Rick Azar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rick Azar (born Ricardo Carballada^[1]) is an American broadcaster who spent 31 years at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York.

WKBW-TV career

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. Azar also hosted Buffalo Bandstand, a local franchising of American Bandstand, and on at least one occasion substitute hosted the national show in place of Dick Clark.^[2]

Rick Azar, 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.^[3]

Azar doing radio in North Carolina

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.

Personal life

Azar is the brother of Carlos Carballada, who briefly served as interim mayor of Rochester, New York in 2011 and currently serves as Rochester's commissioner of community and economic development.^[1]

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article315762.ece
↑ Pergament, Alan (April 19, 2012). Top of newscast salutes to Clark deserved. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
↑ Where Are They Now?... Rick Azar & Tom Jolls - Wgrz.com

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

Persondata
Name	Azar, Rick
Alternative names
Short description	American sportscaster
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.