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Thinking of John McCarty, two years later...remembrances?

M

MikeShannon914

Guest
Can you believe it's already been two years on Wednesday. Classy guy and a great boss and sorely missed (especially that laugh of his!) and always will be. Any good McCarty stories out there? I was only with him his last five years, but I know some of you got to work with him much longer, and at different times in his career. Do share...
 
I never got to meet John....I never worked with him....But I did work with Bill Jackson, and will never forget the haunting sadness and loss in his voice when he told me about the death of his pro-ally and friend.

For what he did for Bill....and for all of you....

God Bless John McCarty.

R.I.P

J-D
TWR
 
I still have his phone number in my phone. Of course I haven't called it since his death and don't know what became of it, but had the opportunity to delete it from my new phone and couldn't do it. Sometimes when I'm scrolling through the list of many "Johns" in my phonebook, I see his name and smile.

Is Matt still running Traffic.com? I'll bet he's a natural.
 
Likewise, his e-mail address is still in my computer and his # is in my phone. I refuse to get rid of them....way too final. I remember when Matt was a kid, doing drum line at school. The pride John displayed when we would talk about it was wonderful. We also compared our diabetes numbers (I know...that's kinda surreal) all the time. He always filled in at the network when I was out. He would run my "best of" shows, but, on occasion, had to do the show. That would worry me....because he was too good.

RIP, Johnny
 
I think about John often.
Never worked with him, but my neighbor's daughter is married to Matt, so the thought of John enters my memory often. I don't know if John's daughter is married or not, but at last word John's daughter and another friend's son were dating.
 
To answer a couple of questions...Yes, at last check, Matt's running the Traffic.com office and doing just fine with it. Unfortunately, I haven't talked with him since he took the job, but me and several others put in gracious words with Tom Corbett about Matt up front...he's a perfect fit and learned the business at the feet of the master!

John's daughter Cara got married to Chris this time last year. They just had their one-year anniversary.

I don't have a whole lot of McCarty stories, and the reason why is that so many of those precious moments were just that...moments. Sharing a laugh, doing anything to make him crack up (imitations of on-air talent were my favorites to do,) and just seeing him in action--no matter what the stress level was, or what Corbett had cooked up, or who didn't show up for their shift, seeing John shift into "radio announcer" mode on the air and sounding as calm and professional with thoughts gathered and such--sounding just like the McCarty of the 1980s that juggled reports on 10 stations at one time, flying or driving, whatever anyone could throw at him, and maintaining that finesse and style. A true pro!

One story that still cracks me up is when a severe storm moved across the area, and the wind kicked up to a reported 82 MPH at the building there on Empire Central. I was getting a little rattled, thinking it was time to take cover somewhere in the office, and here's John, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows, hands on his hips and looking outside. He told me in a normal tone, "Look, the windows are bowing in," and just kept standing there! I just knew we were seconds from those windows shattering, but I guess the news-hound instinct in John made him keep standing there to see what would happen next...forgetting all about his own safety. I know he wasn't listening to me! Somehow, the storm passed without incident.

Oh, and he hated it when I'd write stuff on Radio-Info that had anything to do with work! I'd try to be discreet or just leave things alone, but I couldn't help getting in the middle of battles between Ray Whitworth and Catfish Prewitt and Tony Williams and whoever else that had a bone to pick, or juicy stories/rumors/comments to share, about Traffic.com or its people. John was VERY protective of his Traffic.com family...and a family we were. Dysfunctional for sure, like all families, but he was our leader and our PATRIARCH. And he didn't like that relationship intruded upon or compromised. Hell, it took about two years before I really felt like I was truly a trusted member of the T.com family!!

You wanted to work hard for him and to do the right thing. And he trusted each of us and refused to micromanage...he would say, 'You're a professional, so I expect you to do your job like a professional.' A few took advantage of that, but most folks (and especially as John encountered more health problems) were willing to do anything they could to make John's job (and life) a little easier and less stressful. I'd like to think it gave him a few more months or years.
 
Though John and I worked for the same company, we worked in different markets. The only time that I ever got to spend any time at all with John was at those luncheons that you (Mike) put together. We would talk on the phone from time-to-time, too. But...listening to those that worked under John was where I got most of my impressions of him. I can honestly say that I never heard anyone say anything less-than-outstanding about him.

What a pleasure it must have been to work for someone like John McCarty...someone I considered a great "radio" man and a great "traffic" man. Folks like that are few and far between.
 
I had the pleasure of working with John for over a decade, and still miss him dearly. One story that I remember is at Shadow, one of our reporters would be in the middle of a traffic report, John would stand behind her in the adjoining studio with her radio's remote control, and turn down the volume on her monitor. We had her convinced that it was a ghost. This is one of many stories, and I remember his sense of humor fondly.

John was such a wonderful person, a fantastic family man who loved Kim and the kids more than anything. Always calming. Always caring. Always fun. Missed terribly.
 
Johnny Mac, as I and others at Sunny 95 called him was a true class act.
I sure miss that silver haired fox. He helped me make the transition from Top 40 jock (Eagle, WLS-FM) to a true adult contemporary personality simply by providing the example. It was always a treat to hear John work the phones and ENTERTAIN during his afternoon drive show on Sunny 95.

There were so many that passed through Sunny 95 during it's brief life, Texas News Legend Joe Holstead who I had the extreme honor to be partnered with on the Sunny 95 morning show, Dick Silverton, the ultimate Jerry Jeff Walker fan. Mary Tylaska, Arnold Evans and so many more in such a short amount of time. Forgive me for not mentioning everyone, as all of us played a part in the run of that neat little experiment.

John was a driving force in the way we approached our listeners. His mantra was treat them all as friends, no matter how aggravating some could become. Even though the end of Sunny came to soon, I look back at those times with a great deal of fondness primarily due to the positive influence of John McCarty. Heck I even grew to enjoy the music and even more hosting the Saturday Night all request show. He always would call on the bat phone and just say "howdy".

Johnny Mac was a true class act and a broadcaster of the highest caliber, and most of all he was my friend.
God bless you John as your presence blessed all you touched.

Jay Walker
 
Thanks to each one of you who took the time to share your thoughts...I let John's family know we were collecting these here, and they do indeed appreciate it.
 
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