Goodbye Good Guy

July 26, 2005

Howard read that one of his early radio idols died recently. Joe O’Brien, who had been one of the WMCA Good Guys “back in the day,” died in a car crash at 90-years-old. According to what Howard read, Joe was actually the one driving at the time of the accident and he was with one of his old WMCA program directors, (who was not injured). Howard said Joe retired in 2000 after 66 years in radio.

At first Howard thought he read that O’Brien was born in 1934, but Robin pointed out that this would not make him 90-years-old. Howard tried to do the math and finally came up with 71 years, which led him to believe 1934 was the year he started in radio. Robin was giving Howard a hard time about his math so he asked her what year Joe should have been born in if he was 90. Robin said 1905, which was wrong again. The guys in back put on Howard’s computer that it should be 1915. Artie and Robin questioned that immediately, causing some confusion for a little while, until they finally figured out that 1915 was right. Howard noted that O’Brien was replaced on the air in the early 70’s by Don Imus. Howard tried to remember what Imus’ early show sounded like but he couldn’t. Howard said Joe really was one of the good guys and pioneers of radio and he will always respect him for that.