I didn't see this reported anywhere on RD, so I'll post it here *for the historical record.*
Long-time AM Drive anchor Doug Limerick retired on Dec 18. I was out of the country for a couple of weeks in December and missed it. When I noted he was out this week for the third week in a row, I tossed his name into google and a couple quick blurbs about his retirement came up.
Afternoon anchor and primary AM drive substitute Cheri Preston moves into his slot. No word on who takes her afternoon shift, but I would love to see Karen Chase get off the poorly distributed "ABC News Now" newscasts and return to a more prominent slot on the I-Net. I think she's the single best anchor at ABC.
Limerick's retirement came up pretty quick. He had a great voice, and a very unique writing style (his newscasts were structured very differently than other ABC anchors', the differences were very notable when he went on vacation). And of course, ABC kept running hourlies around their special report coverage, and his ad libbed newscast on 9/11/01 as the towers fell is just epic.
Despite his unique style, it worked well for him, and kept listeners captivated. It was like a freight train of news, coming at you full speed for two minutes in the morning. Clear, succinct, and tightly written, he easily covered 30% more stories in the same amount of time as the rest of his colleagues. Radio's decline (in general, not just at the network news level) over the last decade means there is no longer an industry full of young, hungry on air-personalities, developing their craft on weekends and overnights. I believe this makes it even more challenging for radio to continue to put out a great product as old stalwarts like Limerick pass away (exception: AP Radio has a fill-in anchor/reporter named Violet Ikonomova who is very young, and very very good. Sadly, virtually no one carries AP hourlies anymore, so...).
I started paying close attention to radio news as a medium after KOMO-AM in Seattle flipped to all news in 2002. By then, Doug Limerick was already installed as the AM Drive Anchor for ABC (and Jon Belmont had just been replaced by Cheri Preston in the afternoons). I was curious how long Limerick had been in the AM Drive position... this retrospective on his career notes he assumed that slot after Tim O'Donnell (someone I don't remember, at all) passed away in early 2001.
http://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2015/12/farewell-doug-limerick.html
It is unclear, to me, if Limerick retired by choice (he is in his 70s, so I'd assume so) or if he was given a gentle push. He was, after all, the last remaining ABC radio employee in Washington DC. Heck, in the ABC News link to his last newscast (below) you can see him sitting at a big long desk writing his newscast... the last workstation active on a desk full of phones where reporters, editors, and producers once sat.
Retirement announcement...
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...limerick-to-retire-from-abc-news-radio-cheri-
Last newscast...
http://abcradio.com/doug-limerick-signs-off-abc-news/
Long-time AM Drive anchor Doug Limerick retired on Dec 18. I was out of the country for a couple of weeks in December and missed it. When I noted he was out this week for the third week in a row, I tossed his name into google and a couple quick blurbs about his retirement came up.
Afternoon anchor and primary AM drive substitute Cheri Preston moves into his slot. No word on who takes her afternoon shift, but I would love to see Karen Chase get off the poorly distributed "ABC News Now" newscasts and return to a more prominent slot on the I-Net. I think she's the single best anchor at ABC.
Limerick's retirement came up pretty quick. He had a great voice, and a very unique writing style (his newscasts were structured very differently than other ABC anchors', the differences were very notable when he went on vacation). And of course, ABC kept running hourlies around their special report coverage, and his ad libbed newscast on 9/11/01 as the towers fell is just epic.
Despite his unique style, it worked well for him, and kept listeners captivated. It was like a freight train of news, coming at you full speed for two minutes in the morning. Clear, succinct, and tightly written, he easily covered 30% more stories in the same amount of time as the rest of his colleagues. Radio's decline (in general, not just at the network news level) over the last decade means there is no longer an industry full of young, hungry on air-personalities, developing their craft on weekends and overnights. I believe this makes it even more challenging for radio to continue to put out a great product as old stalwarts like Limerick pass away (exception: AP Radio has a fill-in anchor/reporter named Violet Ikonomova who is very young, and very very good. Sadly, virtually no one carries AP hourlies anymore, so...).
I started paying close attention to radio news as a medium after KOMO-AM in Seattle flipped to all news in 2002. By then, Doug Limerick was already installed as the AM Drive Anchor for ABC (and Jon Belmont had just been replaced by Cheri Preston in the afternoons). I was curious how long Limerick had been in the AM Drive position... this retrospective on his career notes he assumed that slot after Tim O'Donnell (someone I don't remember, at all) passed away in early 2001.
http://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2015/12/farewell-doug-limerick.html
It is unclear, to me, if Limerick retired by choice (he is in his 70s, so I'd assume so) or if he was given a gentle push. He was, after all, the last remaining ABC radio employee in Washington DC. Heck, in the ABC News link to his last newscast (below) you can see him sitting at a big long desk writing his newscast... the last workstation active on a desk full of phones where reporters, editors, and producers once sat.
Retirement announcement...
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...limerick-to-retire-from-abc-news-radio-cheri-
Last newscast...
http://abcradio.com/doug-limerick-signs-off-abc-news/