Chapman died Monday at the age of 85, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame announced on its Facebook page. The man who sat at the top of the hill, a legend in broadcasting. He will later say that its almost like having an extra lobe in his brain. Info. It was Chapman who convinced owners to ditch their paltry AM signal and go with its powerful 100,000-watt signal. Chapman invited him to come watch the show at some point. Woods was Charlie Brown. Ive got a speech at the Board of Realtors this morning, and Im getting my hair done., And I said, Hes giving me a real nice blow job., Oh, Lord. Weve become Coke. And Ron says, When youre doing your broadcast, I want you to think that these people here are your audience. His rages and abuse must be swallowed whole. I never brought it up with him, either. Thousands showed up. You tend to say things like the mayor when you mean Dallas and the mayor of Fort Worth when youre talking about them. "It was what it was when it was. A ratings war is brewing between two oldies stations, and a controversial gadget might decide who wins. The man had to be on the air at 5:30 in the morning. 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. In 1959, a 23-year-old up-and-coming disc jockey from Haverhill, Mass., took on the role of morning co-host for a . He was 85. He was always very warm and sweet with me and very welcoming, as he was to all the kids. Chapman had already carved out a legend as one-half of Charlie & Harrigan on KLIF. *To hear some classic clips of Chapman from the old KLIF days, go to www.reelradio.com/se and www.historyofklif.com. Yet beneath that amiable exterior lurk hints of a tyrannical ego, of a man well accustomed to his own success story. Its on the far back burner, but I think about it. He ended up following Chapman at KLUV in 2005. Because of my vast admiration and liking for this protean man, I was shocked beyond dismay when he publicly stated that inviting me to roast him was the worst mistake hed ever made. Chapman says he and Nancy were in excellent health at that point but age was a factor for him wanting to retire. Dallas-Fort Worth radio legend Ron Chapman has died, officials with his former station KLUV-FM confirmed. Chapman is an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist, Selden says. Weve become Kleenex. At the haunted house, Chapman took along a producer and equipped her with a microphone. Barnum. KVIL wasso named for its original HQ in the Highland Park Village, after Charles Meeks acquired a broadcast license from the feds to open up shop in 1958. DALLAS - Three-time Texas Radio Hall-of-Famer and Dallas radio legend Ron Chapman died on Monday. FOX 4. Chapman has seen twenty years worth of six-month wonders come and then go. 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. Thanks a lot, everybody! They were pissed off, and they loved it. It would dance on kids shoulders. And I want you to know that Leonard jerked the plug out from the wall. Or we could go KVIL.. Jody Dean was Chapmans producer at KVIL from 1987 to 1994. This is a secret, but we take a lot of the staff to the big derrick at Six Flags and put them on top. And I did everything. Chapman rounded out the 1960s by joining the staff of KVIL-FM in 1969, when AM radio was yielding the spotlight to the purer sound of FM stations. Hell suddenly realize he needs to talk to everybody he knows.. "But a well-respected punchline," Rhyner said. It was a 45-minute show. Each year, I am more and more aware of the power we have in that room, Chapman confides. And he admits that, in part, it is the reason his first marriage ended after nineteen years. 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). Chapman is not just guessing at what his audience wants to hear He is downright methodical about it. Chapman realized that if he won Fort Worth, he could almost double the stations numbers. It was an itty-bitty bear. HE IS AN EAST TEXAN: Judge Ron Chapman is a native Texan, an experienced public servant and a dedicated member of his community. It was Chapman who gave KVIL its sound in 1969: music foryoung adults who'd grown up listening to him on KLIF. But hes been trying to play Creative Tension to the point that it became creative chaos. RIP Ron pic.twitter.com . After a brief, hoarse "Oh my God," he shrugged off the news with all the oh-well of an 80-year-old man who bowed on Dallas teenybop radio juggernaut KLIF-AM when the Beatles were still known as TheQuarrymen. Chapman, fifty-three, fell over laughing. Nance likens her life with Ron to living with P.T. The longtime host of KVIL died in April 2021 at the age of 85. You realize we dont play the same things for a thirty-five-year-old female that youd play on the Zoo. When the show aired its final broadcast, Chapman played as its swan song Turn! Talk about a cush gig. Ron Chapman had this offer from KVIL. There is no excuse for making a mistake. This system is awful. He was huge in Dallas for decades doing mornings at KVILclick link to learn more. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The country was going to get in shape. It was your classic, stereotypical young yuppie couple from Highland Park. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Jody Dean was Chapman's producer at KVIL from 1987 to 1994. 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. No sexism, period. 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. The station's studios are located along North Central Expressway in Uptown Dallas. One infamous incident occurred during last years gala for the National Craniofacial Foundation. In the meantime, you play every night like it was opening night, kick ass, and prove me wrong. Theres gotta be some point at which hes willing to pass the torch. "His family asks for time to . "This has something to do with age. The Right Hand of God is Dallas. CBS Radio's local market manager Brian Purdy, in announcing the format change, made just a brief nod to the station's past by insisting 103.7 is "not your mother's radio station any more," which hit a little close to home. And I was going to run faster, work harder, get street-smarter. For two weeks, while everyone else painted and scraped, he sat in a deck chair and interviewed people to see what their talent was., After Chapman had been in Korea for about a month, he got a parchment scroll commending him for lifting the morale of the troops. The slightly bugged eyes turn flat, focused inward. Its a trap: if you are situated in Dallas, you look at things from the Dallas perspective, even unconsciously. RON CHAPMAN ANDERSON - Ronald Ray Chapman, 67, of Anderson, died Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at Rainey Hospice House. We could go AOR. Not all of Chapmans career was limited to radio. Honestly, I thought everyone knew that hed started out in radio with a program called Tips for Teenagers.. He wants to control that station twenty-four hours a day, hotlining jocks in the middle of the night for mispronouncing some street name, says Tom Tradup, now general manager of a Chicago station and, until last July, the general manager at KRLD. Nance (pronounced Nancy), Chapmans wife of three years, is the centerpiece of the home tour. It was our mascot for the show. He is best known as the morning drive anchor of radio station KVIL, on the 103.7 frequency. Between his junior and senior years, he interned at The Washington Post during "the Watergate summer" of 1973. Imagine working in a situation for five or six years where your first question every day had to be, What kind of moods he in today?, Tony Garrett got a dose of it too, though he took it philosophically. Ron in makeup for his role in an episode of Police Story. Rons face superimposed on the body of Michael Jackson. No dice. Copyright 2023, D Magazine Partners, Inc. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. I knew I was fired. He is proceeded in death by his father, Fay Chapman. Consultants studied and copied KVIL, launching dozens of lite-rock imitations across the country. He is very perfectionist about his personal things. 750 North St.Paul St. KVIL-FM, born in Highland Park on August 25, 1961,died, officially, on Jan. 18, 2017. "KVIL was so big, so all-encompassing that you never thought it would go away.". I just never mellowed out. Chapman admits. He was an actor, known for Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (1979). Chapman knows his audience, and he knows what they buycomfort. I now think about retiring. They had no bathtub, no phone, no family car. Catch up on the day's news you need to know. We put them on constantly.. Last year, that power was demonstrated when Chapman asked listeners to trust him and send in $20 each for no specified purpose. 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. He brought, what is known in the industry as the "adult contemporary" format to FM. And then they put me on from midnight to six. I cannot say I will miss KVIL, mostly because I haven't listened to it in years -- couldn't tell you its format since, oh, 1985? Bring walking sticks. He is the chairman of Southwest Airlines. A ratings war is brewing between two oldies stations, and a controversial gadget might decide who wins. "It's a shame it's gone, but KVIL had a great history," he said. In 1969, he teamed up with local radio men Hugh Lampman and Jack Shell at the newly born KVIL. "Dallas radio legend Ron Chapman dies at 85. This was 1991. (Her cohort, Ron Chapman, who clocked more than 45 successful years on local radio and television [including WFAA-TV,] died in 2021.) That was his job to make that station great. 2023 Audacy, Inc. All rights reserved. Theyre gone. But certainly not unrealistic. The Zoo crew used to regard KVIL's mushy adult-contemporary playlist as a punchline. Remembering Ron Chapman. On April 13 in Las Vegas, Ron Chapman will be inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters' Radio Hall of Fame -- a momentous occasion that comes exactly one month after the Citadel . About 20 years ago, Id barely started working at KVIL and was the overnight deejaythe lowest life form in radio, with an equivalent lifestyle. Selden was the Afternoon Drive DJ at 1190 KLIF at the time when 75% of the teenagers in Dallas were listening. Theyre over. But they werent really buying the station. According to Littauer, Chapmans massive energy manifested itself during his youth in a series of class-clown pranks. Chapmans on-air name was Irving Harrigan. I froze. Enjoy unlimited access to all of our incredible journalism, in print and digital. Its mascot was an incontinent kinkajou. The program, based on "American Bandstand . 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. @garycogill : RT @HawkeyeOnAir: I'm saddened to tell you that legendary Dallas DJ Ron Chapman has passed away at 85. 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.". On the mike, butter wouldnt melt in his mouth. 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. But would he be really pissed if we never played it at all?. Our ears are in mourning. Dallas, Texas 75201. A secretary, yeah, sure, absolutely, but she wont be for long. And thats a problem KVIL itself will have to face one of these days. "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. He had spent his last few years on 98.7 KLUV in Dallas/Forth Worth. With that warning, we move through room after room of airy, fresh pastels, past furniture that looks as if it never gets touched, with the exception of Rons well-worn leather chair. It was just ambition. And so, Ive always wanted to be YA-HA! Give me a spotlight and let me go., On Monday, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame paid tribute to Chapman by noting on Facebook: Three time radio Hall of Famer and Dallas radio ICON Ron Chapman has passed. So he comes to me, and I open the mic. He was so popular in Dallas in the 70s, 80s and 90s that his station, KVIL, sold for more than the Dallas Cowboys. As The News noted in a story: When the terrified producer charged into his room to say the ghost had just hugged her, Chapman had only a one-sentence response: Did you get it on the air?. Chapmans cohorts speak of having to walk a very fine line; remaining clever and at least half-witty without ever being more clever than Ron. We never worked in the studio together, for 20 years. In 1969, Chapman joined the staff of KVIL-FM/Dallas-Fort Worth as morning disc jockey, music director, and program director, bringing the "adult contemporary" format to FM radio. And it suddenly became a craze. The individuality, the uniqueness. According to Tony Garrett. The following obituaries have been provided by local funeral homes. Michael Granberry was born and grew up in Dallas. And even then they didnt get it. You understand that? Boom! They were gonna change owners and he knew the new owner. 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. . the magic morning man takes a deep breath, raises his index finger before his eyes, and does what Ron Chapman does best: KAY he breathes, low and confiding, in a voice that mirrors the softest, kindest, deepest, afterglow moments of romantic love. Ron was one of those guys who made this a better place to live.. Id just started with Chapman, and I did that two or three times before he slammed down the headphones and blew up. Dallas Cowboys want another playmaker on offense. But Im serious when I tell you that I learned a great deal from it. In 1989, KVIL reigned supreme for three consecutive quarters, reaching 10.5 ratings points in the July Arbitrons, 3.1 points ahead of runner-up KSCS. Long before the KLUV World Tour, our travel program began as the KVIL World Tour, pioneered by my parents and Dallas Radio legend Ron Chapman. The obituary was featured in Dallas Morning News on May 16, 2021. There was some serious speculation for a while in Haverhill about the Ghost Tuba Player. So we all lined up, and we said, Okay, hoooo! And we started to walk. But stories of Chapmans sentimentality and generosity are almost as abundant as the tales of his colossal ego. He is an amalgamation of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, a warm, fuzzy presence who intrudes benignly into the consciousness of hundreds of thousands of women every morning. If someone leaves KVIL and wants, a year later, to work for Y-95, and theyve just been in the Dallas Observer calling me a, uh, you -fill- in-the-blanks, well, they know better than to call me for references.. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and it serves the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in North Texas. The station is branded as "Alt 103.7" and airs an alternative rock radio format. And its not just the lower-downs, but the higher-ups who have their hands full of Chapman ego. Gratefully I accepted, and drove off in his North Dallas wheels while they towed my Fort Worth bomb away. Back then, Chapman says, wed latch on to anything. He knew exactly what he was going to do and started work reprogramming KVIL in their big studio. Ron Chapman, a Dallas - Fort Worth radio legend, has died at the age of 85, according to CBS 11 KTVT in DFW. And Ron has a brand-new sweater. He had this real, real long tongue, and it could get into the bottle. "In my own little world, the end of KVIL was something unthinkable," he said. Forty-five years in one market. "But it's a different world in radio, isn't it?" 26, 2021 at 1:34 PM PDT. Chapman was a giant in radio in Texas, and was inducted as a member of the Radio Hall of Fame in 2012. Hey, says Chapman, most people like living here. He's now a news anchor for CBS Channel 11 and will replace Chapman on KLUV's morning show. This month, after 45 years on the Dallas airwaves, Ron Chapman signs off. In those days KVIL was so big the Postal . A D Magazine feature on Chapman from December 1989, reproduced this week in honour of his life, stated that he had a wife called Nance (pronounced Nancy) Murray, for three years at that point. An announcement in this newspaper heralded his arrival, along with the promise that KVIL would play music that was "always in good taste, but contemporary in all ways" -- a rather unwieldy slogan. And Id walk a mile for an impression., Part of the magic of KVIL is that it is positive and upbeat, even when its poking fun at the news, the politicians, or the Cowboys. Shes now a motivational speaker and lives in Fredericksburg, Texas.From the first moment we ever opened our mouths, we clicked. After 45 years in radio, Ron Chapman retired from his morning show on June 24, 2005. He served with the Army in South Korea from 1957 to 1959, producing a radio show for Voice of the United Nations Command. And it was Chapman who ran every single nutty promo in the station's stories history, among them a scavenger hunt that involved hidden tape recorders, secret messages and, eventually, a Braniff International Airways ticket to Hawaii. We just hit. KVIL was always my mom's station, hogging up most of the pre-sets in the '76 Cordoba and later the '79 LeBaron station wagon; it was either Ron Chapman or a Helen Reddy 8-track. Chapman is a perfectionist in every way, Nance says. Often, he would ask me to help out with his charities. He had spent his last few years on 98.7 KLUV in Dallas/Forth Worth. In 2000, as radio began to change once again, Chapman moved to KLUV, a Dallas oldies station where he stayed until announcing his retirement in 2005. I hear it., I said, Yes. Most of the radio folk we talked to have a love-hate relationship with the man. But it doesnt mean that I wont stick my heel in your throat. He graduated from Samuell High School in Pleasant Grove in 1970 and from Southern Methodist University in 1974. We did that to our audience constantly. He knew you dont talk down to your audience, you speak up to them, and thats when Ron enjoyed his greatest success., Dean added that Chapman helped transform radio in the city into a shining example of what the media can do and should be. He was just a wonderful, wonderful guy., And yet, on a professional level, Chapmans reputation carried with it a darker side. I dodged flying reels of tape more than once., Later, Dean said, Im sure Ron regretted a great deal of it. He was 85. He is single-minded, living and breathing and eating KVIL to the detriment of everything else in his life. Everyone I knew went to college. He did not. Ron Chapman Obituary KVIL - Death : DFW Radio Legend Died: Funeral - KVIL and DFW Radio legend, Ron Chapman died aged 85, on April, 26th, 2021, with. All great relationships are built on trust . Its a small industry. Would Stevie Wonder object if we took it out? But his desire was for you to get the best out of yourself. She loved going to NorthPark to dance with other teenagers during the daily weekday broadcast of SumpN Else. Baby, it's cold outside. Ron Chapman is a dazzlingly entertaining intellect who has refreshed my life for 25 years with his insightful wit and unerring eye for the quixotic vagaries of the human kind. On it was a headshot of some fierce new arrival on the Dallas radio scene, the latest young gun bent on a showdown with Chapman at the WBOK Corral. When Ron met Nance twenty years ago at a charity telethon, he was immediately struck by her good looks, he says, recalling that he trotted out a bunch of glib compliments before saying, By the way, Im Ron Chapman. Her reply: Oh. Ron Chapman passed away earlier this week at the age of 85. 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. I tell people this story, and they think its one of those urban legends. RIP to a #NTX legend," wrote Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins, in a tweet on April 26. Or, according to Alex Burton, until his recent firing the voice of KRLD, Hes a right-brained man who manages to sound left-brained.. Garrett remembers eavesdropping with Chapman on conversations at the local coffee shop or the grocery store, trying to get a feel for what people were talking about. Part of Audacy. Ralph Chapman passed away on May 4, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. Posted Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 8:33 pm CT. Dallasites are grieving the death today of deejay Ron Chapman, a man whose voice was a constant companion throughout the Metroplex for more than five . I once wrote Ron Chapman meant more to Dallas radio than electricity.