Herb Oscar Anderson & Jack Vincent Sign Off
• Sunday, January 29 was a sad day for radio fans — within the span of just a few hours, our industry lost two legendary personalities — New York radio icon Herb Oscar Anderson (“HOA“) and former KCBQ/San Diego legend Jack Vincent. HOA died in Vermont just shy of his 89th birthday, and Vincent died near San Diego at the age of 99. The news was delivered, as expected, by “Radio’s Best Friend,” Art Vuolo, who is still recovering from recent knee replacement surgery.
Herb Oscar Anderson was the original “Morning Mayor of New York radio,” a title bestowed upon him by none other than New York Mayor Robert Wagner. After garnering huge ratings on 570 WMCA, he segued over to WABC when it flipped to Top 40 in 1961. HOA, who came from a big band background, was famous for singing along with the music. At WABC, he started every show at 6am by singing his theme song, “Hello Again,” followed by his signature opening line, “I got up bright and early to say I’ve got a song for you!” In recent years HOA was living in Fort Pierce, FL and entertaining as a singer on cruise ships off the Florida coast. He was also doing one-hour Saturday radio show on Adult Standards WOSN (97.1 The Ocean)/Vero Beach, FL. Former longtime New York Daily News columnist David Hinckley contributed his appreciation of HOA to the Huffington Post.
As promised, “Radio’s Best Friend” Art Vuolo just finished combing through his extensive video archives and produced a touching tribute to HOA. Art finished this labor of love on Tuesday afternoon and uploaded it to YouTube, where it has already garnered over 1,000 views! As Art remarked, “If it makes you both laugh AND cry, then I will have succeeded in making a lasting memorial to a true radio giant.”
• Jack Vincent was a latecomer to radio — he was 34 when he joined KCBQ in 1955 as an engineer… and stayed for the next 27 years. Vincent (pictured here on the air at KCBQ in 1963) was, by all accounts, a dead ringer for Clark Gable, sporting a trademark pencil mustache. KCBQ was a six-tower, 50,000 watt AM blowtorch, and because Jack possessed a first-class FCC license he did his show from the transmitter site even before the studios were located out in suburban Santee, CA. One of Vincent’s last public appearances was in 2010 when a group of former staffers dedicated a special monument on the site of the original KCBQ studios in Santee. Fun Fact: Jack Vincent’s birthday was November 7, and KCBQ’s AM frequency was 1170.
Art Vuolo said, “Jack had been under hospice care for the last several months, and we all rejoice in the fact that he is no longer in pain… but we remember the way he could hoist a drink and puff on a cigar. He was a tough old guy who was loved by everyone.” No one else but Art has priceless in-studio video of both Herb and Jack, and as we speak he is hard at work producing a beautiful video tribute, which is posted on YouTube. [Photo of Jack Vincent courtesy of his friend and former KCBQ colleague “Shotgun Tom” Kelly. Special thanks to LinDee Rochelle, who wrote a terrific tribute to Jack Vincent].
