maybe that was why she was on my mind. But I had no idea what her married name would be now...I knew it wasn't MY last name.

I was fortunate to locate her because I remembered where her dad had worked. While he had since retired and passed away, the lady who answered the phone there remembered him and knew where his daughter was. She was a counselor at a Richardson junior high school.

So I called her, and she sounded the same as she did many years before. Youthful and enthusiastic. Found out she was divorced, too.

Well, back in college I had the Denton florist make a tree about 4 feet tall filled with red rose buds and heart-shaped lolly pops (OK, make out like you don't remember...there was a Jack Jones song, "Lollypops and Roses" that was popular then.) I had it delivered to her on Valentine's Day.

She told me as we were talking on the phone 30 years later that it was the coolest present she had ever gotten. (She didn't have to tell me that. I knew it was!)

So we started talking every now and then by and writing notes to each other, and I came to Dallas on business, so we had dinner. Then Valentine's Day was coming and I was thinking I may be falling in love again.

So here's where Ron Chapman comes in. He was the most popular DJ at KLIF back in the '60s. I tracked him down and asked him if he would do a piece on the radio where he told the story of the lollypop tree, that we had found each other again, and here was our song. Then he would end by playing "Lollypops and Roses."

I guess he either thought it was so lame of an idea that it was worth doing, or maybe he actually liked it. I never knew. But he did it, and as my old girlfriend was driving home from school, she heard it, and she was so shocked and caught up in the piece that she went passed by the house she had lived in for years.

So after Pastor Ron's radio blessing, getting Patty to marry me was a piece of cake. We listen to the tape of that bit about four times a year, and, of course, always on our wedding anniversary.

By the way, I sent Ron a hundred bucks and told him to either buy Mrs. Chapman some flowers or put it in the offering plate at church.
 
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