• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Terry McNulty

Sincere condolences in the matter of Terry's passing. Unlike the rest of you guys and ladies, I never had the pleasure of meeting or speaking with him, but I was a fan...listening to him from a distance in New Jersey in 1973. Loved the Big Fella. Although I never heard him do this on a city-grade signal, he used to have this daily salute called "a How-Do-Ya-Do", where he would make up a rhyme and do it in candence over this music bed...does anybody remember that. This goes back aways, when he was doing 9-12Noon and Bill Kelly was on 12-3PM.

S' long Big Fella.
 
Ah yes, "How do you do Jimmy Connors, how do you do..." remember it well. And after reading the thread, remembered Dr. Diagnosto! There was one spot that he did one time for the Times Leader and the spot had something to do with calling the paper and asking for Joe Hurly. In the background was him going "Hurly burley, Hurley burley, Hurley burley" over and over again. That had to be 15 years ago. His stuff was memorable and unforgettable. As was he. Anyone know why he stopped using the "Big Fella" moniker when he went to NAK? We lost a great one and I'm sure he's keeping everyone smiling upstairs right now.

Godspeed Terry.
 
he used to have this daily salute called "a How-Do-Ya-Do", where he would make up a rhyme and do it in candence over this music bed...

A very poor imititation.............but here goes..........
Organ note held long.............then the rhyme............

"How do ya do, T. Mcnulty, how do ya do,
How do ya do, T. Mcnulty, how do ya do,
You made us all feel good,
Like a good radio guy should,
How do ya do, how do ya do, how do ya do. "

Then slightly off mike, you'd hear him say , "That was terrible!!"

Then he'd hit the cart for a jingle. RIP Terry.

Yonkstur
 
And of course there was the Sugar Notch Shuffle. I always wondered how you did that dance?
 
Re: Terry McNulty--funeral

I personally did not get to the funeral because I essentially work for pagans
but a relative of mine close to the family was there. (She misidentified Kevin Lynn as perhaps Kevin Jordan). Here is a portion of her e mail:

David: It was a beautiful tribute to Terry: a long reception line in front of the altar, no coffin (perhaps he was cremated), Mass with wonderful readings by family members, a truly beautiful reflection by his son (Brendan) that captured Terry as a father, comments from Joey Shafer that highlighted his radio career, and memories of growing up by Bing. it was a very beautiful memorial service -- not a typical funeral.
I understand that he suffered quite a bit for a good length of time (hospital, hospital, home) with (deleted). The family really has kept it quiet, even at the funeral. However, I had an inside source. Terry was a very private man and wanted this to be so, I was led to believe.

There were several radio people there, including Kevin (Lynn????maybe --thin man with blondish hair) and Vince Sweeney who couldn't hold back the tears.
 
I personally did not get to the funeral because I essentially work for pagans
but a relative of mine close to the family was there. (She misidentified Kevin Lynn as perhaps Kevin Jordan). Here is a portion of her e mail:
Click to expand...

No, Yonk, your relative was quite right, it was Kevin Jordan; Kevin and Terry were very good friends. And it was a great memorial service, which included a Catholic mass. Very well-attended by lots of Terry's old radio friends and allies - George Gilbert, Bobby Day, Joey Shaver, Jerry Heller and wife Nancy, Jim and Phylis Davey, Joe Middleton, Paula Degnan, Michael Neff, Jimmy Loftus, Rob Neyhard, Clarke Kuschke, Vince Sweeney, and God forgive me if I missed others. It was especially nice to see George Gilbert, his wife Betty, and two of their daughters. George always had a great family, still does. The McNulty family is magnificent.
 
Sorry, that was my left handed brain working. She thought it was Kevin Lynn when in fact it was Kevin Jordan. Lynn has gray hair. I wrote it backwards.
Yonkstur
 
I worked with McNulty the Magnificent for far too short a time.

Through tempest harsh, and sadness deep he held me in the love of his blessed good nature. He made me laugh when I thought no one could, and flattered me with his respect.

And he was gracious....One day when we were jogging around a lake....(What was the name of that....Oh yes! Lake Vomit)....We were jogging around Lake Vomit, and he thanked me for coming out to run with him, because me being there kept him from going too fast....

He was Wilkes-Barre Tarre....The official Groundhog of Warmland....Coming out from the dumpster behind Boris' Bar when it was 30 below. If he saw his shadow, it meant 6 more weeks of Pushy Bosko....Thank God for the Sun....

Wonderful Mary....May God comfort you with all the blessings he gave us in the Mind, Heart and Soul of Terry McNulty...

Terry Lad, you left too soon....Sleep Sweet, Dear Man.

Jon-David Wells
Terry McNulty Fan
 
I also attended the funeral. It was absolutely wonderful. There was a eulogy from Brother "Bing", Joey Shaver and I think his son. The back of the program was cute too. It was a picture of a very young Terry McNulty with the Quote of "I'll see ya on the other side Reba....Oh Pushy!" A wonderful way to remember a truly talented man and a very modest man. Brother "Bing" said it best, Terry was a "quiet leader" May God Bless Terry and his family during this time of grief.

And as far as Dr Diagnosto, here's one from the archives.

"Dr. Diagnasto...is in Aliquippa!..Aliquippa!!! Try rocking the car, don't spin the tires too hard...No doctor Hes in the town of Aliquippa talking about the Taiwan A Flu....Taiwan A flu??? I tied on the other night. enough to serve an army...I woke up in the Back of my neighbor's Buick! Luckily I wasn't making my rounds...yes round and round the damn car wouldn't stop spinning.."on and on...Till the wrap up at the end with the nurse Open up and say Ahhh...then she would scream and the tail of "...Another Problem solved by Doctor Diagnosto." Or remember Good Sax with Dr Ruth Eastheimer? They were really some great times!
 
"Good Sax" didn't work for me, but "Dr. Diagnosto" was occasionally outrageously funny. As I've said before, Melanie Apple really made that bit work. It showed "The Big Fella" was more than "Pushy & Reba" and the "Pineapple Feature."
 
NigelWick said:
"Good Sax" didn't work for me, but "Dr. Diagnosto" was occasionally outrageously funny. As I've said before, Melanie Apple really made that bit work. It showed "The Big Fella" was more than "Pushy & Reba" and the "Pineapple Feature."
Click to expand...

Now, about Melanie Apple. Within the last six months I was glancing at the Harrisburg Patriot-News, and there was a front page story about Melanie Apple. Not a story about her radio career so much as a story about he she had survived a life-threatening illness, that she was doing okay, and she was back with her family somewhere in the Harrisburg area. The only reason I knew it was the same Melanie was because they did reference her time spent in radio, both up here and in Harrisburg. Googling her got me nowhere at all, except for an obscure reference to her working at WHP some time ago. Can anyone here fill in the blanks?
 
I worked alongside Terry from 96 until he was pushed out by Citadel. He was doing mornings at the time at WARM, and I met him as a promotional intern, and worked my way up to hosting the morning show on WARM's sister station WBHT.

Every morning I came in, he was there, and in great spirits. Always fun, and entertaining, and one of the nicest and most sincere men I've ever met.

I remember him asking me to cover a DJ job he had for a union, and let me borrow some of his personal DJ equipment because my amp had blown out. It amazed me that a man with such an amazing track record of success and fame in the business could be so unbelievably non-egotistical! He was truely a star among his peers. Reading everyone's posts about him proves that to me.

After I left the building, and my hometown in '98, I thought about some of the things that he did in the halls while I was an intern, and have carried that same attitude with me as I've climbed the ladder of the business.

If you're in the business and worked along side Terry McNulty, you learned from him that EVERYONE around you was important. Your producer, engineer, and even the interns. It was a family, and it's one of the many reasons I LOVE this business.

Thank you Terry! We will ALL miss you! GOD BLESS!

SID
 
Every morning I came in, he was there, and in great spirits. Always fun, and entertaining, and one of the nicest and most sincere men I've ever met.
Click to expand...

Terry was as enthusiastic about his job the day he said good-bye as he was the very first time he said hello, which I do believe was on long-gone WSCR. The only time we ever disagreed was on the matter of the six-day week. Like most(all?)jocks, I absolutely hated the six-day week, regardless of what Sat/Sun shift you might pull. Truth be told, the six-day week was what drove me out of radio, I wanted two days off a week like the rest of the world. At one point in time I came within an inch of selling cars for a major area dealership just to stop working six days a week. (Sadly, there are many times I wish I had done just that. It was salary, commission, insurance, pension, bonuses, a car, and yes, a five day week. I'm betting a lot of "broadcasters" wish we'd chosen a different path.)

Anyway, Terry felt quite the opposite. He disliked having a weekend off, he disliked those times when the rotation freed him on a Sat/Sun. Why? I swear this is true; Terry told me many times that having two days in a row off knocked him off of his game, it interrupted his rhythm, it messed up his "flow." And he was completely serious. As has been noted elsewhere in eulogizing this fine gentleman, he sure had a different way of looking at things.

Another for-instance, one upon which we were in total agreement, was the state of WARM by the early to mid-80s. We both felt the excitement was gone, the energy squashed, it was neither fun working at or listening to WARM by those days. As Terry said many times, "Not enough 'bing-bang-wing-wang' on the air." Bing-bang-wing-wang. Don't know about you, but the phrase always worked for me.I knew precisely what he meant.
 
I had the sincere pleasure of working with Terry and he was nothing but generous and kind. However, I knew this day was coming. I ran into him at a Red Barons game last summer and he did not look well. I remember commenting to my wife that I didn't think he had long to live. I can only hope that when I go I will have left as fine an impression as he did.
 
scmidlapp said:
However, I knew this day was coming. I ran into him at a Red Barons game last summer and he did not look well. I remember commenting to my wife that I didn't think he had long to live. I can only hope that when I go I will have left as fine an impression as he did.
Click to expand...

Does anyone here on the board know what the dear man died from? Was it heart problems or what?
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom