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.

PRIOR:

AFTER: WICH Norwich

TODAY: ?

JIM MacHARDY
August-September, 1969

Jim was also a temporary substitute in the WDRC newsroom.

PRIOR: WEXT West Hartford, CT; WHCT TV Hartford, CT

AFTER:

TODAY: ?

KATHLEEN MARPLE
2000 - 2003

Kathleen's first radio job was as an all-night deejay in her Pennsylvania hometown. 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 WKDA. 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; WKDA Pottsburgh, PA; WCFR Springfield, VT

AFTER: WSTC Stamford/WNLK Norwalk, CT

TODAY: Kathleen works at 1010 WINS in New York (6-13-08).

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 - 1983 ?

Starting his radio career after graduating from 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; 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 does freelance voicework and business development for Christian FM; see his note (9-19-07) (e-mail).

JAY McCORMICK
October 20, 1972 - August 3, 1973

In New Haven, Jay was known as "Jay Brooks" on Popular 99, which then became album-oriented WPLR. At WDRC he did his first show under the name "Jay McCord." 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.

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

AFTER: WCCC Hartford, CT; WELI New Haven, CT

TODAY: ?

DICK McDONOUGH
November 18, 1968 - October, 1978

This Fitchburg, MA native was one of the most popular personalities at WDRC. His first shift was on FM from 7-11PM. In early '69, Dick hosted afternoon drive (3-8PM) on FM but most of his ten years were spent doing 3-7PM on WDRC AM. 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."

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

TODAY: For more than a decade, Dick has hosted the midday shift at WMAS FM Springfield, MA (12-27-04) (e-mail)

MIKE McKENZIE
June-September, 1980

A native of Westchester County, NY, Mike replaced Tom Kelly on WDRC AM's afternoon show but was only there four months.

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

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

TODAY: He was known as Mike McCann before and after Big D, and today works as as a producer for syndicator MJI Broadcasting and works at WFAN New York; see his note (9-13-05) (e-mail).

PAUL McSHANE
February 18, 1970

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

PRIOR:

AFTER:

TODAY: ?

DAVID MELENDY
February, 1980 - September, 1981

A Manchester native, David grew up listening to Big D and worked there as a part-time reporter while fulltime at WNVR Waterbury.

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

AFTER: WCBS FM New York, NY

TODAY: Since 1981 David has worked at AP Radio in Washington, DC; see his note (7-7-01) (e-mail).

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).

JOHNNY MICHAELS
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 (5-19-04) (e-mail).

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

A Suffield native, Scott attended 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: ?

TODAY: He does mornings at The Coast in Norwalk, CT using the name Chris Kellogg (e-mail) (7-26-96).

DEBRA MICHENER
prior to March 4, 1979

Debra worked in the WDRC news department.

PRIOR: WQQW Waterbury, CT; WINE Danbury, 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 attended Colgate University and lived 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 and WWOK, both Miami, FL; KERE Denver, CO; KOAX Dallas, TX; California

TODAY: Mike works for SmartRoute and is heard on WLRN FM in Miami. (10-6-05)(e-mail)

ELLIOTT P. MILLER
December 23, 1940 - August 1942

Elliott completed an announcing course in Boston and worked at one other radio station prior to WDRC. As a staff announcer he also did some program arranging. He lived in West Hartford. He was an announcer at WDRC's frequency modulation station, W65H, before resigning to join the Civil Air Patrol in August 1942. He was replaced by Russell Naughton.

PRIOR:

AFTER:

TODAY: ?

JACK MILLER
January 5, 1971 - October 13, 1972

A native of Fitchburg, MA, John H. Miller, Jr., 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; AFKM Seoul, South Korea; WFEA Manchester, NH; WSPR Springfield, MA; WBZ Boston, MA

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

TODAY: Jack has been retired from radio since 1986; he lives in Eastham, MA (10-18-07).

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 attended Ithaca College in upstate New York where he gained 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

TODAY: Today Ed uses his real name, "Ed Scarborough;" he is program director of Soft Rock KQXT in San Antonio, TX; see his note (11-11-02) (e-mail).

GINA MITCHELL
fall 2005 - present

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; WTGR Myrtle Beach, SC

TODAY: Scott spent many years in the Silicon Valley of California but now lives in new Mexico; see his note (2-22-00) (e-mail).

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."

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

AFTER: WIOF Waterbury, CT; WXCT Southington, CT

TODAY: After a long retirement from radio, on February 2, 2004, Tom 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).