Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Sam Hall, 81, NYC radio newscaster/anchor/news director (WOR; WNBC; WYNY; WNEW; WQXR) -- May 2018
58 views
Skip to first unread message
That Derek
Jul 8, 2018, 7:19:38 PM7/8/18
to
https://www.wqxr.org/story/sam-hall-former-wqxr-news-director-dies-81/
Published by
WQXR Blog
Remembering Sam Hall, Former WQXR News Director
Jul 3, 2018 ·
by Jeff Spurgeon
Sam Hall, a former newscaster at WQXR who enjoyed a long career at many radio stations in New York City and across the country, died on May 17th. He was 81.
Sam concluded his working life in 2006 as WQXR’s News Director and morning news anchor, retiring after more than a decade with the station. Before then he had worked in many prestigious local radio newsrooms, among them WOR, WNBC and WYNY, WNEW, and at the NBC and RKO radio networks.
“A man utterly without pretension,” is how broadcaster and former WOR colleague Gil Gross described Sam in a Facebook post. “He had the enthusiasms and curiosity of a kid, but in many ways was often the only true grownup in the room. A very special man.”
“He was admired by his contemporaries and adored by those of us who were fortunate enough to share his friendship,“ says former NBC (and WQXR) colleague Don Rollins.
Sam’s 58-year career began because of bad weather. His father was a Baptist minister who also hosted a 15-minute morning radio program from his study desk in the family home in Indiana. When his dad was stranded out of town by a snowstorm, 13-year-old Sam was pressed into service. He’d heard his dad on the air, so he knew how to take a story from the news, couple it with appropriate scripture, and create a short on-air homily. All was going well in that first broadcast — except for the noisy parakeet that lived in a cage in the study. So, explaining the situation to the audience, Sam took the bird out of its cage, placed it in the desk, closed the drawer, and finished the program. When he got to school later that morning, he learned about the power of radio: Sam couldn’t believe how many people had heard him. They didn’t say much about his homily, but they were very interested in what happened to the parakeet!
After that, Sam began spending time at the local station, gradually working there more and more. After college and two years in the Army, Sam worked in local television, but it was radio where his career settled. He came to New York and became a reporter and anchor at WNEW-AM in New York, when that station had one of the largest local news staffs in the city. At the NBC Radio Network, his newscasts were heard on hundreds of stations across the country. Rollins recalls an incident that demonstrated Sam’s virtuosity under pressure:
“Sam spent lots of time carefully writing his newscasts, but once he spent a little too much time composing his script and not enough watching the clock. Sam’s deep concentration over composition was shattered as his news producer bellowed over the intercom ‘Sam, you’re on the air in 30 seconds!’ Sam sprinted into the studio just as the on-the-air light flashed. About halfway through his opening words, ‘NBC Radio News, this is Sam Hall reporting,’ he realized he had left his script in the other room. Did he panic? No way, he just started talking, delivering his report from memory. No script, no uncomfortable pauses or goofs, and no way anyone listening would have guessed it was anything unusual.”
At the top of his profession in New York, Sam worked with many celebrated broadcast names of the day, alongside the Gamblings at WOR, Charles McCord (and Don Imus) at WNBC, and it was none other than the legendary Wolfman Jack, also at WNBC, who announced that the upcoming newscast would be delivered by “Long, tall Sam Hall!”
Sam was my boss at WQXR when I first began working at the station as a newscaster, but we also became friends. Sam was a wonderful person to spend time with — interested and interesting, with a sparkling sense of humor and a great zest for living. He loved his church community at St. Boniface in Brooklyn, and was known by everyone on his block on State Street. He was the kind of man who could say to a passing stranger, “Hi, neighbor!” and mean it, with truly neighborly intent. He loved talking to people and made friends everywhere he went. He was, as Gil Gross wrote, without pretension, and therefore he was somehow very deeply himself — a truly distinctive and unforgettable personality. No wonder that those of us who knew him will miss him so.
A memorial service for Sam will take place at 10 am on Saturday, July 7, at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, 55 Cranberry Street in Brooklyn.
Published by
WQXR Blog
Remembering Sam Hall, Former WQXR News Director
Jul 3, 2018 ·
by Jeff Spurgeon
Sam Hall, a former newscaster at WQXR who enjoyed a long career at many radio stations in New York City and across the country, died on May 17th. He was 81.
Sam concluded his working life in 2006 as WQXR’s News Director and morning news anchor, retiring after more than a decade with the station. Before then he had worked in many prestigious local radio newsrooms, among them WOR, WNBC and WYNY, WNEW, and at the NBC and RKO radio networks.
“A man utterly without pretension,” is how broadcaster and former WOR colleague Gil Gross described Sam in a Facebook post. “He had the enthusiasms and curiosity of a kid, but in many ways was often the only true grownup in the room. A very special man.”
“He was admired by his contemporaries and adored by those of us who were fortunate enough to share his friendship,“ says former NBC (and WQXR) colleague Don Rollins.
Sam’s 58-year career began because of bad weather. His father was a Baptist minister who also hosted a 15-minute morning radio program from his study desk in the family home in Indiana. When his dad was stranded out of town by a snowstorm, 13-year-old Sam was pressed into service. He’d heard his dad on the air, so he knew how to take a story from the news, couple it with appropriate scripture, and create a short on-air homily. All was going well in that first broadcast — except for the noisy parakeet that lived in a cage in the study. So, explaining the situation to the audience, Sam took the bird out of its cage, placed it in the desk, closed the drawer, and finished the program. When he got to school later that morning, he learned about the power of radio: Sam couldn’t believe how many people had heard him. They didn’t say much about his homily, but they were very interested in what happened to the parakeet!
After that, Sam began spending time at the local station, gradually working there more and more. After college and two years in the Army, Sam worked in local television, but it was radio where his career settled. He came to New York and became a reporter and anchor at WNEW-AM in New York, when that station had one of the largest local news staffs in the city. At the NBC Radio Network, his newscasts were heard on hundreds of stations across the country. Rollins recalls an incident that demonstrated Sam’s virtuosity under pressure:
“Sam spent lots of time carefully writing his newscasts, but once he spent a little too much time composing his script and not enough watching the clock. Sam’s deep concentration over composition was shattered as his news producer bellowed over the intercom ‘Sam, you’re on the air in 30 seconds!’ Sam sprinted into the studio just as the on-the-air light flashed. About halfway through his opening words, ‘NBC Radio News, this is Sam Hall reporting,’ he realized he had left his script in the other room. Did he panic? No way, he just started talking, delivering his report from memory. No script, no uncomfortable pauses or goofs, and no way anyone listening would have guessed it was anything unusual.”
At the top of his profession in New York, Sam worked with many celebrated broadcast names of the day, alongside the Gamblings at WOR, Charles McCord (and Don Imus) at WNBC, and it was none other than the legendary Wolfman Jack, also at WNBC, who announced that the upcoming newscast would be delivered by “Long, tall Sam Hall!”
Sam was my boss at WQXR when I first began working at the station as a newscaster, but we also became friends. Sam was a wonderful person to spend time with — interested and interesting, with a sparkling sense of humor and a great zest for living. He loved his church community at St. Boniface in Brooklyn, and was known by everyone on his block on State Street. He was the kind of man who could say to a passing stranger, “Hi, neighbor!” and mean it, with truly neighborly intent. He loved talking to people and made friends everywhere he went. He was, as Gil Gross wrote, without pretension, and therefore he was somehow very deeply himself — a truly distinctive and unforgettable personality. No wonder that those of us who knew him will miss him so.
A memorial service for Sam will take place at 10 am on Saturday, July 7, at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, 55 Cranberry Street in Brooklyn.
0 new messages