Ed Pyle

WPLA in my Florida hometown of Plant City was a daytimer when Hurricane Donna hit the center of the state in the summer of 1960. The late George Friend, a terrific guy, put me on the air to work emergency on-air duty overnight and I stayed (in the company of Tampa Bay Radio Hall of Famers Jim Maloy, Al Berry and Bob Collins) for a couple years before moving on to WONN and WLAK (Lakeland), WTAL (Tallahassee) and WFLA, WSUN for a couple weeks, and finally, thanks to Ed Ripley, WDAE.

While working a.m. news at 'DAE in the summer of '67, had a call from WFLA deejay alumnus Dick Eller at XTRA in Tijuana, Mexico.  A couple weeks later was anchoring at "XTRA News over Los Angeles".  Back to the Bay Area after XTRA switched to music in the spring of '68, hired by Roy Nilson to work with "The Stanley Steamer" doing a.m. news at WLCY (Nice guy Claire Linn held down the p.m. shift).  Back to the west coast a week or two before man landed on the moon in July, '69 to news anchor and sports report at Westinghouse all-newser KFWB.  Left in 1971 to do three years of TV in Tallahassee before returning to L.A. and "KFWB News 98" for another ten years, finishing up as news director the last three. Since 1985 a staffer at CBS all-news KNX Newsradio, the first four years-plus as a general assignment reporter, then as Executive Producer, and since April of '02 as Director of News and Programming.

Although neither existed in my Bay Area era, I'm a follower and fan of the Bucs and Lightning, and keep an eye on the Bulls, 'though I only made it a few months as a member of the charter class at USF.

Ed Pyle first ballot selection, Tampa Bay Radio Hall of Fame.