Obituaries

Songstress Etta James, wh0 became known for her signature ballad At Last, died this morning after a long battle with leukemia. She was 73.

Paul Cavalconte, a longtime New York air personality, including at the defunct Smooth Jazz station WQCD, has fond memories of the legendary artist.

“What strikes me is how Etta had this incredibly rich and varied career, with deep R&B roots, but she is best known for a record that totally misrepresents her–as with Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World,”  Cavalconte, currently heard on FM News WEMP, tells FishbowlNY. “That said, both records are pop masterpieces, and her At Last has gained this other life through use in movies, commercials and such.”

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Veteran radio host Lynn Samuels has died. Former 77 WABC colleague and friend, Mark Simone confirms to FishbowlNY that Samuels, uncharacteristically, missed her weekend Sirius XM show. Simone says the NYPD was called to her Manhattan home Saturday where Samuels’ body was discovered. She was 69.

While no cause of death has been determined, Simone points out that she was a heavy smoker.

At the height of her WABC popularity, Simone recalls, Samuels shared a desk with Rush Limbaugh. She was his lead-in for a time from 10 a.m. to noon.

But before she blossomed on the radio, Simone got to know the opinionated Samuels in the early 1980s–and actually helped her forge a new career path.

“She used to sell the New York Post on the corner of 57th [Street] and Fifth [Avenue],” Simone tells FishbowlNY. “I would tape the man on the street interview there a few times a week. She had such a distinct voice.”

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Tom Wicker, who enjoyed a four-decade association with The New York Times, died Friday of an apparent heart attack. He was 85.

Wicker, who joined The New York Times in 1960 as a political correspondent in the Washington bureau, had a career turn three years later as a result of a tragic moment.

He was the only Times reporter to accompany President Kennedy on his fateful trip to Dallas November 22, 1963.

Gay Talese  who penned the major history of The New York Times, described Wicker’s coverage: “It was a remarkable achievement in reporting and writing, in collecting facts out of confusion, in restructuring the most deranged day in his life, the despair and bitterness and disbelief, and then getting on a telephone to New York and dictating the story in a voice that only rarely cracked with emotion.”

The Associated Press reports Wicker was in the first press bus after the Kennedy motorcade when the assassination occurred. In his memoir years later, Wicker recounted the day.

“The shots ringing out in Dealey Plaza marked the beginning of the end of innocence.”  

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He may not have been “The Greatest,” but Joe Frazier was recognized as a great fighter in his own right. He famously took Muhammed Ali to the limit in three epic battles.

Frazier died last night following a short battle with liver cancer. He was 67.

“He wasn’t so much a boxer as he was a fighter,” Former Yankees broadcaster Charley Steiner tells FishbowlNY. “A tough S.O.B. who left it all in the ring every time he fought.”

In 1971, Frazier outslugged his nemesis in a 15-round decision, a fight at Madison Square Garden aptly hyped as the “Fight of the Century.”

“Smokin’ Joe” and Ali would battle in two more classic bouts, concluding in 1975 with The Thrilla in Manila.

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He was a staple at CBS for more than 60 years, but Andy Rooney became a household name when he joined 60 Minutes on a regular basis in 1978.  He retired from the program just last month, vowing that he wasn’t retiring because “writers don’t retire, and I’ll always be a writer.”

Rooney died last night in New York at the age of 92.

Another longtime fixture at CBS News, Sunday Morning host Charles Osgood knew Rooney for decades, and says his popularity on 60 Minutes was cemented early in his career.

“An important thing that people overlook about Andy is that he was a comedy writer,” Osgood tells FishbowlNY.

Rooney established his writing chops with CBS heavyweights Arthur Godfrey and Garry Moore.

Later, he moved his talents from the entertainment side to news, collaborating with Harry Reasoner for his prime time “reports.”

But it was at 60 Minutes that Rooney would write for himself and get in front of camera.

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Throughout the first-half of the 1990s, Dan Burke was a prominent executive at ABC.  It wasn’t divine intervention that brought Burke to the top of the management chain. Burke started with Capital Cities in 1961 as general manager for WTEN-TV in Albany. Ultimately, he would become a high-ranking executive with Cap Cities.

Burke died this morning following complicating from Type I Diabetes. He was 82.

In 1986, Capital Cities acquired ABC, which maintained ownership until Disney bought the company a decade later.

“Dan was a broadcasting pioneer who along with Tom Murphy took a small company and a big dream, and grew it into a television giant.” WABC/Channel 7 anchor Bill Ritter tells FishbowlNY. “Their purchase of the much larger ABC was a surprise to everyone except those who knew Dan and Tom.”

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Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. Occupy Wall Street Protestors are Not Geraldo or Fox News Fans, October 10
2. The Atlantic‘s November Cover is a Rarity, October 12
3. Longtime WCBS-FM Midday Jock, ‘Consummate Pro’ Bill Brown Dies at 69, October 12
4. Spin Adds to Team, October 11
5. Meredith Acquires Every Day with Rachael Ray, October 12
6. ‘New York Not Gone Forever’ as Former WPIX Talent Lolita Lopez Starts as KNBC Reporter, October 10 
7. The New York Times’ Editors Don’t Care About Salad Dressing, October 11
8. Meteorologist Craig Allen Increases Workload at WPIX, October 11
9. Taking Taxi to the Top at WEMP, October 10

Keep up-to-date with the latest FishbowlNY news. Click here to sign-up for the FishbowlNY daily newsletter, bringing you our articles each afternoon directly to your inbox.

For a quarter-century, Vic Miles was a steady rock at WCBS/Channel 2. His delivery was simple, not flourishing. His looks weren’t of a matinee idol; he appeared at times to have a suit too big for his slender build. Miles was a newsman, whether in the field or at the anchor desk.

Miles’ son Vincent Levy confirms to FishbowlNY that his father died last night. Miles, who had been in declining health, was hospitalized Saturday in New York. He was 79.

“I think he liked reporting a lot, because he was naturally suited to it,” former WCBS anchor Carol Martin recalls.

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A mainstay of WCBS-FM has died. Spanning two generations, Bill Brown was on the air for parts of five decades at CBS-FM, predating the famed Oldies format.

Brown died Sunday after a long illness. He was 69.

When CBS-FM launched a freeform rock format in 1969, Brown with his signature deep voice was hired. In 1972, when the station flipped to Oldies, Brown adjusted. He would remain a constant at CBS-FM until the bitter end in 2005 when the “Jack” format took over, making the jocks obsolete.

Brown was the final jock on the air prior to the transition on June 3. Instead of a typical “Good day, Good bye” sign-off, Brown combined wit and foreshadowing with: “Do you ever feel the urge to scream Rescue Me?! I’m beginning to get that feeling; here’s Fontella Bass.” (The “Jack” era ended two years later with a new version of CBS-FM).

“He was a consummate pro,” former CBS-FM program director Joe McCoy recalls.

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Less than 48 hours after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died, Time magazine is rushing to the presses with a special commemorative issue paying tribute to the visionary.

The special issue, hitting newsstands and tablets tomorrow, features Jobs on its cover and 21 pages dedicated to the man behind the iPhone, iPad, and iPod.

Time‘s special edition includes a six-page essay by Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson, a historical report on Jobs iconic career by Time technology reporters Harry McCracken and Lev Grossman, and a photo essay by Diana Walker, who has been shooting Jobs for Time since 1982.
 
“This is Steve’s seventh Time cover, which puts him in the category of Presidents and other world leaders,” Time editor Rick Stengel says. “No one has tracked Steve’s life better than the man who used to have my job, Walter Isaacson. Walter writes that Steve was the modern creation myth writ large and that he revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing.”

The magazine is increasing its print run for this special issue, which will be available worldwide.