BRUCE MacDONALD
April 8, 1972

While Bruce only worked one day in the news department as a substitute, he was regularly heard as a correspondent from Norwich. Bruce was born in Westerly, RI and left high school before graduation to explore the world. He earned his degree while in the Army, and traveled widely. After his time in the military, Bruce returned to Rhode Island and earned an Associate's Degree from Johnson & Wales College before becoming a journalist. He was named campaign media coordinator for Senator Christopher Dodd in September 1974.

PRIOR: WERI Westerly, RI; WICH Norwich, CT

AFTER: WICH Norwich, CT; The Norwich Bulletin, Groton News, The Day and USA Today; The U.S. Peace Corps in Washington, DC; The Pequot Times and public relations for the Mashantucket Pequots

TODAY: Bruce T. MacDonald died on June 1, 2022 in New London after a two-year battle with cancer; he was 78. (9-4-22)

JIM MacHARDY
August-September, 1969

Born March 3, 1931, this Hartford native graduated from Providence College and did graduate work at Central Connecticut State University (Class of 1979). He spent four years in the Navy and was an amateur radio operator. Jim was also a temporary substitute in the WDRC newsroom. After his broadcast career he had a long career in education.

PRIOR: WEXT West Hartford, CT; WRCH Farmington, CT; WHNB TV West Hartford, CT; WHCT TV Hartford, CT

AFTER: WHNB TV/WVIT TV West Hartford, CT

TODAY: James Robertson MacHardy lived for many years in Old Saybrook; he died on April 24, 2013 in Hartford.

WILLIAM F. MALO, SR.
March 1930-March 1959

Bill Malo was born in West Hoboken, NJ on January 2, 1901. His father died two years later so his mother moved to Madison, CT and remarried. Bill spent most of his life there. Early in his adult life he was employed as a chauffeur. Later he sold radio and electrical supplies for a wholesaler in New Haven, where he met WDRC founder Franklin M. Doolittle. He joined WDRC as commercial manager in March 1930 and stayed with the company when the station relocated to Hartford the following November. While seldom heard on the air, Bill was integral to the success of the station. He was in charge of sales, supervised a staff of sales representatives, and was responsible for contacts with national advertising agencies. He was promoted to vice president of sales under Doolittle in January 1958. Bill's son, William F. Malo, Jr., worked in ad sales at WNHC in New Haven. In 1955 they bought a radio station in Rhode Island. In 1959 Bill, Sr. left WDRC to buy a station in New Hampshire.

AFTER: WERI Westerly, RI; WFEA Manchester, NH; Micro Communication, Manchester, NH

TODAY: Bill died on March 19, 1991 in Palm Beach, FL; he was 90.

KATHLEEN MARPLE
2000 - 2003

Kathleen's first radio job was as an all-night deejay in her hometown of Brookville, Pennsylvania. Her college years were spent as news director at WPTS, the University of Pittsburgh student station, after which she spent three years editing, writing and producing at KDKA. Kathleen was Doug Taylor's Saturday morning co-host on DRC-FM, where her duties included delivering the news. During the week she hosted the overnight show on WDRC AM as "Kay Marple" until music programming was replaced by talk in late January, 2002. Kay was replaced overnights with the WOR-syndicated Joey Reynolds Show.

PRIOR: Brookville, PA; WPTS Pittsburgh, PA; KDKA Pittsburgh, PA; WCFR Springfield, VT

AFTER: WSTC Stamford/WNLK Norwalk, CT

TODAY: Kathleen Marple Kalb is a weekend morning news anchor at 1010 WINS in New York and writes mystery novels (9-28-21).

STEVE MARTIN
June, 1977 - December, 1977

Steve's short stay at Big D was in the news department, but it was just part of a long broadcast journalism career. He was the program director of the Public Radio outlet in Washington, DC from 1985-2001. He holds a Master of Science degree in Organization Development from American University in Washington D.C.

PRIOR: WNNT A/F Warsaw, VA; WIOF/WWCO Waterbury, CT; WRVQ Richmond, VA; WQQW Waterbury, CT; WAVZ New Haven, CT

AFTER: WWCO Waterbury, CT; WPOP Hartford, CT; WRQX Washington, DC; WAMU Washington, DC

TODAY: Steve runs SFM Consulting, serving public radio stations and producers; see his note (7-10-07) (e-mail).

BOB MARX
August, 1975 - July 8, 1983

Starting his radio career after graduating from Boston's Graham Junior College in 1968, most of Bob's stay at Big D was as host of the 10A-3PM show on WDRC AM, though he started on FM during the same hours. For a while he also did sports on the Brad Davis morning show. After WDRC, The Italian Teddy Bear left radio and anchored sports on weekends for WVIT TV30. He later was involved in the automotive business in Southington. Bob was the voice of ESPN from 1984-87, then moved to the Sunshine State.

PRIOR: WLAE Meriden, CT; WBMI Meriden, CT; WKSS Hartford, CT; WINF Manchester, CT; WCCC Hartford, CT; WCNX Middletown, CT; WPOP Hartford, CT; WRCQ/WRCH Farmington, CT

AFTER: WSCF Vero Beach, FL

TODAY: Bart Mazzarella (the Bartman) retired from daily airwork at the end of 2005. He lives in Vero Beach, FL and did freelance voicework and business development for Christian FM. He retired for good in November 2018 after 27 years at WSCF; see his note (11-30-15) (e-mail).

JAY McCORMICK
October 20, 1972 - August 3, 1973

Jay was born in Meriden on May 4, 1947. He attended UCONN from 1965-70, earning a BA in English. He became involved with the student radio station, serving as chief announcer. In New Haven, Jay was known as "Jay Brooks" on WNHC FM Popular 99, which later became album-oriented WPLR. At WDRC he wanted to use the name Jason McCord but was prevented from doing so by management; read the story here. He did slip in a reference to Jay McCord on his first show. He was one of the personalities who did a utility shift, meaning he worked a different time of the day every day, filling in for one of the other full-timers. Much of that work was on WDRC FM. His first shift was from 6-8PM on a Friday night, filling in for Jim Harrington. He and Jim have the distinction of being Hartford's only radio alumni who both worked as extras on the movie Jaws.

PRIOR: WHUS Storrs, CT; WNHC FM (also WPLR) New Haven, CT

AFTER: WCCC A/F Hartford, CT; WCDQ Hamden, CT; WNAB Bridgeport, CT; WELI New Haven, CT

TODAY: Jay Carson Elliott passed away in Prescott, Arizona on May 28, 2017; he was 70 (6-21-17).

DICK McDONOUGH
November 18, 1968 - October, 1978

Born December 21, 1944, this Fitchburg, MA native was one of the most popular personalities at WDRC. His first shift was on FM from 7-11PM. For the first six months of 1969, Dick hosted afternoon drive (3-8PM) on FM. Most of his ten years in Hartford were spent doing 3-7PM on WDRC AM after the departure of Bradley Field. In an unusual arrangement, his last hour (7-8PM) was only aired on WDRC FM. For many years, Dick was proprietor of the Big D Big Sound Survey, counting down the new playlist every Friday afternoon. The frequent voice of station promotional announcements, Dick's deep voice emanated from a very thin body and he was nicknamed "Ursul Twing," however, it was close friend Bob Craig who nicknamed him "The Prince." One of Dick's memorable (?!) shows was in January, 1970 when he got intoxicated on the air under the watchful eyes of medical and law enforcement personnel to illustrate the dangers of drinking and driving. As host of the afternoon drive shift, Dick was a longtime friend of Hartford's "goin' homers." Dick concluded an 18-year run in Springfield in February 2009

PRIOR: WIKE Newport, VT; WCFR Springfield, VT; WEMJ Laconia, NH; WKBR Manchester, NH

AFTER: WELI New Haven, CT; WRMF West Palm Beach, FL; WMJX Boston, MA; KUDL and KMBZ, both Kansas City, MO; WWBB FM Providence, RI; WMAS FM Springfield, MA; WRTC FM Hartford, CT

TODAY: Richard Francis McDonough died on May 20, 2023, just a few days after being diagnosed with lung cancer; he was 78 years old (5-22-23).

MIKE McKENZIE
June-September, 1980

A native of Eastchester NY, Mike graduated from the local high school and attended City College of New York. Mike replaced Tom Kelly on WDRC AM's afternoon show but was only there for four months.

PRIOR: WLNA Peekskill, NY; WPST Trenton, NJ; WMID Atlantic City, NJ; WPEN Philadelphia, PA; WKCI New Haven, CT

AFTER: WYNY New York, NY; KLOU St. Louis, MO; KMOX St. Louis, MO; WKHL Stamford, CT; WCBS FM New York, NY; WFAN New York, NY; MJI Broadcasting

TODAY: Known as Mike McCann before and after Big D, today he lives in Fairfield, CT and works as a sports anchor at 1010 WINS New York; see his note (9-13-05) (e-mail). Check out his Field of Fotos blog.

PAUL McSHANE
February 18, 1970

Born March 11, 1942, Paul was another one-day occupant of the WDRC news department during a period when it was short-staffed.

PRIOR: WAVZ New Haven, CT; WNAB Bridgeport, CT

AFTER: WNAB Bridgeport, CT; WINS New York, NY

TODAY: He later lived in Des Plaines, IL. Paul Anthony McShane died in San Diego, CA on June 23, 2009.

DAVID MELENDY
February, 1980 - September, 1981

Born on October 19, 1948 in Corpus Christi, Texas, David spent his earliest years in Hawaii and California before his family moved to Manchester, CT while he was in elementary school. He attended George Washington University where he got his start at the college station. He grew up listening to Big D and worked there as a part-time reporter while working fulltime at WNVR Waterbury.

PRIOR: WRGW Washington, DC; WINY Putnam, CT; WBMI Meriden, CT; WKSS Hartford, CT; WNTY Southington, CT; WINY Putnam, CT; WPOP Hartford, CT

AFTER: WNVR Waterbury, CT; WCBS FM New York, NY; AP Radio in Washington, DC (for 33 years!)

TODAY: David Russell Melendy died on April 18, 2020, at the age of 71 (5-12-21).

ALAN MICHAELS
1990-91

Alan brought a long radio career to Hartford where he did weekends on WDRC AM & FM and also produced traffic reports for afternoon drive during the week for both stations. That was prior to the AM switch to talk programming and during the time general manager Dick Korsen died in a plane crash.

PRIOR: WOCN Miami, FL; WKEM Naples, FL; WINZ and WFUN Miami, FL; WDAE Tampa, FL; WWWL, WLVE, WHYI, WCKO, WKID-TV, WGBS, WBSS, WNWS all Miami, FL; KAAM Dallas, TX; KJKC Corpus Christi, TX

AFTER: Celebrity Cruises, Miami, FL

TODAY: Alan started AmericanWebRadio in 1999 and is a web designer ; see his note (12/29/04) (e-mail).

DAVE MICHAELS
May 21, 1979 - March, 1980

Dave was actually born Richard E. Smith. He used the name Dave Michaels for several radio jobs including WDRC AM where an industry schedule listed him as hosting the 7PM-midnight show on Big D 1360 in early 1980. See also Charlie Daniels.

PRIOR: WGNG Pawtucket, RI; WRKO Boston, MA; WACQ Boston, MA

AFTER: WIZD Ft. Pierce, FL; WSHE Ft. Lauderdale, FL; WRC Washington, DC; WDRQ Detroit, MI; KSLQ St. Louis, MO; WFAA & KRLD Dallas, TX

TODAY: After radio he had a lengthy career in electrical engineering, design and inspection. He is semi-retired and living in Los Angeles where he does voiceover work. (e-mail) (3-7-15)

JOHNNY MICHAELS
before September 24, 1984 - 1985 ?

A veteran of many radio stations, Johnny did a number of shifts while working at WDRC AM/FM. He was given his radio name by Rusty Potts at WCCC; when he worked at WCBS FM he became Johnny Nichols because there was another DJ by that name in the Big Apple. His stay in Bridgeport was just three days (though Ted Dalaku worked there only a day and a half!).

PRIOR: WESA Charleroi, PA; WWCO Waterbury, CT; WNHC New Haven, CT; WKCI Hamden, CT; WCCC Hartford, CT; WCBS-FM New York, NY; WNAB Bridgeport, CT; WHYN-AM Springfield, MA; WRCQ/WRCH New Britain, CT; WAQY Springfield, MA; WTIC-FM, Hartford, CT

AFTER: WNAQ Naugatuck, CT; WWYZ Waterbury, CT; WYNY New York, NY; WZMX Hartford, CT; WNTY Southington, CT

TODAY: WDRC's Johnny Michaels is actually John Bekish; he was not the Johnny Michaels who was morning man at WFAS in White Plains, NY, who passed away in 2002. See Johnny's note (10-5-20) (e-mail).

SCOTT MICHAELS
after December 3, 2005 - before May 20, 2006

A Suffield native, Scott earned a Communications degree at Ithaca College in upstate New York. After working at stations in several states, he replaced Jack Carney on DRC FM's 7PM-midnight shift in December, 2005; he also hosted Saturday from 10AM-3PM. He had a brief role in Kelly Preston and Aiden Quinn's movie "Convicted." Scott was replaced by Mike Stevens.

PRIOR: WNKI Corning-Elmira, NY; Memphis, TN; North Carolina; Indiana; Mississippi; Kentucky

AFTER: KRAV Tulsa, OK; WCTZ Stamford, CT

TODAY: He does mornings at WMAS FM in Springfield, MA using the name Chris Kellogg; check his MySpace page (1-27-09).

DEBORAH MICHENER
prior to December 24, 1978 - after May 13, 1981

Debra worked in the WDRC news department.

PRIOR: WQQW Waterbury, CT; WINE Danbury, CT; WMMM AM & WDJF FM Westport, CT

AFTER:

TODAY: ?

MIKE MILLARD
March 5, 1966 - September, 1967

Born in Chicago, Mike's father was a freelance writer; he moved frequently as a child so by the time Mike moved to Connecticut, he had graduated from Sarasota High School (Class of 1957) and attended Colgate University...living in 42 states. He was a regular in both the news and music departments. On WDRC FM he hosted 7AM-noon Saturdays, and simulcast on both stations Sunday nights from 7PM-1AM; he also filled in for the regular personalities.

PRIOR: WNHC New Haven, CT; WHYN and WSPR, both Springfield, MA; WDEE Hamden, CT

AFTER: WIOD, WWOK & WPLG-TV, all Miami, FL; WRCP Philadelphia, PA; KERE Denver, CO; KOAX Dallas, TX; California; WUBE Cincinnati, OH; WWNN Miami, FL; Metro Networks/Westwood One; director of operations for SmartRoute Systems, Miami, FL; WLRN FM Miami, FL

TODAY: Mike is retired in Pompano Beach, FL; see his note (10-5-09)

ELLIOTT P. MILLER
December 23, 1940 - August 1942

Born in Hartford on August 18, 1920, Elliott completed an announcing course in Boston and worked briefly at WORL before joining WDRC. As a staff announcer he also did some program arranging. He lived in West Hartford. In June 1941 Gil Bayek departed to run a station in New York State, so Elliott jumped from junior to senior announcer, presiding over the Strictly Swing Club program. He was heard on WDRC's frequency modulation station, W65H, before resigning to join the Civil Air Patrol in August 1942. Subsequently Lieutenant Miller taught Navy pilots to fly in Dallas. He was replaced at WDRC by Russell Naughton. In later years Elliott worked in the insurance and travel industry, then started a company to sell travel trailers in Milford, CT.

PRIOR: WORL Boston, MA

AFTER: WTHT Hartford, CT; WKNB & WFHA New Britain, CT; WTHT Hartford, CT; WKNB FM (later called WFHA) New Britain, CT; WTHT Hartford, CT

TODAY: Elliott Partridge Miller died at the age of 89 on October 1, 2009 in Milford, CT. (1-13-19)

JACK MILLER
January 5 , 1971 - October 13, 1972

A native of Fitchburg, MA, John J. Miller, Jr. graduated from Fitchburg High School in 1958 and Leland Powers School of Radio, Television and Theater in Boston in 1960. Jack followed Don Cannon on the all-night shift, but moved to morning drive in March, 1971 following the departure of Bob DeCarlo. Every Monday he was joined on the air by Hartford Mayor George Athanson. One of the highlights of Jack's stay was the morning he turned over the microphone to Tiny Tim for an hour.

PRIOR: WARE Ware, MA; WEIM Fitchburg, MA; WFEA Manchester, NH; WBBQ Augusta, GA; AFKN (Armed Forces Korea Network) Seoul, South Korea; WFEA Manchester, NH; WSPR Springfield, MA; WWLP TV Springfield, MA; WBZ Boston, MA

AFTER: WCBS FM New York, NY; WWYZ Waterbury, CT; WPIX FM New York, NY; WKZE Orleans, MA

TODAY: Jack retired from radio in 1986; he lives in South Yarmouth, MA (e-mail)(5-28-21).

ED MITCHELL
August 5, 1973 - October, 1976

A native of West Hartford, Ed grew up listening to the Big D legends of the 1960s. He graduated from Conard High School earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Ithaca College in upstate New York, gaining his first on-air experience as program director of the college station. Most of Ed's service was on WDRC FM where he initially hosted the utility shift (a different time slot each day). But he regularly did 3-7PM Saturday and noon-4PM Sunday among others.

PRIOR: WICB Ithaca College; WINR Binghampton, NY; WHYN Springfield, MA; WCCC Hartford, CT; WBZ Boston, MA

AFTER: KSD, KMOX, KHTR, all St. Louis, MO; KKHR Los Angeles, CA; KLTR Houston, TX, WMXJ Miami, FL; KQXT San Antonio, TX; KHTC/KGLK Houston, TX

TODAY: Since 2014 Ed has been associated with Food & Vine Time Productions in Houston. In February 2024 he was inducted into the St. Louis Radio Hall of Fame; see his note (1-12-09) (e-mail).

GINA MITCHELL
fall 2005 - December 21, 2007

Gina Mitchell joined DRC FM in the fall of 2005, reporting traffic during the morning show with Mike Stevens and Beth Bradley, and later with John Saville and Beth Bradley (and later Marianne O'Hare).

Gina left WDRC on December 21, 2007 to get married.

PRIOR:

JACK MORGAN
October, 1975 - October, 1976

A native of Natick, MA, Jack Tupper attended local schools and graduated from the Cambridge School of Radio and TV. During Jack's year at WDRC he was the morning drive announcer on Big D AM. He spent most of his radio career in Maine as evidenced in the character he invented to do his weather forecasts - backwoodsman Hiram Dingle.

PRIOR: WSME Sanford, ME; WJAB Westbrook, ME; WPOR Portland, ME

AFTER: WGAN Portland, ME; WPIG Saco, ME; WYNZ Portland, ME

TODAY: Jack took his own life in Maine on February 25, 1986 at the age of 46; read a story about him from former WDRC engineer Dave Overson (8/22/01).

SCOTT MORGAN
September 8, 1969 - May 30, 1970 and December 20, 1970 - April 11, 1971

Scott is the answer to the trivia question: what Big D personality was heard regularly long before ever being hired? That's because his band (The Bluebeats) recorded a custom jingle for Ken Griffin which was used in 1966-67! During a period when WDRC FM originated different programming from WDRC AM ten hours a day, Scotty Morgan began his career hosting 3-8PM (following Kent Clark 10AM-3PM). When both stations expanded their broadcast schedule to 24 hours a day on January 1, 1970, Scott and Kent shared 13 hours a day in split shifts: Kent 6-10AM and noon-3PM, Scott 10AM-noon and 3-7PM. It was unwieldy and after a month Scott moved to the all night show on FM. During his last month in 1970 Scotty was on 10AM-4PM. When he returned seven months later, it was as a part timer doing 8PM-2AM on WDRC FM. See his page of photos taken at WDRC in January, 1970.

PRIOR: WBRY, WTBY, both Waterbury, CT

AFTER: WHYN Springfield, MA; WPOP Hartford, CT; WLIX Islip, Long Island, NY; WTGR/WKZQ Myrtle Beach, SC; Scott spent many years in the Silicon Valley of California and later lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico

TODAY: Lance Bruce Drake, aka Scotty Morgan, died June 14, 2014 in Conway, South Carolina; he was 67. (6-26-16)

TOM MORGAN
December, 1976 - mid 1977

Tom was the all-night man during a time when FM had become more important to the music image than AM. Station ID's during the period were always "WDRC FM and AM." During his show he frequently gave away "Potluck LPs." Tom also owned an optician business.

PRIOR: WAAF Worcester, MA; WNTY Southington, CT; WAVZ New Haven, CT

AFTER: WIOF Waterbury, CT; WXCT Southington, CT

TODAY: After a 24-year retirement from radio, on February 2, 2004, Thomas Varhol began doing the morning show at WXCT. It was short-lived, though as new owners changed the format to all-Spanish on May 3, 2004. Tom was rehired at WXCT in January 2007 (2-11-07).

RICHARD J. MULLER
September 21, 1959 - January 1960

A graduate of Bard College in New York, Richard served with the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington before beginning his broadcast career as a country music deejay. Shortly after Buckley-Jaegar Broadcasting bought WDRC from Franklin M. Doolittle, General Manager Victor E. Forker appointed Richard as director of news and special events, a title he had held at Channel 30. His time at Big D was very short. In late January 1960 Muller was replaced by George Freeman. In February 1961 Freeman was replaced by Mike Stein. By June, the news director was Bud Steele. In January 1962 Joe Barbarette began a six-year run as WDRC's news director.

PRIOR: WICH Norwich, CT; WHCT TV Hartford, CT; WNBC TV & WKNB New Britain, CT

AFTER: KDKA TV Philadelphia, PA; Chrysler Corporation (appointed manager of radio-TV services in Detroit, MI 1961; named director of national & international media relations 1975; appointed as director of public affairs activities in Washington, D.C. 1980)

TODAY: Richard Johnson Muller died in Alexandria, VA on October 17, 2016 at the age of 87 (8-7-20).

WARREN MUNSON
June 1934 - 1935

Warren Edwin Munson, Jr. was born in Chicopee, MA on July 10, 1907. He grew up in Schenectady where he played high school football and joined the U.S. Naval Communications Reserve. For about a year in the mid-1930s, Warren was heard on WDRC. In addition to being a professional announcer, he was an amateur radio enthusiast, operating station W1IDI. He was also an entertainer and band leader. He also worked at stations in New York City and Hudson Falls, NY.

PRIOR: WGY Schenectady, NY; WGLC Glenn Falls, NY

AFTER: WTAM Cleveland, OH; WGY Schenectady, NY

TODAY: Warren died February 8, 1939 at the age of 32, after his car collided with a truck trailer in Schenectady.