BARRY GRAY

Barry Gray was an on-air personality, often labeled as "The father of Talk Radio". Gray was originally a disc jockey for radio station WOR-AM / New York City in 1945 when bandleader Woody Herman called in while Gray was talking about him. Gray broadcast the phone call and the spontaneous live interview was such a hit with both his listeners and station bosses, that the talk radio format resulted. Gray subsequently began doing listener call-ins as well. WOR-AM officials realized the attraction of the talk format, and Gray worked an overnight shift there from 1945 to 1949, interviewing everyone from Al Jolson to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. In addition, during 1947 he hosted the New York-based show Scout About Town for the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Gray moved to Miami in 1948 and broadcast on WMIE-AM radio from three Miami Beach nightclubs. Barry Gray returned to WMCA in 1950, and stayed there for 39 years, refining the talk show format still utilized today. Gray was also known as a fierce critic of bigotry and survived McCarthyism and the Red Scare. Barry was fearless in calling out those he found mired in hypocrisy and abusive in power. After WMCA-AM changed to an all-talk format in 1970, Gray was again fully in his element. He never backed away from discussing hot topics in politics, especially those that affected New Yorkers.

By the 1980s he had shifted from a late-night to a mid-day slot at the station. Gray left WMCA in 1989 when it dropped its talk format and went to work at WOR-AM and was nationally syndicated.

By the time of his death, his show was considered to be politically conservative.