Rick Azar (born Ricardo Carballada[1]) is an American broadcaster who spent 31 years at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York.
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Rick Azar was the first voice heard on WKBW-TV on November 30, 1958. The station was located at 1430 Main Street in Buffalo, New York and the call letters stood for "Well Known Bible Witness".
Azar signed the station on with the words, "Ladies and Gentlemen, WKBW-TV Channel 7 is on-the-air!" The first broadcast on that snowy night was the James Cagney classic film, Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Azar became the station's first Sports Director in the early 1960s and held that position until his retirement in June 1989.
Rick Azar along with Irv Weinstein and Tom Jolls served as the longest running news anchor team in the nation. Azar also served as a color analyst on WKBW's (now WWKB) radio broadcast of the Buffalo Bills games, play-by-play man on the Bills preseason games televised on WKBW-TV and an intermission host on Buffalo Sabres hockey games televised in the 1970s on Ch 7. Azar also did basketball play-by-play on St. Bonaventure basketball games on Ch 7 during the Bob Lanier era.[2]
Rick currently lives in Pinehurst, North Carolina with his wife Edith and hosts a weekly jazz radio program on WLHC-FM Life 103.1
Rick Azar began his career at WHLD radio station in Niagara Falls in the early 1950s and is an accomplished violinist.
Azar is the brother of Carlos Carballada, who briefly served as interim mayor of Rochester, New York in 2011.[1]
| Preceded by first |
WKBW-TV sports director 1958–1989 |
Succeeded by Bob Koshinski |
| Preceded by Van Miller |
Buffalo Bills announcer 1971–1977 |
Succeeded by Van Miller |