Condolences: Gary Burbank
• Legendary air personality Gary Burbank, whose lengthy career took him to WMPS/Memphis, WNOE/New Orleans, WAKY & WHAS/Louisville, CKLW/Windsor-Detroit, and most notably, 700 WLW (The Big One)/Cincinnati, died Thursday, August 28 at the age of 84.
Born Billy Purser in July 1941 in west Tennessee, he began his radio career as “Bill Williams” at KLPL/Lake Providence, LA, later adopting the handle “Johnny Apollo” at KUZN/West Monroe, LA. That was followed by a stint at WMPS/Memphis in the mid-’60s and WWUN/Jackson, MS. In 1968 Purser joined WAKY/Louisville, where he became an instant hit.
It was at WAKY that Billy Purser officially became “Gary Burbank,” a name taken from radio and television legend Gary Owens, who as a regular on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, announced he was broadcasting from “beautiful downtown Burbank.” (Burbank’s natural voice was remarkably similar to Owens’ on-air voice, and Owens contributed announcements to Burbank’s programs in later years).
Burbank realized his greatest success at 700 WLW/Cincinnati, where he reigned from June 15, 1981 until December 21, 2007, entertaining his audience with a cavalcade of popular fictional characters, like “Gilbert Gnarley,” “Eunice & Bernice,” “The Right Rev. Deuteronomy Skaggs,” and his most popular, his “hillbilly” alter ego “Earl Pitts, Uhmerikun,” which was nationally syndicated until 2021.
After retiring from WLW in December 2007, Burbank and his wife Carol retreated to a beautiful home on the Rainbow River in central Florida. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2012.
Upon the news of Burbank’s passing, Rick Consolo, who oversaw the network, said of his longtime friend, “The radio world will never know a greater and more humble talent.” As always, “Radio’s Best Friend” Art Vuolo comes through, and has compiled this special video tribute.
The Cincinnati Enquirer also posted a nice photo montage of Burbank’s career at WLW. [February 1985 Photo of Gary Burbank by Fred Straub / The Enquirer]
