Charles McCord
Charles McCord (born c. 1943 in Joplin, Missouri) is a former news anchor and on-air radio personality in the New York metropolitan area. He was most notable for being the right-hand man of Don Imus on Imus in the Morning for over three decades.[1]
McCord began his radio career at KICK in Springfield, Missouri in 1963 before moving to the now-defunct WFAA in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and then to WWDC and WTOP in Washington, DC before joining WNBC in New York City in the early 1970s. He was assigned as a news reader for the Monitor weekend program and as the sidekick to Don Imus.
In 1988, when WNBC signed off and WFAN signed on, Imus and McCord were both retained.
McCord continued to serve as the news anchor for WFAN's morning show for several months after the departure of Imus, and then, after over thirty years at the 660 kHz frequency in New York, left WFAN at the end of August when the contract between Imus and WFAN was settled.
McCord reunited with Imus on the revival of Imus in the Morning when the program returned to radio on WABC on December 3, 2007.
McCord's responsibilities on the Imus program included news reporting and writing comedy material for celebrity impersonators Larry Kenney and Rob Bartlett. In character, he was usually the straight man and occasionally an Imus sycophant or antagonist.
McCord announced his retirement in April 2011; his retirement became effective May 6.[2]
After McCord left and was replaced by the much younger Connell McShane, Imus made several comments on the air suggesting that the departure was not altogether amicable. For example, when Imus's brother Fred died approximately 3 months after McCord left the show, Imus revealed that it was the first time he and McCord had spoken since his departure. Imus also revealed that McCord said he believed Imus wouldn't want to talk to him. This was an unusual reversal for Imus in the Morning; in most cases, McCord was favored by Imus, while Imus castigated the rest of his cast with far more frequency than he did McCord.
References
- ↑ New York Times article from August 15, 2007
- ↑ Hinckley, David (2011-04-14). Don Imus wingman Charles McCord calling it quits after 48 years behind the mic: Sources, New York Daily News. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
External links
- A semi-mock bio of McCord, from his official WABC page. Some of the information, such as his broadcast history, is in fact true. However, the bio itself is largely satirical due to the deprecating nature of the Imus program.