Tom Donahue remembers in the early 1990s he was scheduled to interview fitness personality Richard Simmons on the morning show at WGR-AM at the time it was a news/talk station.
Simmons was down the long hall of the station located then on Franklin Street when he saw the 6-foot-6-inch Donahue.
“He goes, ‘It’s a giant! It’s a giant!’ and honest to God he came running up this hall and hopped into my arms,” said Donahue in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon.
Simmons was right in more ways than one.
Donahue went on to become a giant in the radio industry over a six-decade career that ends Friday morning with his final broadcast on WECK (1230 AM, 102.9, 100.1, 100.5 FM).
His primary reason for retiring from radio is simple.
“I just don’t want to do it forever,” he explained. “I was planning on calling it quits before the winter. This is the best we came up with.”
The early morning hours – his shift is from 6 to 9 a.m. but preparation starts hours before that – also played a role.
“That certainly is part of it,” he said. “Over the last 35 years, probably 25 or 26 of them have been mornings on various radio stations. I didn’t mind but you do get a little tired of getting up at 3 in the morning.”
Donahue, 73, whose real name is Tom McCray, has worked in Buffalo radio as a news anchor, disc jockey, program director and production director for more than 51 years of his 55-year career. He is a member of the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame with has one of the most distinguished voices in local broadcast history.
He also has had a distinguished career teaching at SUNY Buffalo State College (now University) in which he taught many of the familiar names in local broadcasting for 35 years. He retired from Buffalo State in 2015.
The list includes Buffalo Toronto Public Media head Tom Calderone, WGRZ-TV anchor Claudine Ewing, WBEN-AM morning host Susan Rose, former WGR-AM morning host Howard Simon, WGR afternoon host…
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