Ed Walker, WAMU personality who burnished radio’s golden age, dies at 83

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This hurts. I used to listen to the Joy Boys on WRC, at 980 kc on the AM dial, on an RCA Victor five-tube radio. Often, they would play routines from the album put out by that new comedian, Bill Cosby. He's Negro; did you know? (Remember, his first album came out in 1963, before ... a lot of things.)

Talk about working right to the end. He died hours after his last broadcast aired.

For more, see DCRTV.com and especially the DCRTV mailbag.

Ed Walker, WAMU personality who burnished radio’s golden age, dies at 83

Entertainment

By Paul Farhi October 26 at 1:32 PM
@farhip

Ed Walker, who amused and entertained a generation of Washington-area listeners as half of “The Joy Boys” radio team with Willard Scott and spent 65 years on the local airwaves as a deejay, news host and genial raconteur, died Oct. 26 at a retirement community in Rockville, just hours after his final broadcast. He was 83.

Mr. Walker had been undergoing treatment for cancer, said his daughter, Susan Scola.

A lifelong radio connoisseur, Mr. Walker became one of its most skillful practitioners over his long career. For the past quarter century, he hosted a popular weekly radio-nostalgia program, “The Big Broadcast,” on public radio station WAMU-FM (88.5). Each week, he invited listeners to “sit back, relax and enjoy,” as he discussed and introduced replays of such golden-age programs as “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar,” “Dragnet” and “Gunsmoke.”

He recorded his last “Big Broadcast” on Oct. 13 from a hospital bed while being treated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington. Mr. Walker listened to the final broadcast Sunday night on WAMU, surrounded by his family, a few hours before his death, according to the station.

Hours After His Final Broadcast, Ed Walker Passes Away

by Rachel Sadon in News on Oct 26, 2015 3:50 pm

Just hours after his voice hit the airwaves for the last time, area radio legend Ed Walker passed away early this morning.

The 83-year-old has hosted The Big Broadcast since 1990; he recorded his final show from his hospital bed last week.

Ed Walker Dies

Ed Walker Dies - 10/26 - DCRTV hears that DC radio legend Ed Walker (right) died Monday morning, just hours after his last "Big Broadcast" nostalgic radio show aired Sunday evening on WAMU, 88.5. It was taped weeks earlier in Sibley Memorial Hospital, after Walker was diagnosed with cancer. He was 83. More at wamu.org. Walker listened to the final broadcast Sunday night on WAMU, surrounded by his family, a few hours before his death, according to WAMU. In mid-October, Walker announced that he was retiring from WAMU due to health issues. Walker has been host of WAMU's longest-running program since 1990. The first blind student admitted to American University, Walker was one of the founders of then-student-operated WAMU-AM in 1951. It is there that Walker met Willard Scott. A creative partnership sparked, and the two were a duo on Washington radio for 20 years, the mid-1950s through mid-1970s, calling themselves "The Joy Boys," which aired on the old WRC radio. Over the years, Walker has worked at a variety of area radio stations, including WMAL, WOL, WPGC, and WWRC. More at washingtonpost.com.....