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Ed WalkerEd Walker
Marcus Yam/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Radio has lost one of its most enduring voices. 

Ed Walker, the veteran broadcaster who was the longtime host of The Big
Broadcast on WAMU 88.5, died early Monday morning at the age of 83. WAMU
announced the news on its Twitter page and revealed that Walker passed away
shortly after his final broadcast aired. 

"We are very sad to announce our friend Ed Walker passed away this morning,
after listening to his final show with his family. #BigBroadcast," the
station tweeted this morning.

Walker, who was born blind, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. The
Washington, D.C., radio personality, who was on the air for over 60 years,
recorded his final broadcast from his hospital room, and, according to
reports, died three hours after it aired. 


READ: Actress Maureen O'Hara dies at 95


"Goodbyes are very hard to do, especially when this has been a labor of
love. More than anything else, my thanks go out to all the people at WAMU
who've helped me over the years," Walker said during his final broadcast.
"Once again, I thank you so much for enjoying the show and being a part of
it over these 24 years."

Walker was the first blind student at American University, where he helped
launch the WAMU-AM radio show in 1950. He also hosted the Joy Boys broadcast
with close friend Willard Scott in the mid-1950s to mid-1970s.  In 1990, he
began hosting The Big Broadcast, which has been the longest-running program
on WAMU.  

"Radio was everything to me, not being able to see," Walker, who was
inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2009, told NPR last year. "The sound
on radio was important. Radio took the place of comic books and newspapers
and the funnies and all that stuff. So I grew up with it."

Our thoughts are with Walker's family and friends. 

End of article.

We loved him in part, because he personified what we wished we could be,
entertaining, funny, serious, reassuring and yes, blindness didn't matter!

73 and SK

  

David Allen, Director
Blind-Sight Limited
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