Garrett remembers eavesdropping with Chapman on conversations at the local coffee shop or the grocery store, trying to get a feel for what people were talking about. There will never be another run like his. Jack Woods partnered with Chapman in the early 60s on Gordon McLendons KLIF. Ron preparing to parachute out of an airplane and broadcast all the way to the ground. When Ron met Nance twenty years ago at a charity telethon, he was immediately struck by her good looks, he says, recalling that he trotted out a bunch of glib compliments before saying, By the way, Im Ron Chapman. Her reply: Oh. Ron Chapman's radio career began in 1953the day he graduated from high schoolwhen he became a disc jockey at station WHAV/Haverhill, MA. The program, based on . Ralph Chapman passed away on May 4, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. Steve Eberhart was a deejay at KVIL. When New York-based Infinity Broadcasting bought KVIL a couple of years ago, they paid more than $80 million, the highest amount ever paid for a stand-alone radio station in the U.S. In my mind, Chapman continues, I used to picture Mary Tyler Moore. 12:02 PM on Apr 26, 2021 CDT Updated at 4:57 PM on Apr 26, 2021 CDT. Everywhere 1 go, the broadcasters are asking me how to do that. Thousands showed up. Ron Chapman set out to claim it. You realize we dont play the same things for a thirty-five-year-old female that youd play on the Zoo. Wowwwwww, Chapman warmly asserts, and Okaaaaaaay and Alllllllright and Well suuure. Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. It would be rude not to let Ron Chapman give it a proper send-off. Forty-five years in one market. How would he like to be remembered? The longtime host of KVIL died in April 2021 at the age of 85. We decided we would keep Fort Worth, and treat her like the lady that she is. He was always very warm and sweet with me and very welcoming, as he was to all the kids. Last time I dialed in for any length was the first day of September2000, whenRon Chapman signed off after a 31-year stint as The Voice of KVIL and, by extension,Dallas radio. Dick Clark is an old friend of Chapmans. I froze. CBS News Texas: Free 24/7 News; . But her memories of her tenure at the station are not pleasant. Fifteen years later, this newspaper called it "the800-pound gorilla of Dallas radio," describing Chapman as "not only one of the top DJs in Dallas, but one of the most respected and feared in the country.". My wife made me admit it publicly: yeah. Following his tenure at KLIF, Chapman joined the staff of KVIL-FM, Dallas-Fort Worth, in 1969. Most of the radio folk we talked to have a love-hate relationship with the man. KVIL was always my mom's station, hogging up most of the pre-sets in the '76 Cordoba and later the '79 LeBaron station wagon; it was either Ron Chapmanor a Helen Reddy 8-track. Michael Granberry was born and grew up in Dallas. And every morning he was there for us, standing at his mic, drinking Dr Pepper, talking to the city. From 1965 to 1968, Chapman hosted a television dance show for teens called "Sump'N Else." In 1969, he moved to KVIL, where he spent 32 years. In one infamous stunt, Chapman told his listeners to each send $20 to the station; within three days, the station had received $200,000 (the money was donated to charity). It was Chapman who convinced owners to ditch their paltry AM signal and go with its powerful 100,000-watt signal. His family is asking for time right now to process the loss and thanks the community for their "kindness, understanding and prayers.". Chapman himself acknowledges his mortality, but only in the vaguest way, putting retirement plans out there some years down the road. The piece coincided with Chapman's 20th anniversary at KVIL, where, The News noted, "His hyper, happy-talk 'Ron Chapman and the Morning Group' has been the almost-constant No. I dodged flying reels of tape more than once., Later, Dean said, Im sure Ron regretted a great deal of it. And I do have a good memory. But Chapmans vaunted ego and his famed temper have only enhanced his hold on the Dallas radio market. Each ratings point represents a percentage of the audience market share and is said to be worth about $1.3 million in advertising revenues yearly. Then ten to midnight. Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. By KLTV Digital Media Staff. (The money was later distributed to local charities.) Robert Wilonsky, Special Contributor. We were in the groove together. Selden was the Afternoon Drive DJ at 1190 KLIF at the time when 75% of the teenagers in Dallas were listening. A little egotistical, perhaps. Chapman knows that he is inextricably linked to KVIL. Chapmans associates swear that hes a perfect friendas long as you never do anything that might make him mad. But, of course, its demise was inevitable, yet another casualty of shifting tastes and platforms; it's sign-off came just two months after Clear Channel dulled The Edge by making it, too, a dull shade of Maroon 5. He said, Well, its something. Chapman had served as emcee for a couple of years in a row and had complained both times about the sound system. In 1969, Chapman joined the staff of KVIL-FM/Dallas-Fort Worth as morning disc jockey, music director, and program director, bringing the "adult contemporary" format to FM radio. He remained at KVIL-FM for 32 years, serving as program director, music director, promotion director and morning personality. After 45 years in radio, Ron Chapman retired from his morning show on June 24, 2005. We became great friends, Fairchild said. You know, because Id just paid to have the jacket cleaned. Mess with Ron and I might become an ape in heat and jump all over you. I prayed for her to have a lot of success, and I prayed that she get a wonderful starring part-and stay in New York forever.. At one point, Chapman broadcast live while skydiving from a plane . Jody Dean was Chapman's producer at KVIL from 1987 to 1994. Id just started with Chapman, and I did that two or three times before he slammed down the headphones and blew up. This system is awful. Chapman is an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist, Selden says. He is an amalgamation of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, a warm, fuzzy presence who intrudes benignly into the consciousness of hundreds of thousands of women every morning. I used to do the 11 to 2 a.m. shift, during college. Our ears are in mourning. By Emily Jimenez, NewsRadio 1080 KRLD. Catch up on the day's news you need to know. No spam, ever. No spam, ever. A ratings war is brewing between two oldies stations, and a controversial gadget might decide who wins. When we first went to KVIL to do the Cowboys games, Ron brings Brad Sham and me into his office and starts giving us this big speech on how we should broadcast a football game. The center is the guy who is bending over with the football.. Dallas, Texas 75201. To this day I still get the shakes whenever I hear Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now," Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line"and anything by Anne Murray or Barry Manilow. . They filmed it. Ron Chapman Obituary KVIL - Death : DFW Radio Legend Died: Funeral - KVIL and DFW Radio legend, Ron Chapman died aged 85, on April, 26th, 2021, with loved ones left in total devastation. Chapmans on-air name was Irving Harrigan. But certainly not unrealistic. The man had to be on the air at 5:30 in the morning. Info. I was driving an older beat-up Nissan, and my alternator went out one night while on the way to work. Catch up on the day's news you need to know. We did that to our audience constantly. An announcement in this newspaper heralded his arrival, along with the promise that KVIL would play music that was "always in good taste, but contemporary in all ways" -- a rather unwieldy slogan. I just never mellowed out. Chapman admits. . Jan 3, 2017. While many have attempted to imitate his formula, nobodyat least locallyis likely to remotely approach his mastery of it. Stevens and Pruett. People just trusted him, Dean said Monday. Next to the picture, the new kid on the block had penned, Dont buy a house here. He seems completely oblivious to his subjects, the teeming thousands of Little People trapped and fuming in the traffic below. He began by working as a disc jockey for WHAV in Haverhill. He directed his in more positive directions, into the station and into work.. He works on his show twelve, fourteen, sixteen hours a day. But off-mike, in what employees call his little Come to Jesus talks, that mouth can get hot enough to melt pig iron. Ron Chapman, a Dallas - Fort Worth radio legend, has died at the age of 85, according to CBS 11 KTVT in DFW. The Emperor is in his tower, conjuring, working on the exact wording and inflection of the incantation that will once again secure his seemingly unending supremacy. The obituary was featured in Dallas Morning News on May 16, 2021. The station is branded as "Alt 103.7" and airs an alternative rock radio format. Ive had two scoops of everything, Chapman likes to say. Ron Chapman was born on January 25, 1936 in Newton, Massachusetts, USA. And so, Ive always wanted to be YA-HA! Give me a spotlight and let me go., On Monday, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame paid tribute to Chapman by noting on Facebook: Three time radio Hall of Famer and Dallas radio ICON Ron Chapman has passed. We had to beg them to stop sending checks. During his 31 years at KVIL, Chapman became famous for his upbeat humor and his participation in outrageous stunts and giveaways. DALLAS - Three-time Texas Radio Hall-of-Famer and Dallas radio legend Ron Chapman died on Monday. A lot of people couldnt handle it, Dean said of Chapmans style. Chapman said. FACE FOR RADIO: Chapman hosted a popular TV show. who served as KVILs newsman for a couple of years during the early Seventies, Chapman is obsessed with his work. After working for two years with the Voice of the United Nations Command in Korea , Chapman moved to Connecticut and station WHNC/New Haven. He also hosted a televised series from Northpark Center in the 1960's for a three-year stint. Dallas most important news stories of the week, delivered to your inbox each Sunday. Robert Wilonsky, former city columnist for The Dallas Morning News, is communications director for Heritage Auctions and a frequent contributor to these pages. "It was what it was when it was. ', Chapman isnt surprised to hear that many former associates want deep cover before discussing his character and work style. Chapman died Monday at the age of 85, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame announced on its Facebook page. Drive-time shows have opposite hours from most other jobs, starting in the very early morning hours. Go ahead and ask me whatever you want. Ron Chapman made money by Directors niche. You people dont listen to me, and you are going to lose $100,000 on this auction! When she replied that the auction had never made anywhere near that much, he snapped, Thats why!. He had spent his last few years on 98.7 KLUV in Dallas/Forth Worth. He knew you dont talk down to your audience, you speak up to them, and thats when Ron enjoyed his greatest success., Dean added that Chapman helped transform radio in the city into a shining example of what the media can do and should be. But the laughter was tinged with something like pity. Consultants studied and copied KVIL, launching dozens of lite-rock imitations across the country. Within three days listeners had sent in more that $240,000. We never worked in the studio together, for 20 years. KVIL-FM, born in Highland Park on August 25, 1961,died, officially, on Jan. 18, 2017. Enjoy unlimited access to all of our incredible journalism, in print and digital. Hes now an announcer and does several shows for ABC radio. I would hope it would be as someone who elevated the art.. Chapman liked to say he was a poor kid who grew up behind a grocery store, which his father owned in his native Haverhill, Mass. So I had just had my jacket cleaned. I love doing the morning show but my bones are beginning to tell me that hitting the ground running at 4:10 every morning is not going to be supported forever by whatever frame that I carry around with me and happy to have served me around for a lot of years but it looks as tho I really need to be taking care of it instead of it taking care of me. Passing by the cage, he would surreptitiously slip the mouthpiece through the wire into the neck of the tuba and blow. RONALD E. CHAPMAN Ron passed away on Saturday, May 23, 2020, at the Scarborough Extendicare long-term care home, from pneumonia at the age of 90. He died Monday at age 85. . That's a very sad commentary on the times. Part of Audacy. (Her cohort, Ron Chapman, who clocked more than 45 successful years on local radio and television [including WFAA-TV,] died in 2021.) Woods was Charlie Brown. I told her so. But hes been trying to play Creative Tension to the point that it became creative chaos. KVIL is a commercial radio station dual-licensed to Highland Park and Dallas, Texas. For all time, at the moment, 2023 year, Ron Chapman earned $73 Million. Here and there, she reveals a snippet about her husband. Chapman is not just guessing at what his audience wants to hear He is downright methodical about it. Imagine working in a situation for five or six years where your first question every day had to be, What kind of moods he in today?, Tony Garrett got a dose of it too, though he took it philosophically. Ron Chapman's radio career began in 1953the day he graduated from high schoolwhen he became a disc jockey at station WHAV/Haverhill, MA. The Emperor is in his tower . It was just ambition. This is the story of how a chance encounter lead to a close friendship that would span four decades, and a revolutionary radio travel program that is in it's 46th year. He was huge in Dallas for decades doing mornings at KVILclick link to learn more. Every store in town used KVIL's mellowrock as its shop-to soundtrack; it evenprovidedthe background music softly droning throughout my orthodontist's office, because what pre-teen with a mouth full of metal doesn't dig some "Afternoon Delight." Ron would fairly often show up while I was on the air to go in a studio and record a promo that might run overnight, only to plug something that was going to be on his show. Put on your walking shoes. There are a lot of stations right now that will say, after they read this, Oooooh, so thats what theyre doing. They still dont know it., Even the KVIL signal is altered to be pleasing to a womans naturally more sensitive ears. If Chapman knows just what to say on the air, he also knows what not to blurt out: no jokes that have females as the butt. "And that means something," Mike Rhyner said Thursday morning. 1 radio show in Dallas for a dozen years. Thirty-two of them at the same station. She said, How do you expect me to do a good job after all Ive been through? I said, Thats it, weve been talking too long. Chapman realized that if he won Fort Worth, he could almost double the stations numbers. Skip to content. Remembering Ron Chapman. He loved kids and teenagers and music and all that was happening in the 60s, which was a lot. Industry critics say that while Chapman is full-tilt today, he is not really doing much to prepare his station for Life After Ron. From Haverhill, Mass (also Ed McMahon's first rad - 2 years ago. Its what youd get if God had money, Nance says. The hand goes higher above his head: VEE higher now, almost pleading as it keens with the anticipation of all the wonderful, warm, cuddly, sensual things to come. "They should have changed the call letters the day he left," said Jody Dean, who joined KVIL in 1982 and served as Chapman's producer before replacing him on the morning show. It would dance on kids shoulders. He is very perfectionist about his personal things. And, you know, Im an easy-going guy. It was, after all, the city's top radio station for years, throughout the 1970s and '80s and even into the '90s, when it was finally capsized by country radio. Ironically, Chapman so dominates the KVIL lineup that the DJs around him seem unremittingly unmemorable. Hes right. And one night in March 1981, KVIL radio legend Ron Chapman walked into Billy Bob's. "And I walked up to Chapman and I said, 'I'm going to come work for you,' " Dean said. They thought we were going 50 miles. Suite 2100 Copyright 2023, D Magazine Partners, Inc. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. But, quite frankly, we werent real excited about learning it at the time.. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Theyre gone. Hollywood actress Morgan Fairchild first met the radio maestro when she was a student at Lake Highlands High School. So he and a couple of radio buds ( Hugh Lampman and Jack Schell) got some backers and found a little building on Mockingbird across from the Dallas Country Club, where they launched a station called KVIL. He was so popular in Dallas in the 70s, 80s and 90s that his station, KVIL, sold for more than the Dallas Cowboys. Bring walking sticks. Warm and fuzzy was the game plan from the very beginning. And the 01 Man on KVIL is still saying, aint this great? Ron Chapman had this offer from KVIL. Many years later, both of their first marriages ended (Chapman divorced in 1982) and Ron and Nance began seeing each other, but again, just as friends. Ron Chapman and Mitch Carr Photo credit Courtesy Mitch Carr. He was always very, very kind. It was your classic, stereotypical young yuppie couple from Highland Park. A lot of people on this board are so young that they have never heard of Michael Selden. The radio industry took to social media to reflect on Chapman's life and career. Chapman began his career in Dallas radio in 1959 at KLIF as a member of the "Charlie and Harrigan" team. Longtime North Texas disc jockey Ron Chapman, who spent more than four decades on the air in Dallas-Fort Worth, died Monday. Suite 2100 Turn! I was off the wall, and he loved it. He is single-minded, living and breathing and eating KVIL to the detriment of everything else in his life. Anyway, I was holding this animal on my shoulder, on my freshly cleaned jacket, and it got a little excited.

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