In 1959, a 23-year-old up-and-coming disc jockey from Haverhill, Mass., took on the role of morning co-host for a . . History of Radio in Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas - FM - DFWRETROPLEX.COM Didnt think about it until after I handed the keys back to him. And the guy was the typical model. In 2007, he returned to broadcasting part-time as a "permanent substitute" for legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey. Early on. Meet Jody Dean: A man for this season: Lost job leads to a better life He then did afternoon drive at KVIL-FM for several years until he was fired by Ron Chapman. Honestly, I thought everyone knew that hed started out in radio with a program called Tips for Teenagers.. How would he like to be remembered? Talk about a cush gig. His talent rose above us all. Would Stevie Wonder object if we took it out? Walton and Johnson. Its a trap: if you are situated in Dallas, you look at things from the Dallas perspective, even unconsciously. That was, perhaps, the last Most Meaningful Moment on local radio. I have the same type of personality, just not as much discipline. The station would cycle through many owners, all of whom readily admittedthey were really buying Chapman-- "a warm and fuzzy tyrant," D called him in 1989, which he took as compliment. But the most telling aspect of Ron Chapmans house may be his shower. But she never did., Coast to coast, when a radio stationbegins considering a format change, radio insiders say, the list of options goes like this: We could go country. While many have attempted to imitate his formula, nobodyat least locallyis likely to remotely approach his mastery of it. For a while, Chapmans career in Dallas was on the stairsteps to oblivion, he recalls. Who is KVIL Dallas Radio Personality Ron Chapman? Cause Of Death Dallas radio legend Ron Chapman dies at 85 During his 31 years at KVIL, Chapman became famous for his upbeat humor and his participation in outrageous stunts and giveaways. He likes to say he lost two-thirds of his voice then, but every so often you can hear peeks and hints of that booming voice that used to wake up Dallas every weekday morning. And we ran an electric cord out to the van, and while Im on the air with Ron, Im having my hair done. The country was going to get in shape. I love the guy. He spent 19 years at the Los Angeles Times before returning to Dallas. Among the passengers on a March 4 flight out of Hanoi 45 years ago Sunday at the end of the Vietnam War were three Air Force officers who would eventually settle in Northwest Florida. Go ahead and ask me whatever you want. Ronald Chapman July 23, 2021 Ronald Monroe Chapman, 77, of Jordan, died peacefully in his sleep at 2:32 am on July 23, 2021 while at home surrounded by his loving family. 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 . Chapman was involved at the time with a woman in New York, an aspiring actress. Chapman had done the Charley and Harrigan show on KLIF during the Sixties (Chapman went by Irving Harrigan then) and had hosted Sumpn Else, a low-budget local version of American Bandstand on Channel 8. Ron preparing to parachute out of an airplane and broadcast all the way to the ground. RIP Ron pic.twitter.com . This month, after 45 years on the Dallas airwaves, Ron Chapman signs off. He works on his show twelve, fourteen, sixteen hours a day. This time, the gala planners were prepared; the system had been checked and rechecked by technicians. Hes now a news anchor for CBS Channel 11 and will replace Chapman on KLUVs morning show. Chapman hired fellow broadcasting legend Jody Dean to work a late-night shift at KVIL in 1982. So we all lined up, and we said, Okay, hoooo! And we started to walk. But theyll never work hard enough.. You understand that? Boom! Last year, that power was demonstrated when Chapman asked listeners to trust him and send in $20 each for no specified purpose. Dallas Radio Legend Ron Chapman Recovering From A Stroke - Blogger We did that to our audience constantly. Im paying you to write! 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. Chapman's booming voice is now a shadow of its former self, the result of a stroke suffered just before Christmas in 2012. @garycogill : RT @HawkeyeOnAir: I'm saddened to tell you that legendary Dallas DJ Ron Chapman has passed away at 85. And you were supposed to live up to them. Dallas, Texas 75201. Be sure to wear a hat. Ron Chapman Obituary KVIL - - InsideEko.com News Media | Facebook Dallas Radio Icon Ron Chapman Dies at 85 | KLIF-AM Mess with Ron and I might become an ape in heat and jump all over you. So if anyone were to remember me. 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.". Chapmans on-air name was Irving Harrigan. But back then, you prayed for Vince Lombardi. I know something the others havent figured out.. He was No. We had to beg them to stop sending checks. "Dusty Attics", Episode 23: Ron Chapman - Jody Dean He always has some grand scheme bubbling up to the surface, she says, and hes always looking for some way to convince the rest of us that its a good idea. And I did everything. He had spent his last few years on 98.7 KLUV in Dallas/Forth Worth. Paul: Okay, so let's go back to Bud's career. And, you know, Im an easy-going guy. He was huge in Dallas for decades doing mornings at KVILclick link to learn more. The program, based on . Nance (pronounced Nancy), Chapmans wife of three years, is the centerpiece of the home tour. Michael Selden airchecks | RadioDiscussions Within three days listeners had sent in more that $240,000. He knew exactly what he was going to do and started work reprogramming KVIL in their big studio. And yet, as he prepares to send his message radiating into those hundreds of thousands of receptive minds, he is more aware of them than perhaps anyone has ever been in the history of this city. FACE FOR RADIO: Chapman hosted a popular TV show. No sexism, period. And one morning, I was going to go do a speech for the Dallas Board of Realtors at 9 oclock. Now, its someone I found out of Kim Dawson headshots. And we stayed in touch over the years. He did not see the humor in it. Not only is he 110 percent fireproof and the goose that laid the golden egg, but he is shadow management, and he must be catered to and appeased. Ron Chapman Obituary Kvil Death | Obituary | Ron Chapman Dead | Died | Has Passed Away | Funeral Plans - We are immensely sad . They were gonna change owners and he knew the new owner. In 1969, Chapman joined the staff of KVIL-FM/Dallas-Fort Worth as morning disc jockey, music director, and program director, bringing the . I noticed that they would feature me dancing a lot on the show. The obituary was featured in Dallas Morning News on May 16, 2021. 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. Find Ron Chapman obituaries and memorials at Legacy.com Yeah, he would. Ron Chapman Net Worth, Age, Height, Weight Legendary radio host Ron Chapman has passed away. who served as KVILs newsman for a couple of years during the early Seventies, Chapman is obsessed with his work. And because he spanned KLIF and "Sump'n Else" to KVIL -- he WAS the history of Dallas radio . This is a secret, but we take a lot of the staff to the big derrick at Six Flags and put them on top. He is, he admits, a control freak. Chapman knows how to be reassuring to women who are fighting an uphill battle day after day. In 1968, Chapman joined KVIL-FM, a station known for pioneering the Adult Contemporary (AC) format. He knows what people want to hear. He must know where everything is at all times. Jun 03, 2004 07:18pm. Ron was a longtime morning host at our sister station KVIL 103.7, where he worked with KRLD's Mitch Carr. And that means dont do anything to KVIL. A unique soul with a great personality has an amazing sense of humour, diligent and caring. I can make her feel good about the day, or I can make her feel crappy about the day, and of course, the choice is to make her feel good. RIP to a #NTX legend," wrote Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins, in a tweet on April 26. This was 1991. In the service, Chapman was the Fifties equivalent of Robin Williams, doing a sort of Good Morning, Korea. On the troop ship the first night out, his sister recalls, it came time for the sergeant to hand out assignments. He was so popular in Dallas in the 70s, 80s and 90s that his station, KVIL, sold for more than the Dallas Cowboys. "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. Im sitting there, and Im cracking up. And its not just the lower-downs, but the higher-ups who have their hands full of Chapman ego. But Chapmans vaunted ego and his famed temper have only enhanced his hold on the Dallas radio market. anyway? And Ron said, Why, I am in charge of the talent show, of which there wasnt one at the time. In 2000, Chapman moved to KLUV/Dallas, an "oldies" station where he stayed until announcing his retirement from radio in 2005. Warmth, a man who seems to genuinely feel that his biggest contribution to the world is sending his listeners off to work happy and chipper, so that each in her own little way can help make a kinder, gentler Dallas. 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. I was driving an older beat-up Nissan, and my alternator went out one night while on the way to work. Chapman retired from KVIL in 2000 and moved to KLUV, where he worked until 2005 before retiring again. I can give you failure after failure of people whove come on the air in this market and tried to do that. But if anyone were to remember me, I would hope it would be as someone who took radio disc jockeying and maybe gave it a little respect. "Well, they had to do something," the National Radio Hall of Famer said. Thats what we started doing. Hes the sports anchor on ABC Channel 8. At the haunted house, Chapman took along a producer and equipped her with a microphone. Done in slick, black marble, it is an oversized rectangle, big enough for Ron to pace in. To pace in. The magic is about to happen, the same magic thats been running nonstop for twenty years. Chapman, who was inducted to the Radio Hall of Fame three times, started his career in 1953the day he graduated from high school, according to his bio on the organization's website. It almost looked like a squirrel. KVIL (103.7 FM, Alt 103.7) is a commercial radio station dual-licensed to Highland Park and Dallas, Texas.It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and it serves the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in North Texas.The station's studios are located along North Central Expressway in Uptown Dallas. . Though Chapman is generally regarded, on the civic circuit, as something of a First Citizen, he has not been above exporting that inflammatory temper outside the station walls. "KVIL was so big, so all-encompassing that you never thought it would go away.". Yet beneath that amiable exterior lurk hints of a tyrannical ego, of a man well accustomed to his own success story. Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. He's now a news anchor for CBS Channel 11 and will replace Chapman on KLUV's morning show. And now. 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. Then the man loaned him enough money to buy a ticket. Other than that, Im real comfortable.. A 1989 profile in D magazine described him as The Emperor in his tower, whose duality is a big part of Ron Chapmans magic. He is, the writer opined, an amalgamation of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.. Turns out that a few years back, during a race around the world for a promotion, Chapman arrived late at the airportno ticket, no cash, no passport. We put them on constantly.. Chapman had already carved out a legend as one-half of Charlie & Harrigan on KLIF. Okay, so were in a commercial break. To Chapman, a working divorced mother with two kids was the woman of his dreams. But the youngsters came to understand their poverty., I liked applause early on, said Chapman, who took on Ron as his radio first name in 1965. Everybody that works here eventually comes back around, and Im going to be here when they come round again. And the little guy loved Coca-Cola. Chapman was a giant in radio in Texas, and was inducted as a member of the Radio Hall of Fame in 2012. But Im serious when I tell you that I learned a great deal from it. Name another program director or air person of any type anywhere in the country who would come in at 11 oclock and cut a promo thats going to run overnight. There will never be another run like his. Dale Hansen broadcasted Cowboys games on KVIL. He was always very warm and sweet with me and very welcoming, as he was to all the kids. It was the only way we could get a feel for the publics impressions on what we were doing. TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Longtime radio personality Ron Chapman has died at the age of 85. Enjoy unlimited access to all of our incredible journalism, in print and digital. I used to do the 11 to 2 a.m. shift, during college. Hell suddenly realize he needs to talk to everybody he knows.. Ronald V. Chapman, age 80, passed away Tuesday, October 11, 2022 at Mount Carmel East Hospital in Columbus. 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. Broadcast Hall of Famer Ron Chapman, Who Began at WHAV in 1953, Dies at 85 My wife made me admit it publicly: yeah. And this was totally not intended. Chapman was known for doing the unexpected, once airing his show from a haunted house and another time while skydiving. . Ralph Chapman Obituary (1936 - 2021) - Dallas, TX - Dallas Morning News And I want you to know that Leonard jerked the plug out from the wall. But it doesnt mean that I wont stick my heel in your throat. The station's studios are located along North Central Expressway in Uptown Dallas. We edited it out. In one infamous stunt, notes his Hall of Fame bio, Chapman told his listeners to each send $20 to the station; within three days, the station had received $200,000. Some estimates put the final amount even higher. But its going to be hard to groom someone to replace him when he hogs the limelight and wants all the glory for himself.. Knowing Ron over the years has been an adventure. 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. 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). Homepage; Contact US; About US; Ron Chapman Net Worth, Age, Height, Weight. Dallas radio legend Ron Chapman passes away at the age of 85 - Audacy Ive had two scoops of everything, Chapman likes to say. Jan 3, 2017. So he comes to me, and I open the mic. Im absolutely realistic in believing that nobody remembers you, Chapman says. The station is branded as "Alt 103.7" and airs an alternative rock radio format. Chapman remembers all the other long-gone-and-forgotten ones who came gunning for him: the Mobys in the Morning, the Stevenses and Pruetts. He was so popular in Dallas in the 70s, 80s and 90s that his station, KVIL, sold for more than the Dallas Cowboys. He graduated from Samuell High School in Pleasant Grove in 1970 and from Southern Methodist University in 1974. 26, 2021 at 1:34 PM PDT. But suppose, suddenly, a rogue meteorite comes falling out of the sky and mashes him into a puddle at the corner of Mockingbird and Central? He is best known as the morning drive anchor of radio station KVIL, on the 103.7 frequency. He was an actor, known for Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (1979). Copyright 2023, D Magazine Partners, Inc. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. He spent more than three decades at KVIL, toiling as a morning deejay, music director and program director, transforming the adult contemporary format into a major success on the FM band. And he admits that, in part, it is the reason his first marriage ended after nineteen years. Hes now retired and owns a winery called Orangewoods near San Diego.In, Im going to say 62 or 63, Jack Kennedy, I think, did a 50-mile hike. Enjoy unlimited access to all of our incredible journalism, in print and digital. Then it became Jane Fonda for a while. Ron Chapman Was a Warm and Fuzzy Tyrant - D Magazine Ron in makeup for his role in an episode of Police Story. Rons face superimposed on the body of Michael Jackson. KVIL-FM, born in Highland Park on August 25, 1961,died, officially, on Jan. 18, 2017. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Next to it is a portable telephone, complementing cellular phones in his and Nances cars. Thats just the wrapper. In honor of his life, we reproduce this 1989 profile of Chapman. KVIL - Wikipedia Info. He died Monday at age 85. In the late 1990's Chapman joined KLUV-FM, an Oldies format that saw high ratings upon his arrival. KVIL TIDBITS: Ron Chapman's radio show was simulcast live with video on KXAS-TV as a 30-minute daily program (mid-1970s.). So settle down with one of these throws. Charlie Brown), playing records and providing character voices as stars of the popular Charlie and Harrigan Show. In the meantime, you play every night like it was opening night, kick ass, and prove me wrong. At one point, Chapman broadcast live while skydiving from a plane . He loved kids and teenagers and music and all that was happening in the 60s, which was a lot. pic.twitter.com/XuaDWmWvEm. Ron Chapman - IMDb I now think about retiring. In 1969, he teamed up with local radio men Hugh Lampman and Jack Shell at the newly born KVIL. After I left, there were several attempts to be 'the new KVIL,' but KVIL left such an impressive mark on Dallas that they were neverable to shake this old image of its old people there, me being among them.". Chapman's family says there will be no service, but a public gathering of friends and . Though nobodyrepeat, nobodywants to take on Ron Chapman in public (even his roast at the Dallas Press Club last year was a three-hour valentine), friends and foes alike admit to a powerful fear of the man. Bud Buschardt worked as the unit manager on Away We Go and Sumpn Else, two television shows that Chapman did for WFAA Channel 8 in the mid-60s. And we are going to walk all the way from the Sheraton Hotel to the so-and-so life building. They were on the same block, but nobody caught it. We were in the groove together. Many of us grew up listening to him on #KVIL. But KVIL saw a huge, underserved demographic: women listeners between the ages of twenty-five and forty-four account for some 22 percent of the Dallas/Fort Worth radio market. . Id just started with Chapman, and I did that two or three times before he slammed down the headphones and blew up. The Story of Ron Chapman, Sharon Carr Travel & the KVIL World Tour Hes now a program director for ABC Dallas radio and an adjunct professor of TV production at the University of North Texas.We did Sumpn Else at NorthPark. A lot of people on this board are so young that they have never heard of Michael Selden. A Passing: Ron Chapman - My Sweet Charity 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. He always brought light to every room entered. I just never mellowed out. Chapman admits. A very happy one. Weve become Kleenex. According to Littauer, Chapmans massive energy manifested itself during his youth in a series of class-clown pranks. He is very perfectionist about his personal things. RALPH CHAPMAN OBITUARY. From 1965 to 1968, he became Dallas rarefied answer to Dick Clark and American Bandstand, as host of the wildly popular Sumpn Else, a teen dance show carried live from NorthPark Center on WFAA-TV (Channel 8). Born plain old Ralph Chapman in Haverhill, Massachusetts, Ron began performing at the ripe age of three. 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. Ron Chapman's radio career began in 1953the day he graduated from high schoolwhen he became a disc jockey at station WHAV/Haverhill, MA. He was 85. First published on April 26, 2021 / 11:54 AM. 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." But off-mike, in what employees call his little Come to Jesus talks, that mouth can get hot enough to melt pig iron. Chapman himself acknowledges his mortality, but only in the vaguest way, putting retirement plans out there some years down the road. The things that attracted Marilyn to me in the first place were the things that drove her crazythe drive, the ambition, the living in the eye of the tiger eventually drove her crazy. Here and there, she reveals a snippet about her husband. Wowwwwww, Chapman warmly asserts, and Okaaaaaaay and Alllllllright and Well suuure. He killed the competition. Former Dallas Morning News columnist Robert Wilonsky contributed to this report. Robert Bird Brown Obituary - Dead | Robert Bird Brown Cause of Death April 26, 2021 Son of Mercy 0. Ron Chapman, former radio host at KVIL, KLUV, dies at 85 - WFAA Its mascot was an incontinent kinkajou. He became widely known, according to his bio page on the Radio Hall of Fame website, for his humor, outrageous stunts and giveaways. And for his astronomically high ratings. CHAPMAN, Ralph Frederick (Ron) Born January 25, 1936, in Newton, MA, Chapman has been heard on the airwaves in the Dallas/Fort Worth area since the 1950s. The program, based on "American Bandstand . And every morning he was there for us, standing at his mic, drinking Dr Pepper, talking to the city. Chapman died Monday at the age of 85, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame announced on its Facebook page. "It was what it was when it was. Most of the radio folk we talked to have a love-hate relationship with the man.