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. . . And he admits that, in part, it is the reason his first marriage ended after nineteen years. And I think he said, This would be a good time to go to commercial.. Fifteen years later, this newspaper called it "the800-pound gorilla of Dallas radio," describing Chapman as "not only one of the top DJs in Dallas, but one of the most respected and feared in the country.". Im absolutely realistic in believing that nobody remembers you, Chapman says. Theyll still be talking about that twenty years from now. He began by working as a disc jockey for WHAV in Haverhill. 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). The country was going to get in shape. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Ron Chapman had this offer from KVIL. She loved going to NorthPark to dance with other teenagers during the daily weekday broadcast of SumpN Else. Of course, back in those days, I was also given to partaking in the pleasures of cannabis and had a couple of joints with me for the ride. A ratings war is brewing between two oldies stations, and a controversial gadget might decide who wins. In 2007, he returned to broadcasting part-time as a "permanent substitute" for legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey. Ron Chapman joined KVIL-FM/Dallas-Fort Worth in 1969 as morning disc jockey, music director, and program director, and stayed there for 31 years. Skip to content. Or we could go KVIL.. Ralph Chapman passed away on May 4, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. Ron Chapman received an obituary from the KVIL community. Be sure to wear a hat. It would be rude not to let Ron Chapman give it a proper send-off. And it suddenly became a craze. And I did everything. Industry critics say that while Chapman is full-tilt today, he is not really doing much to prepare his station for Life After Ron. Last time I dialed in for any length was the first day of September2000, whenRon Chapman signed off after a 31-year stint as The Voice of KVIL and, by extension,Dallas radio. Net Worth Inspector Menu. We could go New Age. Chapman has seen twenty years worth of six-month wonders come and then go. Chapman joined KVIL in 1969 where he would remain a fixture for 32 years. Hes now a program director for ABC Dallas radio and an adjunct professor of TV production at the University of North Texas.We did Sumpn Else at NorthPark. Chapman's family says there will be no service, but a public gathering of friends and . Michael Selden, a DJ at KVIL from 1974 to 1979, has gone full circle with Chapman emotionally, from admiration to loathing and back again. 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. We had to beg them to stop sending checks. I can walk faster than most people can run, Chapman once told The Dallas Morning News. Forty-five years in one market. RIP Ron pic.twitter.com . You tend to say things like the mayor when you mean Dallas and the mayor of Fort Worth when youre talking about them. Ron preparing to parachute out of an airplane and broadcast all the way to the ground. Updated: Apr. The next step from there would have been the street. But it was impossible to replicate a station that made a growing big city feel like a small town. He graduated from Samuell High School in Pleasant Grove in 1970 and from Southern Methodist University in 1974. April 26, 2021 / 11:54 AM By KLTV Digital Media Staff. 2023 Audacy, Inc. All rights reserved. Passing by the cage, he would surreptitiously slip the mouthpiece through the wire into the neck of the tuba and blow. The magic is about to happen, the same magic thats been running nonstop for twenty years. I knew I was fired. In 2000, Chapman moved to KLUV/Dallas, an "oldies" station where he stayed until announcing his retirement from radio in 2005. Steve Eberhart was a deejay at KVIL. I once wrote Ron Chapman meant more to Dallas radio than electricity. @garycogill : RT @HawkeyeOnAir: I'm saddened to tell you that legendary Dallas DJ Ron Chapman has passed away at 85. Following his tenure at KLIF, Chapman joined the staff of KVIL-FM, Dallas-Fort Worth, in 1969. Homepage; Contact US; About US; Ron Chapman Net Worth, Age, Height, Weight. "KVIL was so big, so all-encompassing that you never thought it would go away.". The kids had to wear coats and ties on the show. So he comes to me, and I open the mic. . He is proceeded in death by his father, Fay Chapman. I'm saddened to tell you that legendary Dallas DJ Ron Chapman has passed away at 85. Dallas, Texas 75201. Theyre gone. He was always very, very kind. Yet beneath that amiable exterior lurk hints of a tyrannical ego, of a man well accustomed to his own success story. "This has something to do with age. By now, everyone knows the story about how, in 1988, Chapman asked his KVIL listeners to send in $20 each, without ever saying why, and took in $240,000. Ron didnt say a word. Then ten to midnight. For nearly thirteen years, with a few scattered intermissions. Robert Bird Brown Obituary - Dead | Robert Bird Brown Cause of Death April 26, 2021 Son of Mercy 0. From 1965 to 1968, Chapman hosted a television dance show for teens called "Sump'N Else." In 1969, he moved to KVIL, where he spent 32 years. Ron Chapman, a Dallas - Fort Worth radio legend, has died at the age of 85, according to CBS 11 KTVT in DFW. We used a two-way radio. Read our daily updates at 12:30, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m., and our complete obituaries in The Herald-Dispatch on Wednesday and Jody Dean was Chapman's producer at KVIL from 1987 to 1994. Ron Chapman set out to claim it. And now, it is no longer.". The money was donated to charity. People just trusted him, Dean said Monday. Because shes gonna move up. For example, co-workers wondered about his habit of dumping all his foreign currency into a drawer when he returns from trips. Nobody. He likes to say he lost two-thirds of his voice then, but every so often you can hear peeks and hints of that booming voice that used to wake up Dallas every weekday morning. It was our mascot for the show. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. Chapman knows that he is inextricably linked to KVIL. Chapman had served as emcee for a couple of years in a row and had complained both times about the sound system. I was driving an older beat-up Nissan, and my alternator went out one night while on the way to work. 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. "How sad that all of those KVIL things are now part of history. Chapman, fifty-three, fell over laughing. He likes certain things in certain places. The station is branded as "Alt 103.7" and airs an alternative rock radio format. But its going to be hard to groom someone to replace him when he hogs the limelight and wants all the glory for himself.. Legendary radio host Ron Chapman has passed away. A lot of people couldnt handle it, Dean said of Chapmans style. Id just started with Chapman, and I did that two or three times before he slammed down the headphones and blew up. It was also an opportunity, and that night Rons car found itself parked outside every cool bar and nightclub on Greenville Avenue. Chapman realized that if he won Fort Worth, he could almost double the stations numbers. I hear it., I said, Yes. Chapman said. KVIL-FM, born in Highland Park on August 25, 1961,died, officially, on Jan. 18, 2017. But back then, you prayed for Vince Lombardi. He always brought light to every room entered. Chapman says he and Nancy were in excellent health at that point but age was a factor for him wanting to retire. "In my own little world, the end of KVIL was something unthinkable," he said. I know something the others havent figured out.. Thats what we started doing. Consultants studied and copied KVIL, launching dozens of lite-rock imitations across the country. Go ahead and ask me whatever you want. But suppose, suddenly, a rogue meteorite comes falling out of the sky and mashes him into a puddle at the corner of Mockingbird and Central? Theres a Stevie Wonder song where right in the middle of the song he does this loud, high-pitched scream. Yeah, he would. Broadcasting great Ron Chapman, who introduced himself to Dallas radio in 1959 under the pseudonym of Irving Harrigan on AM pioneer KLIF, and who elevated his legend after more than 30 years at KVIL-FM and another five at KLUV-FM, died Monday of natural causes. The hand goes higher above his head: VEE higher now, almost pleading as it keens with the anticipation of all the wonderful, warm, cuddly, sensual things to come. They were gonna change owners and he knew the new owner. I figure we have her ears, and were the only ones shell let talk to her for the first hour of the day. Put on your walking shoes. Dale Hansen broadcasted Cowboys games on KVIL. Says Littauer, Only Ron could spend two weeks on a ship, do nothing, and then get a commendation for it.. He had spent his last few years on 98.7 KLUV in Dallas/Forth Worth. Chapman had already carved out a legend as one-half of Charlie & Harrigan on KLIF. Chapman knows his audience, and he knows what they buycomfort. . He was one of the greatest radio people to ever sit behind the mic. April 26, 2021. He was an actor, known for Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (1979). Suzie Humphreys was Chapmans on-air sidekick on KVIL from 1975 to 1995. Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. Even after he retired, he would call and ask for help, and I was always happy to do it. He was an actor, known for Dallas Cowboys . And because I drove the yellow van, I could go wherever I wanted to go. Jody Dean was Chapmans producer at KVIL from 1987 to 1994. They had no bathtub, no phone, no family car. But when the chairwoman greeted Chapman in the ballroom, she says, he lit into her. Chapman liked to say he was a poor kid who grew up behind a grocery store, which his father owned in his native Haverhill, Mass. On the stairwell is a wall full of pictures: Ron in the midst of a million one-dollar bills. No one would do that.. He also hosted a televised series from Northpark Center in the 1960's for a three-year stint. I now think about retiring. In 1968, Chapman joined a team that purchased KVIL-FM, a station known for pioneering the Adult Contemporary (AC) format. When the show aired its final broadcast, Chapman played as its swan song Turn! Chapman joined the staff of KVIL-FM/Dallas-Fort Worth as morning . One infamous incident occurred during last years gala for the National Craniofacial Foundation. Last year, that power was demonstrated when Chapman asked listeners to trust him and send in $20 each for no specified purpose. As she perfected her skills, the dean of Dallas radio, Ron Chapman, hired her at KVIL-AM/FM as News Director alongside his other show members: Suzy Humphries, Len Mailoux, Andy McCollum, and Larry . Chapman targeted that audience for several reasons, and he lists them the way he says almost everything, with unflappable confidence: a) they are the purse strings; b) there are a lot of them; c) they tend to be very faithful and build an allegiance; and d) they were underserved in this market, and nobody was paying them any respect. But the thing about it is, ten minutes later, its like it never happened.. It almost looked like a squirrel. By Casey Carr. While Ron was 85 years old at the time of his death, Nance Chapman's age remains a mystery. 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 noticed that they would feature me dancing a lot on the show. . Back then, Chapman says, wed latch on to anything. But telling Brad after 20-plus years how to broadcastDont be talking about blitzes and the nickel defense. And Chapman was being pretty emphatic about it. Garrett remembers Chapmans blowing up at him for reading the same filler story at several news slots. In terms of logistics and creativity, hes a towering genius. The things that attracted Marilyn to me in the first place were the things that drove her crazythe drive, the ambition, the living in the eye of the tiger eventually drove her crazy. A little egotistical, perhaps. The piece coincided with Chapmans 20th anniversary at KVIL, where, The News noted, His hyper, happy-talk Ron Chapman and the Morning Group has been the almost-constant No. Robert Wilonsky, former city columnist for The Dallas Morning News, is communications director for Heritage Auctions and a frequent contributor to these pages. It was Chapman who gave KVIL its sound in 1969: music foryoung adults who'd grown up listening to him on KLIF.