WEST READING, PA — “I had a good run…” That was the final Facebook post from Chris Barnes on Monday. Barnes, whose 45-year radio career included a brief stint as News Director at Newsradio 570 WSYR in Syracuse, died Tuesday night at the age of 66.
A couple of hours before that final post, Barnes went live on Facebook from his hospital bed. In the publicly-viewable 9-minute video, he said it was his 10th day in the ICU with multiple serious health problems, some of which he attributed to years of heavy drinking. He said he hoped he was “just being too dramatic again,” but that doctors had advised him to get his affairs in order.
Barnes arrived in Syracuse to run the 570 WSYR radio newsroom in September 2010, just a couple months after leaving a network anchor position at Fox News Radio for “personal reasons.”
Only a little over a year later, Barnes would be packing his bags for the Washington, DC area to join CBS as part of the launch team for “All News 99.1 WNEW.”
Many who worked with Chris over his career posted tributes on Facebook, including “Producer Bill” Ali from the “Jim Reith Show Unleashed Podcast.”
Although no obituary is available yet, previous Facebook posts indicate Barnes leaves behind his mother and one son.
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