So much for news traveling fast.
Every once in a while, if I think of it, I’ll take to the Google to check up on some of my old radio acquaintances. Over thirty years, I’ve gotten to know a lot of folks and, I don’t have to tell you, the obligations of the present make it very easy to lose touch.
Well, it must have been a longer gap than usual, because last night, I am sorry to say, I only just learned of the passing of Bill Shedden. 3 ½ years ago, Bill lost control of his SUV, went off a snow-covered road in upstate New York, and struck a tree. According to a news report, he was alert and talkative after the crash, but was taken to the hospital and later died of internal injuries.
Bill was a radio presence in Eastern Pennsylvania and Central/Southern New Jersey for decades. I got to know him pretty well when we worked together at WWFM – The Classical Network, located in the Trenton-Princeton area. But I felt a special bond with him going to back to his days at WFLN. WFLN, if you don’t know, was Philadelphia’s classical music station for 48 years, until a format change to “popular hits” (as the short-lived WXXM Max 95.7) in 1997. I was but a listener at the time, but I always connected with Bill’s enthusiasm for the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and called him occasionally during his WFLN shifts to chat briefly and to thank him for his work.
By the time WFLN folded, I had been working at WWFM for a few years, so when I heard Bill had applied for an air shift, I put in a good word. It was an honor to finally get to meet him and to actually be able to work with him. Bill was one of the most genial personalities in classical radio. His secret, he professed, was that whenever he spoke on the air, he didn’t speak to everyone, but to one person only, and as if that person were in the room with him.
In 2001, Bill left to take over the music directorship of WCNY in Syracuse, NY. There, he continued to play plenty of English music, as the station’s weekday morning host. He also produced a program of sacred choral music and co-hosted a Saturday opera show with his wife, Maureen.
I am happy for his success in Syracuse, where he was evidently – and not surprisingly – much loved by his listeners, but I am sorry that it had to be curtailed so soon. Bill was 62 years-old. R.I.P., my friend.
Bill’s obituary:
https://www.tjpfuneralhome.com/obituaries/William-Shedden-Iii/#!/Obituary
News report of the crash:
https://cnycentral.com/news/local/liverpool-man-dies-after-driving-into-a-tree
The demise of WFLN:
http://www1.udel.edu/nero/Radio/readings/Classical/lastclass.html
For Bill: