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