1997

1996 

1989

Dick Norman Killed In Crash   1-26-89
Former Orlando radio talk-show host Dick Norman, who survived 20 years as a wire service reporter in Latin America,  was killed in a traffic accident as he pulled out of a convenience store parking lot, authorities said. Dick Nutting, who went by the name Dick Norman on the air, was pronounced dead at the scene after a pickup truck struck his car broadside at 10:20 a.m. Thursday, January 24, 1984, said Hillsborough County Deputy Sheriff Louis Argote. Nutting, 46, worked for
WKIS-AM 740 from February 1984 until November 1986. He was the station's afternoon talk show host and at one point was the station's operations manager, said 
Ken Charles, executive producer at WWNZ-AM 740. He most recently was working for WFLA-AM 970 in Tampa. Nutting was pulling into traffic in a 1989 Chrysler from a Circle K parking lot when a 1986 Ford Bronco driven by Tommy Ledford, 30, struck the car on the driver's side, Argote said. The sheriff's department was investigating the accident, but no charges had been filed Thursday. Nutting won two Emmy awards and an Overseas Press Club award during his 23 years in journalism, said WFLA news anchor Don Richards in Tampa. ''Dick was straightforward. You always knew where he stood,'' Charles said. ''He was a very talented talk show host. He had a good feel for what people were looking for. He had a very quick wit.''

Ken Lueck, WNDB Radio Personality, Dies
by Cora Huckins 

DAYTONA  BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL - Monday,  March 6,  1989
Kenneth Arthur Lueck, 73,  widely known for his early-morning broadcasts from an "air-conditioned broom closet" at radio station WNDB(-AM 1150) when it was owned by the Daytona Beach News-Journal,  died Sunday at Halifax Medical Center. He was retired from broadcasting in the mid-1970's, sold his home in Ormond Beach and he and his wife, Dorothy (known to her friends as Dottie),  moved to 524 S. Beach St.,  where he took great pleasure watching the comings and goings on the Halifax River from his apartment window. Mr. Lueck was born in Irma, Wis.,  described in an article written by the late News-Journal columnist Phil deBeaubien in 1970,  as "down the road from Tomahawk Lake and the village of Bearskin."  With his gravelly voice, Ken, as he was known affectionately by his thousands of his listeners,  was one of the least likely persons to take up radio announcing as a career.  He once described himself as "possessed of the worst voice since Marconi invented wireless,  but they listen - perhaps suffering a little,  but they listen." After a stretch as a Merchant Seaman on the Great Lakes, he spent time during World War II as a radio operator in the Air Force when he also play with the Army-Air Force Band. He had a checkered career which included a stint as a cowboy out in Bozeman, Mont., and playing his saxophone with big bands in Milwaukee. Finally,  he started as an engineer at a radio station in Elk City, Okla. One day the regular morning announcer,  who had a taste for sour mash bourbon, didn't turn up for work, having indulged the night before. Ken pushed the button 6 a.m. and was on the air playing a 33 1/3 record on a 78 rpm turntable. After this fast start,  Ken polished his act and Elk City had a new "electronic hero." Ken first came here in 1949. He started work for WNDB and featured a teen club on his morning show when he built up a loyal following. He left in 1952 for Warsaw, Va.,  where he became program director and chief engineer of WNNT and organized "Ken's Kousins" a talent show that toured Eastern Virginia. While in "colonial Virginia,"  as he called it,  he married Dorothy Thompson,  a former Chicago model who was managing a charm and model school in Cincinnati. He then moved to Cincinnati where he became WZIP morning man. The Luecks' daughter,  Sally,  was born there in 1954. One night in 1955, according to guest Chatterbox columnist,  Ann Hicks (Marsh), when Ken was taking off his shoes, "sand fell out all over Dottie's nice clean vacuumed rug, and before they could yell 'Daytona Beach!' Ken was back in his favorite broom closet". A son, Michael,  was born soon after they arrived here. Ken returned to WNDB,  but this time he was the night man,  and his legion of loyal fans joined him. His irreverent style included awarding the station manager and chief engineer to listeners as prizes in "contests" and slugging his listeners from time to time with outrageously raucous records. After a few months broadcasting during the late night,  he returned to the morning show, playing favorites from the 1940s to the 1970s. He loved to accompany his special favorites such as "Heartaches" and "Stardust" on a wooden whistle,  or he would just whistle along himself. He and Dottie enjoyed dancing and were frequently seen at dances and parties throughout the area. In 1961,  while looking for a piano that would take a beating by his youngsters,  he stumbled on a "monstrosity." It was a big square "bulky piece of junk."  While refinishing it, he found markings underneath and made out the words "Solano Grove." It turned out the piano had quite a history. Ken traced its history to Jacksonville of the 1880's history when British born composer Frederick Delius,  who absorbed Florida moods and atmosphere on the St. Johns River in 1884-85. Delius divided his time between orange tree planting at Solano Grove on the St. Johns, and writing and studying musical composition with a friend and teacher, Thomas Ward of Jacksonville. Ken later sold the piano to the University of Jacksonville Music Dept., where it has been placed in Delius' home, which had been moved from Solano Grove to the university campus. Ken was also a speech and radio teacher at the Mary Karl Vocational School, a division of Daytona Beach Junior College (now Daytona Beach Community College) for 14 years. In 1972 he joined the real estate firm of Austin Combs and Associates, selling real estate afternoons, evenings and weekends, and continuing with the "Ken Lueck Show" in the early mornings. Besides his wife, survivors include son Michael of Dallas, and daughter, Sally Lueck, Fort Lauderdale. Woodward, Holly Hill is in charge.

Radio personality John W. Payne dies
St. Petersburg Times - Tuesday, April 11, 1989

BROOKSVILLE - John W. (Jack) Payne, a well-known advertising salesman for WWJB(-AM 1450) radio in Brooksville, died Monday. He was 57. Payne suffered an apparent heart attack and died at Lykes Memorial Hospital early Monday morning, said Steve Manuel, station manager for WWJB. Payne had been having heart trouble for years and had retired from full-time work at the end of last year, Manuel said. Despite his health problems, Payne continued working at the station on a volunteer basis, occasionally doing live broadcasts on location from places such as the Hernando County Fair and Register Chevrolet, Manuel said. "He was always in demand to do those for us,'' Manuel said. ''He's been a fixture around here for a long time. We're going to miss him even though he had retired from the day-to-day operations of the station.'' Cyd Samson, who did business with Payne and knew him as a friend, said that Payne had a wonderful radio personality and was polite to customers who would approach him while he was doing the on-site broadcasts. ''He was fantastic,'' said Samson, a Brooksville jeweler. ''We're all going to miss him a lot.''  Payne was the radio station's only salesman for about five years, Manuel said. Payne had worked for radio station WENY in Elmira, N.Y., before moving to Brooksville. Before beginning his career in radio advertising, Payne worked in sales for International Harvester, Manuel said. Payne is survived by his wife, Phyllis; two sons, John and Steve, both of Oregon; four sisters, Gladys Halloran, Breezeport, N.Y., Peggy Rubin, Elmira, Ruth Barnes, Bradenton, and Patty Lou Mackovitch, Horseheads, N.Y. A memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Brewer Memorial Funeral Home, 510 E Liberty. The Rev. Earl Hagar will officiate. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Hernando County chapter of the American Heart Association.

1988

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL    Saturday, December 24, 1988
GENE FORREST ''JIM'' MITCHELL, 52, 1600 Bigtree Road, Daytona Beach, died Friday. Born in Hope, Ark., he moved to Daytona Beach from Orlando in 1986. He was a broadcasting news director for WROD-AM 1340 radio and a stock market analyst. He was a Baptist. He was an Air Force veteran of the Korean War. He was a recipient of the Katie Award for best spot news coverage in TV and of the best editorial award from the UPI Broadcasting Association. Survivors: wife, Linda K.; son, Dennis, Dallas; stepsons, Hayes and Randy Henderson, both of Orlando; daughter, Misti Pickett, Tyler, Texas; mother, Elvia R., Casselberry; brother, Edward Byron, Garland, Texas; sister, Fran Wilson, Casselberry; five grandchildren. Cox-Parker Carey hand Funeral Home, Winter Park.

1987 

Bill Hess
Floyd William ''Bill'' Hess original owner of WEUS-AM 1240, Eustis died at age 70.

Bob Keith   10-26-87
October 28, 1987  Obituary from the Orlando Sentinel
Bob Keith, a former Orlando city commissioner and radio and television personality, died Monday, October 26, 1987 after a seven-year battle with cancer. He was 59. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Keith was a disc jockey and hosted a rock 'n' roll show on WLOF-AM (950). ''All the kids loved it,'' said city clerk Grace Chewning. ''That was what we listened to in high school. 'In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Keith took the show to television with the Channel 9 Bandstand. ''He was real tall and thin and had this real resonant voice,'' Chewning said. ''He was our own Dick Clark.'' ''He was part of the glory days -- the rock 'n' roll days,'' said Bud Brewer, who worked with Keith at WLOQ-FM 103.1 in the late 1970s. In 1974, Keith was elected city commissioner for District 3 in the non- partisan election. He campaigned on a promise of independence from Mayor Carl Langford, and friends said he worked hard to stick to it. ''His disposition was to try to get along with everybody,'' said Todd Persons, who covered the city council for WCPX-Channel 6. ''But he really did try hard to be his own man.''  Arthur ''Pappy'' Kennedy, who served on the council from 1972 to 1980, said Keith was an outspoken commissioner. Yet he also remained open to ideas and was ''concerned about seeing things go smoothly,'' Kennedy said. Keith lost a re-election bid in 1978 and ran an unsuccessful race for the Orange County Commission in 1982. He retired from politics and became a real estate agent. He was in the public eye again last year as a central figure in the trial of restaurateur Champ Williams on charges of bribing public officials. Keith said that when he was on the city council he had favored Williams on an important vote. Keith was in Williams' office, he said, when Williams told him he appreciated his help and stuck a roll of cash in the commissioner's pocket. Keith said he returned the money, told Williams he was insulted and left. However, state prosecutors also charged that Williams made illegal campaign contributions to Keith and other politicians by passing on his money through others. Keith said he didn't know that the money came from Williams, and no charges were filed against him. The state's charges against Williams were later thrown out for lack of evidence. Keith, 3213 Eagle Blvd., was born in Sanford and moved to Orlando from Minneapolis in 1937. He was a Coast Guard veteran and a member of First Baptist Church of Orlando, where services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday.