I just saw this, and these many months later, I am deeply saddened. Ed’s voice was a big part of the soundtrack of my life in New York, and I’m glad we were able to email over the past few years when I discovered that he was the engine behind this extraordinary website.
Sincere condolences to the family. He was one-of-a-kind.
Postings on the New York Broadcasting History Board by Andy Fisher, a fortunate co-worker and friend: Edward Brown, whose career took him from Long Island, to WMCA, to WNEW, to NBC’s News and Information Service, died last night, six days short of his 90th birthday.
In retirement in Florida, he founded and developed the wnew1130.com tribute site, which honored one of the greatest radio stations New York and America ever heard.
Ed’s incisive commentaries on such hot-button topics as Vietnam and Watergate were heard on WNEW — AM and FM — through the 1970s.
His was a majestic voice, and he had a lot to say.
I was honored to write his newscasts from 1969 to 1974. He was a noble colleague and a treasured friend.
Radio was better because he was here, and we are all lessened by his passing. Our deepest condolences to his widow Jean, his children, and his many listeners.
Ed maintained that objective journalism was a guiding light, but could never be successfully reached; we are all born and raised, he would say, with presumptions and prejudices. Still, his newswriting was impeccable, in the face of harsh criticism from listeners who saw nothing wrong with fighting in Vietnam, or Spiro Agnew, or the Watergate cover-up.
He was a passionate baseball fan, first of the Dodgers, then the Mets, and he could hardly contain his delight when the Miracle Mets won the World Series in 1969 and the pennant in 1973. It was a shame that he had left WNEW when it became the Mets’ station in 1975.
He had a special friendship with the singer and radio personality Julius LaRosa. When Metromedia produced and released an LP of Julie’s songs, Ed wrote the liner notes.
For most of the time we worked together, Ed lived in Stony Brook, Long Island, 60 miles east of the city, and I 35 miles in the other direction, so we never socialized — until he and Jean moved to Sleepy Hollow, and one wonderful night, they invited Rudy Ruderman, Bruce Charles, John Lyons and me — and our wives — to their home. It was an unforgettable, and, sadly, unique, gathering.
He took his work extremely seriously, but he had a mischievous sense of humor that occasionally, and most delightfully, emerged. For a time, he and Dr. Martin Abend were pitted against each other in a “point-counterpoint” feature on Channel 5, which at the time was WNEW’s sister station. Ed’s comments were thoughtful and introspective; Dr. Abend’s were flinty and simplistic. One day, Ed hung up the phone and said, solemnly, “Tonight, we are debating street crime. Dr. Abend says he is against it.”
To me, Edward Brown’s work was a kind of high-water mark for local radio news. There will never be another broadcast journalist quite like him.
Dear Marianne. There are no words that I can say that can convey the sense of loss you and your family feel with your Dad’s passing. Although I never met your dad I feel your loss as well as we did communicate many times in years past over the internet. Your Dad’s work kept the WNEW family memories alive for all of us who remember the original WNEW radio station and the significance it played in our lives. My Dad who passed 40 years ago listened to WNEW AM all day long as he drove his delivery truck in North Jersey since before WW11 to when he passed in 1983. WNEW was on our home radio all day long in the kitchen from when I was a baby till when I went to college. All of the personalities on WNEW became a part of our lives. I am now 75, and always went back to WNEW AM, but also listened to Rock & Roll, and Doo Wop, as a teenager but WNEW always was there in the evening hours. I now listen to the Internet version of WNEW AM which I think is also still run by former WNEW folks. We are all aging out but the melody still lingers on for us and memories due to your Dad’s labor of love that we all benefited from. May you find peace during this difficult time.
I just saw this, and these many months later, I am deeply saddened. Ed’s voice was a big part of the soundtrack of my life in New York, and I’m glad we were able to email over the past few years when I discovered that he was the engine behind this extraordinary website.
Sincere condolences to the family. He was one-of-a-kind.
Thank you, Mr. Nichols. We appreciate your kind words.
Sincerely, the Family of Ed Brown
What a wonderful tribute. Growing up in New York, I knew him as a voice on the radio, but we should all pray that we should be so good a man.
What a lovely homage! Thanks for sharing!
So sorry for your loss – but looks like he left behind a beautiful legacy – his family!
Postings on the New York Broadcasting History Board by Andy Fisher, a fortunate co-worker and friend: Edward Brown, whose career took him from Long Island, to WMCA, to WNEW, to NBC’s News and Information Service, died last night, six days short of his 90th birthday.
In retirement in Florida, he founded and developed the wnew1130.com tribute site, which honored one of the greatest radio stations New York and America ever heard.
Ed’s incisive commentaries on such hot-button topics as Vietnam and Watergate were heard on WNEW — AM and FM — through the 1970s.
His was a majestic voice, and he had a lot to say.
I was honored to write his newscasts from 1969 to 1974. He was a noble colleague and a treasured friend.
Radio was better because he was here, and we are all lessened by his passing. Our deepest condolences to his widow Jean, his children, and his many listeners.
Ed maintained that objective journalism was a guiding light, but could never be successfully reached; we are all born and raised, he would say, with presumptions and prejudices. Still, his newswriting was impeccable, in the face of harsh criticism from listeners who saw nothing wrong with fighting in Vietnam, or Spiro Agnew, or the Watergate cover-up.
He was a passionate baseball fan, first of the Dodgers, then the Mets, and he could hardly contain his delight when the Miracle Mets won the World Series in 1969 and the pennant in 1973. It was a shame that he had left WNEW when it became the Mets’ station in 1975.
He had a special friendship with the singer and radio personality Julius LaRosa. When Metromedia produced and released an LP of Julie’s songs, Ed wrote the liner notes.
For most of the time we worked together, Ed lived in Stony Brook, Long Island, 60 miles east of the city, and I 35 miles in the other direction, so we never socialized — until he and Jean moved to Sleepy Hollow, and one wonderful night, they invited Rudy Ruderman, Bruce Charles, John Lyons and me — and our wives — to their home. It was an unforgettable, and, sadly, unique, gathering.
He took his work extremely seriously, but he had a mischievous sense of humor that occasionally, and most delightfully, emerged. For a time, he and Dr. Martin Abend were pitted against each other in a “point-counterpoint” feature on Channel 5, which at the time was WNEW’s sister station. Ed’s comments were thoughtful and introspective; Dr. Abend’s were flinty and simplistic. One day, Ed hung up the phone and said, solemnly, “Tonight, we are debating street crime. Dr. Abend says he is against it.”
To me, Edward Brown’s work was a kind of high-water mark for local radio news. There will never be another broadcast journalist quite like him.
Dear Marianne. There are no words that I can say that can convey the sense of loss you and your family feel with your Dad’s passing. Although I never met your dad I feel your loss as well as we did communicate many times in years past over the internet. Your Dad’s work kept the WNEW family memories alive for all of us who remember the original WNEW radio station and the significance it played in our lives. My Dad who passed 40 years ago listened to WNEW AM all day long as he drove his delivery truck in North Jersey since before WW11 to when he passed in 1983. WNEW was on our home radio all day long in the kitchen from when I was a baby till when I went to college. All of the personalities on WNEW became a part of our lives. I am now 75, and always went back to WNEW AM, but also listened to Rock & Roll, and Doo Wop, as a teenager but WNEW always was there in the evening hours. I now listen to the Internet version of WNEW AM which I think is also still run by former WNEW folks. We are all aging out but the melody still lingers on for us and memories due to your Dad’s labor of love that we all benefited from. May you find peace during this difficult time.