Tom Whalen

[Bob1370]

It was sad to read this yesterday in Scott Fybush's Northeast Radio Watch on fybush.com;

"...back to Buffalo and WBEN, we remember Tom Whalen, who came to the station in 1947 as an engineer and quickly established himself as the right-hand man to longtime morning legend Clint Buehlman, a role he filled until Buehlman's retirement in 1977. Whalen was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2003. He died March 30, at the age of 88."

Tom richly deserved his enshrinement in the Buffalo Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. Not only did he keep WBEN's mornings well under control for over 30 years, he segued almost immediately into the technical director's role on WBEN's Newsday noon-hour news magazine program, which was an award-winning, highly popular show that (IMHO) WBEN should revive for noon-hour listeners. It was a complex production (I remember it well, as part of the team Jim McLaughlin assembled to put it on the air) but Tom handled it flawlessly, and helped us to multiple AP awards for "best major market regularly scheduled newscast." He was the definition of grace under pressure, handling last minute changes in response to breaking news with cool and skill.

Every broadcaster should have the privilege of working with someone like Tom Whalen at least once in his career. RIP, Tom...you're remembered and missed...

 

[Paul_Warren]

Tom was also an active ham radio operator, and occasionally comments on the topic would make it onto Clint's show, especially during disasters abroad when ham radio was used to help coordinate relief efforts. As a geeky teen who listened to Clint because that's what Mom & Dad had on in the morning, I remember thinking how cool that was.

What a class act. My first effort to get into radio as a career was on the engineering side, and Tom Whalen was part of the reason. I wound up on the "other side of the glass," but still feel I owe a debt to Tom's early inspiration.

73, Tommy!