(The money was later distributed to local charities.) Ron Chapman - IMDb But the laughter was tinged with something like pity. There are no excuses in Ron Chapmans world except You screwed up. We play some stuff that cooks pretty good, but there are a lot of songs we wont play at all. We just hit. April 26, 2021 - TOP INFO GUIDE RON CHAPMAN ANDERSON - Ronald Ray Chapman, 67, of Anderson, died Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at Rainey Hospice House. A lot of people couldnt handle it, Dean said of Chapmans style. According to Littauer, Chapmans massive energy manifested itself during his youth in a series of class-clown pranks. Chapman was involved at the time with a woman in New York, an aspiring actress. *To hear some classic clips of Chapman from the old KLIF days, go to www.reelradio.com/se and www.historyofklif.com. Chapman was a giant in radio in Texas, and was inducted as a member of the Radio Hall of Fame in 2012. Ron Chapman - My Little Story CBS Radio has rebranded 103.7 on Your FM Dial as the Amp, a moniker also bestowed upon energy drinksand vitamins that promise "alean, ripped physique." And that means dont do anything to KVIL. His wife says the best way to get him frantic is to put him in a car without a phone. "How sad that all of those KVIL things are now part of history. Chapman is a perfectionist in every way, Nance says. And we walked around the corner and stopped. @garycogill : RT @HawkeyeOnAir: I'm saddened to tell you that legendary Dallas DJ Ron Chapman has passed away at 85. BUD BUSCHARDT, HE'S SUMP'N ELSE! - Memories of Dallas by Memories Inc However, Ron Chapman's cause of death remains yet to be known but it is suspected that he died of natural causes. In honor of his life, we reproduce this 1989 profile of Chapman. One former employee, who asked not to be named, speaks for many when she says, Hes the most unfeeling, cold-hearted son of a bitch I ever met., And this woman counts herself among his admirers because of his genius at making KVIL a raging success. Chapman was 85 years old. Chapmans radio station has been number one in Dallas. Ron would fairly often show up while I was on the air to go in a studio and record a promo that might run overnight, only to plug something that was going to be on his show. Its a small industry. Knowing Ron over the years has been an adventure. And I think he said, This would be a good time to go to commercial.. Ron has never been much for physical labor, says Littauer, so he stood there nodding and saying, Mm-hmmm and very good, very good, while the sergeant gave jobs to the rest of the men. That was the power of Ron Chapman. Chapmans on-air name was Irving Harrigan. Ron Chapman received an obituary from the KVIL community. When New York-based Infinity Broadcasting bought KVIL a couple of years ago, they paid more than $80 million, the highest amount ever paid for a stand-alone radio station in the U.S. 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. 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. Would Stevie Wonder object if we took it out? 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 loved ones left in total devastation. And you were supposed to live up to them. I was off the wall, and he loved it. 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. In 1969, Chapman joined the staff of KVIL-FM/Dallas-Fort . I can make her feel good about the day, or I can make her feel crappy about the day, and of course, the choice is to make her feel good. Its mascot was an incontinent kinkajou. Ron Chapman made money by Directors niche. #1. But what me and Tom Murphy did was put together a morning show for teens, Murphy and Harrigan. The rest, as they say, is history. At one point, Chapman broadcast live while skydiving from a plane. 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. 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. Ron Chapman Radio Hall Of Fame And brother, let me tell you something: It was a different age., In 1989, The Dallas Morning News devoted a High Profile cover story to Chapman, noting that peers described him variously as a genius, tyrant and hero. Info. One of his greatest talents is picking people, knowing where they fit, where they go.They gave me a little yellow van, and I drove it myself. The Emperor is in his tower, conjuring, working on the exact wording and inflection of the incantation that will once again secure his seemingly unending supremacy. Ron was a longtime morning host at our sister station KVIL 103.7, where he worked with KRLD's Mitch Carr. . We had this little kinkajou honey bear. Both of which I left, unconsumed, somewhere in Rons car. And because I drove the yellow van, I could go wherever I wanted to go. No spam, ever. Yet beneath that amiable exterior lurk hints of a tyrannical ego, of a man well accustomed to his own success story. Its what youd get if God had money, Nance says. The center is the guy who is bending over with the football.. Ron Chapman was born on 25 January 1936 in Newton, Massachusetts, USA. He was just a wonderful, wonderful guy., And yet, on a professional level, Chapmans reputation carried with it a darker side. You treat her with respect. His family received condolences from thousands . Ron Chapman Death - Obituary, - InsideEko.com News Media | Facebook Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. I hear it., I said, Yes. FACE FOR RADIO: Chapman hosted a popular TV show. Okay, so were in a commercial break. But his desire was for you to get the best out of yourself. She said, How do you expect me to do a good job after all Ive been through? I said, Thats it, weve been talking too long. Selden, now an aide at a substance abuse clinic in Tyler, believes that Chapman has accomplished what it took him much longer to do: harness a runaway ego and put it to good use. Shes now a motivational speaker and lives in Fredericksburg, Texas.From the first moment we ever opened our mouths, we clicked. Selden went full circle in his personal life too, abusing drugs and alcohol until he wound up doing some time in what he calls the Home for the Occasionally Coherent, the state hospital at Rusk. Chapman hired fellow broadcasting legend Jody Dean to work a late-night shift at KVIL in 1982. Six years later, he moved to Texas to begin what eventually became a Radio Hall of Fame career in DFW. That was the power of Ron Chapman. Into the breach jumped Ron, who offered to loan me his brand-new Cadillac Seville. We could go New Age. His hard-scrabble experience inspired him to say, Ill show them. And his broadcasting career accomplished exactly that he showed them. And guess what? Everyones going to do a 50-mile hike. "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. 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. So Chapman is now going to teach Brad and me how we should broadcast a football game to appeal to his target audience women. His talent rose above us all. And she looks so good by the time she gets to the office, she had to be up by 5:30. 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. When it comes to his precious radio station, the man is as fiercely protective of his listeners and his formal as a mother sow is of her litter. Chapman realized that if he won Fort Worth, he could almost double the stations numbers. The obituary was featured in Dallas Morning News on May 16, 2021. In order for us to match the standard, the three of us guys on the floor crew went out and bought blazers. We never worked in the studio together, for 20 years. Chapman had already carved out a legend as one-half of Charlie & Harrigan on KLIF. He had this real, real long tongue, and it could get into the bottle. Talk about a cush gig. The Amp is now playing a handful of pop-radio hits, by the likes of Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift and DJ Snake, over and over and over, ad infinitum. 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. Copyright 2023, D Magazine Partners, Inc. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. The individuality, the uniqueness. And because he spanned KLIF and "Sump'n Else" to KVIL -- he WAS the history of Dallas radio . But back then, you prayed for Vince Lombardi. Early on. But, quite frankly, we werent real excited about learning it at the time.. And even then they didnt get it. He spent more than three decades at KVIL, toiling as a morning deejay, music director and program director, transforming the adult contemporary format into a major success on the FM band. Selden was the Afternoon Drive DJ at 1190 KLIF at the time when 75% of the teenagers in Dallas were listening. RALPH CHAPMAN OBITUARY. I hand it to Ron, and the little guy hops on Rons shoulder, and when the lights come up, you know, animals react. Next to the picture, the new kid on the block had penned, Dont buy a house here. The Man Dallas LUVed: Radio Great Ron Chapman Dies The money was donated to charity. I grew up listening to his voice, though as many different characters, in Arlington. Nobodys going to build monuments or hold big memorial services. When he started hosting SumpN Else, I was a kid, and we loved to dance, and I would go over there to dance. 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. CBS News Texas: Free 24/7 News; . "His family asks for time to . He also had a stint on television with the local ABC affiliate, WFAA-TV, where he was featured in the mid-60s on the "Sump'N Else" show. 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 RONALD E. CHAPMAN Ron passed away on Saturday, May 23, 2020, at the Scarborough Extendicare long-term care home, from pneumonia at the age of 90. Even in a social setting, conversation revolves around radio and the show and the things that are, for other people, rather peripheral., Chapman says he has always had to be aggressive because back in the early days, the ratings were so low that they didnt even show up on Arbitron. Now, its someone I found out of Kim Dawson headshots. Or we could go KVIL.. In fact, the jingle was the fastest 45 in the West. It was based on Rons experience with Top 40 radio. Many years later, both of their first marriages ended (Chapman divorced in 1982) and Ron and Nance began seeing each other, but again, just as friends. Forty-five years in one market. Especially this woman right here., And Brad says, Well, how about if we start the play and say, The quarterback comes up to the line of scrimmage. Between his junior and senior years, he interned at The Washington Post during "the Watergate summer" of 1973. He was one of the greatest radio people to ever sit behind the mic. But there is more to the message than merely commercialized feminism. Hes right. 750 North St.Paul St. He spent 19 years at the Los Angeles Times before returning to Dallas. who served as KVILs newsman for a couple of years during the early Seventies, Chapman is obsessed with his work. He served with the Army in South Korea from 1957 to 1959, producing a radio show for Voice of the United Nations Command. Following his tenure at KLIF, Chapman joined the staff of KVIL-FM, Dallas-Fort Worth, in 1969. April 26, 2021 / 11:54 AM And this is, like, in the 80s. But theyll never work hard enough.. The other bold stroke by the founders of KVIL was its attitude toward Dallass sister city, Fort Worth. Chapman's family says there will be no service, but a public gathering of friends and . This is the story of how a chance encounter lead to a close friendship that would span four decades, and a revolutionary radio travel program that is in it's 46th year.