Thanks for this article Harvey. I feel sad for
our loss and sad that I never knew Ed, but I really enjoyed the
broadcasts I have heard him do over the past year or so. 73 to
you and 73 and SK to Ed, Jim WA6EKS
----- Original Message -----
From: Harvey Heagy <[log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Date sent: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 16:02:37 -0500
Subject: FW: Ed Walker Article
Hi All,
We just learned that Ed Walker passed away about 2:30 this
morning. He
listened to his last show with his family, and passed away
shortly
thereafter. We have been in touch with his family and they will
be =
sharing
funeral arrangements with us soon.=20
Ed was a wonderful mentor and friend, and we can be proud that we
knew =
him
personally.
----------
Ed Walker didn=E2=80=99t really want to do it. He was tired and
sick, he =
said, and not really up to it. Besides, his voice =E2=80=94 the
=
instrument of his preposterously long radio career =E2=80=94 was
no =
longer what it had been.Just once more, pleaded Lettie Holman, =
Walker=E2=80=99s boss. For the audience, she said. For
posterity. His =
daughter, Susan Walker Scola, agreed, urging her father on.Walker
=
reconsidered. Okay, he said. One more.So they assembled last
week to =
record one more, the last of the untold thousands of radio
programs =
Walker has done since he broke into radio as a college student 65
years =
ago, when Harry Truman was president. Holman was there for the
final =
show, as were audio engineer Tobey Schreiner and a couple of =
Walker=E2=80=99s radio associates, Rob Bamberger and Bob Bybee.
The =
vehicle was =E2=80=9CThe Big Broadcast,=E2=80=9D the weekly =
radio-nostalgia program that Walker has hosted for the past 25
years on =
Washington public station WAMU (88.5 FM).The setting was Room 623
at =
Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington. Walker, 83 and battling
cancer, =
had been there a week. He did the show in a hospital gown,
connected to =
a bank of hospital monitors. He insisted on getting out of bed
to sit =
upright. An old pro knows you sound better that
way.=E2=80=9CGood =
evening, everybody, and welcome to another edition of
=E2=80=98The Big =
Broadcast,=E2=80=99=E2=80=89=E2=80=9D he began one last time. =
=E2=80=9CMy name is Ed Walker.=E2=80=9DOutside the room, a
hospital =
worker fired up a floor-polishing machine. They waited until the
man =
moved down the corridor. Schreiner, holding a mike close to =
Walker=E2=80=99s lips, asked for another take.Walker restarted
and =
continued: =E2=80=9CAll these years I=E2=80=99ve been trying to
play the =
music and the shows that I think you all enjoyed. Well, tonight
I want =
to turn things around a little bit and I=E2=80=99m going to do my
=
favorite shows because this will be my last =E2=80=98Big =
Broadcast.=E2=80=99 Things come and things go, and right now =
it=E2=80=99s time for me to go. So we=E2=80=99re going to play
some of =
the shows that I think have special merit, shows that are my
personal =
favorites.=E2=80=9DAnd then Walker riffed and reminisced about
the radio =
programs he has loved since childhood, most of it from memory but
some =
=E2=80=94 dates, actors, trivia =E2=80=94 from notes produced on
a =
Braille typewriter. (Walker has been blind since birth.) His
favorites =
included =E2=80=9CDragnet=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9CGunsmoke=E2=80=9D
=
episodes from 1952; a 1945 Jack Benny show; =E2=80=9CFibber McGee
and =
Molly=E2=80=9D; the 1949 Lux Radio Theater production of
=E2=80=9CThe =
Treasure of Sierra Madre=E2=80=9D with Humphrey Bogart and Walter
Huston =
re-creating their movie roles.He told a story about interviewing
Benny =
in 1968. The great comedian played along when Walker and his
lifelong =
friend and radio partner, Willard Scott, cooked up a bit about
Benny =
hawking cigars before his nightclub act. Scott and Walker ask
him why =
he=E2=80=99s doing it. =E2=80=9CI need the money!=E2=80=9D said
Benny, =
who always pretended to be a cheapskate. =E2=80=9CHe was =
wonderful,=E2=80=9D said Walker fondly.In a rare moment of =
self-indulgence, Walker included a recording of himself: an old
skit =
from =E2=80=9CThe Joy Boys,=E2=80=9D the popular comic program
Walker =
co-hosted with Scott from 1952 to 1974.=E2=80=9CSo that=E2=80=99s
=
=E2=80=98The Joy Boys,=E2=80=99 a name which will go down in =
history,=E2=80=9D he said after the clip. He paused and chuckled
before =
adding, =E2=80=9CWe hope.=E2=80=9DFrom 2009: WAMU=E2=80=99s Ed
Walker, =
Host of =E2=80=98The Big Broadcast,=E2=80=99 Has Spent His Life
in D.C. =
Radio Link www.washingtonpost.comWalker=E2=80=99s usually lively
timbre =
is slower and less assertive on the last recording (which will be
=
broadcast on WAMU on Sunday at 7 p.m.). It=E2=80=99s the same
friendly =
Walker voice, familiar to a few generations of listeners in
Washington, =
but he sounds increasingly weary as he goes on. And maybe a
little =
sadder, too.Scola said her father was crestfallen when his doctor
gave =
him some bad news about his health a few weeks ago. =E2=80=9CHe
asked if =
he had to give up his work,=E2=80=9D she said a few days after
the final =
show. =E2=80=9CAnd the doctor said, =E2=80=98Yes, because you =
won=E2=80=99t have enough energy.=E2=80=99 He didn=E2=80=99t feel
good =
about [ending it]. He said the other day, =E2=80=98I wish I =
didn=E2=80=99t have to stop.=E2=80=99 Thinking about that as the
final =
time =E2=80=94 well, it=E2=80=99s very bittersweet.=E2=80=9DThe
last =
show, in fact, was difficult for him, both physically and
emotionally, =
she said. She knew it would be. She stayed away from the
hospital, not =
wanting to make the busy room even busier. Later that day, when
her =
father was discharged, she took him home to a nursing facility in
=
Rockville. He was exhausted.But she said: =E2=80=9CIt was a
great =
blessing to me. I=E2=80=99m very grateful. Radio has been my =
dad=E2=80=99s life. How unusual is it to actually do what you
love =
almost up to the end?=E2=80=9DHolman, the station=E2=80=99s
program =
director, acknowledged that Walker doesn=E2=80=99t sound like the
Walker =
of old. But she said the recording was =E2=80=9Cvery honest. =
.=E2=80=89.=E2=80=89. It gave some closure to him and his =
audience.=E2=80=9DWalker=E2=80=99s health issues forced him to
skip his =
Oct. 11 program. (Bamberger filled in for him.) It happened to
be the =
start of WAMU=E2=80=99s pledge drive, and Walker=E2=80=99s name =
inevitably came up from time to time over the course of his usual
=
four-hour time slot. The phones rang and rang; the station
raised =
$60,000, twice the usual amount for the period.All told, the
hospital =
session took about /2hours. At the end of it, Walker said, =
=E2=80=9CWell, that=E2=80=99s 25 years of my memories of hosting
=
=E2=80=98The Big Broadcast=E2=80=99 here on WAMU. Goodbyes are
very hard =
to do, especially when this has been a labor of love more than
anything =
else.=E2=80=9D He thanked his station colleagues and his
listeners.His =
last recorded words were: =E2=80=9CSo for one more time,
let=E2=80=99s =
end the show the way we always do. Remember, it wouldn=E2=80=99t
be =
Sunday evening if we didn=E2=80=99t have Eddie Cantor to
sing.=E2=80=9D =
Cantor=E2=80=99s voice came up, crooning the program=E2=80=99s =
traditional farewell song: =E2=80=9CI Love to Spend Each Sunday
with You =
LinkLets make a date for next Sunday nightI=E2=80=99m here to say
it =
will be my delightTo sing again, bring again the things you want
me toI =
love to spend each Sunday with you=E2=80=9CGood night, =
everybody,=E2=80=9D Walker said.And then Ed Walker did something
he may =
have never done in half a million minutes in front of a
microphone. He =
started to cry.Everyone in Room 623 cried, too.=20
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