The Icon in Our Midst - Bill Mazer 1920 - 2013

Think of the classic sitting pose of Abraham Lincoln at his memorial in Washington, DC:  arms fully outstretched, fingers clasping over the armrest, with his knees rising high, feet plated firmly on the ground.  But instead of our sixteenth president, think of then living broadcasting icon, Bill Mazer, sitting in an old brown leather chair in the exact same pose.  That is one of many enduring and endearing memories I will have of Mazer, who died earlier this week at the age of 92.

The chair I speak of sits at the end of the gallery, a long sky-lighted hallway that provides access to the studios, production facilities and news room at the WVOX radio station here in town.  One of the many nice thinks about the radio station up off Fifth Avenue is that the building was designed to be that, a radio station.  As such, it is both elegant and utilitarian.   Since WVOX’s mission is to serve the community, owner and Chairman Bill O’Shaughnessy had a gallery included in the design so that the public it served could visit and actually observe shows being broadcast.  Believe me the gallery has seen its share of Cub Scouts, senior citizens groups and political figures over the years.

It is fitting that for almost nine years, about shortly after two pm on any given weekday, the grandest gallery presence among the international flags, bright sunshine and a row of studio on-air lights was Bill Mazer waiting to go on the air. 

I still get nervous thinking about the first time I met him.  Bill was in his early eighties by then and occasionally nodded off in the chair; and like a lot of broadcasters who had been around awhile, he had grown a bit hard of hearing.  So it was a bit like approaching some wise old Budda when you approached the chair.  You wanted to get his attention but you did not want to disturb him.  As for me, as might anyone of a certain age reading this piece, I was also a bit in awe of who he was.  This was the guy I listened to as a kid, teenager and beyond when he started to do the first popular sports talk radio show in New York.  I watched him do hockey, basketball and football on TV, and later when he became an even bigger icon on the evening news and “Sports Extra.”  He topped off his sports work by being one of the original hosts on WFAN doing a show from Mickey Mantle’s restaurant.  In the latter stages of his career he turned to general talk, and hosted mornings on WEVD in the late nineties, before finishing here in the Queen city.

When I came to radio later than most in my early fifties, I never dreamed, nor did expect to work with someone like him.  As the years past, thanks to the pull of O’Shaughnessy’s little station with the big reputation, I got to know and interview a lot of famous people many of whom I admired.  But Mazer was different.  He was what I wanted to be-just a fraction of him really-and someone who I wanted to learn from.  I was afraid that he would dismiss me out of hand as pest who was bothering him, or who did not have the right to ask him anything.  How wrong I was.

On my first attempt, I scrunched down to the left of the chair and introduced myself. I told him I was the new morning guy, and started to tell him how much I admired him.  I also told him that I was having a lot of trouble at the time, which I was, so that he would know I did not consider myself an equal or anything.  Well he treated me with great kindness and support  telling me how I had to just keep doing it to get better, and how important it was to focus on the guest.  It was also the first of many times he brought up the former Ron Artest, now Metta World Peace, whom he admired and thought was very underrated.  He knew Artest from his days of teaching at St. John’s.  His obsession was as genuine as it was mysterious, and it continued even after he left the station, as he would call me to see if I had the scores from the west coast before he saw his morning newspapers.  I was so glad Bill got see World Peace come to the Knicks.   

The one person Bill talked about more than anyone was his late wife whom he called Dutch.  He would often talk about how she had been thought to have terminal cancer when a new doctor was able to bring her to remission which lasted for many years.  His love for her was as real as if she were there in the gallery with us. 

As time went on I learned that Bill grew up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood as I did, served in World War II, and went to the University of Michigan of which he was very proud.  I also learned, as we discussed the issues of the day as they related to our respective shows, that he was as well informed about politics and national affairs as he was on sports trivia.  He was a staunch supporter of Israel and could talk the details all the way back to biblical times.  Bill also loved Hillary Clinton and took a long time to get over her primary defeat.  As well, he was generous and, to my good fortune, took a liking to me.

As Mazer got to know me more and develop confidence in me, he started to share his guest list.  These were people like Ed Koch, KT McFarline and others who he had cultivated over the years.  The real kicker came, though, after the onset of the financial crisis.   Bill asked me if I would be a guest on his show from time to time.  I had spent 30 years on Wall Street and knew my way around the issues. But I cannot express well enough what this meant to me.  The first time I heard that velvet voice introduce me by name was one of the highlights of my radio career.  And at the end of that first interview, when he said “thank you Bob Marrone, you can listen to Bob every morning from 6 to 9AM, he’s one of the best,” I damn near died.  He was being kind, but it was just hearing those words from his booming voice that sort of validated my move to the medium and made my day.

There is a bittersweet element this, a sign of the times really.  The younger people at the station did not appreciate the level of success and gravitas that Mazer had reached.  They have had cable TV, cell phones, the internet and Ryan Seacrest all their lives.  How could they know?  But I did.  I was so lucky, so blessed and I knew it.

One afternoon by the chair I asked Bill why he continued to work, besides his obvious love of doing it.  As with any job there are the usual aggravations with people and equipment.  He went on to tell me the story of his dad, whom he very much admired.   His dad had been a cavalryman in the Russian army in World War I, and later brought his family to the US.  He worked hard all his life only to die very shortly after his retirement on his way to visit Bill.  Bill saw no purpose in retiring any earlier than was absolutely necessary.

I know 92 is a nice long life.  But when I heard the news last night it made me sad.  A good man is gone, and pieces of my childhood and adult dream come true died with him.  Thank you Bill Mazer, and God Bless You.