Farewell

Following the death earlier this month of Syracuse radio legend ‘Dandy Dan’ Leonard, Syracuse New Times writers Allen Czelusniak and Bill DeLapp have put together a retrospective of Leonard’s career which included a stint as a New Times writer in the 1970’s.  (Link to original article at rway.com is no longer active.)

Dan Leonard brought rock and rock to Syracuse radio and went on to become one of the market’s legendary jocks. Leonard, who spent 27 years on the air in central New York starting in 1954 at WNDR, died Feb. 11 from cancer in California at the age of 75.

The Syracuse radio community said goodbye to several broadcast veterans this year.

Local television news legend Ron Curtis died yesterday after a year-long battle with cancer. Curtis, who began his long television career at channel 5 in 1960, started out in radio at the age of 15 when he dropped out of Solvay high school to take an announcing job at WFBL AM.

Former Syracuse radio personality Nelson Guyette passed away on Thursday, October 4 in Rochester.

Former 93Q staff member Neil Sullivan died on Thursday, 9/13 after a short battle with lung cancer. Sullivan, who most recently worked as program director of WMEQ in Maine, was a 20-year radio veteran who also spent time in Worcester, Milford, and on Cape Cod. Funeral services are scheduled for this Friday, 9/21 in Dennis, […]

Longtime Howard Stern Show regular Henry Nasiff Jr., better known as Hank “The Angry Drunken Dwarf”, died in his sleep on Tuesday. He was 39.

Donna Speziale died Sunday, May 20, after a sudden illness. In the late 70’s and early 80’s Donna was a journalist for WFBL-AM and WHEN-AM, including two years as News Director. She later moved on to television news at WTVH 5 where she won an Emmy in 1988. She was 43.