I heard Ron Chapman today. He sounds like a Paul Harvey imitator. He should forget the fake folksy style. It’s irritating. I much prefer Gil Gross, who comes across as genuine to me.

If ABC really wants a PH imitator they should go with PH Jr. He’s got it. The thing is, do we really *want* a PH imitator or an original?

For David and Fred and his thousands who do not know who Ron Chapman is, allow me to enlighten you.
There is no “put on” with Ron Chapman. “The Most Listened to Morning Radio Personality in the History of the Southwest” is a legend and pioneer in Radio. He was part of a morning team starting in 1959 at the very big KLIF-AM in Dallas. He was part of WFAA-TV’s show “Sump’N Else” during the mid 60s. In 1968 he joined KVIL-AM. Ron then went on to make Dallas radio what it is today by hosting the morning drive show for KVIL-FM until his retirement from KVIL in 2000. He moved over to “Oldies” sister station KLUV-FM and was the host of the morning show until he left in 2005.

I just wanted you to know a bit about this man. As a former broadcaster, Ron Chapman was my hero. There are few of his calibre. Every Christmas he would host 24 hours or more of commercial free Christmas music and wonderful memories. I miss those days. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I could safely bet that more people have heard of Ron Chapman than have heard of Paul Harvey.
I hope this helps.

Here is a story about and with Ron’s own words published just before his retirement in 2005 that may help to see “who he is”

http://dallas.bizjournals.com/.....tory3.html

What a joy to hear THAT voice again! Ron Chapman was my “morning voice” of choice for 30 years in Dallas, TX - laughed every single morning on the way to work. It was like going through withdrawal when he left the airwaves to travel the “World” with his wife Nance. Great to hear him but I agree I was a bit distrubed by his immitation of PH when Ron has such a terrific and absolutely style of his own.

Does anyone know what happened to PAUL HARVEY? I realize he’s almost 90 yrs old,
but as far as I know, he hasn’t officially retired. I think RON CHAPMAN would be a good permanent replacement for the elderly MR. HARVEY who for the last several years, hasn’t sounded so great.

Ron modeled his delivery after his idol Paul Harvey when he first started in radio. (Who better to emulate than Paul Harvey?) It’s no coincidence that he sounds like him. However, listen carefully…he definitely has his own vocal charms that single him out as an incredible broadcaster.

Team/all;

I second “Richard’s” comment and, while giving Chapman his due as I know the man, I wondered why not Andy McCollum as well. McCollum’s news credentials are significantly greater than that of Chapman and he has been a “news man” his entire career. I believe he would make a great sub for the Dean, who I enjoy immensely.

Although Ron Chapman modeled his style after Paul Harvey and sounds like him, he is no Paul Harvey.
When Ron first started filling in for Paul, I overlooked the copied delivery and voice and began to enjoy him, listening most days. When he started using the program to advance his own political prejudice by promoting gun control with subtle reporting of only issues that put firearm ownership in a bad light to influence listeners, I lost my respect for him as a broadcaster.
Again, he is no Paul Harvey.

Ron Chapman did own morning talk radio on KVIL Dallas in the 1980s. And he played music then when new artists and releases were worth listening to. My favorite KVIL/Ron Chapman story was a KVIL contest mailer that gave you 5 or 10 number strings that could contain a big bucks winner. The “winners” appeared to be the same few people several times. Turns out they discovered that the US mail carriers were “delivering” thousands of the KVIL mailers to the dumpster behind the Post Office. These were retrieved by these divers who used Excel to arrange them numerically and grab prizes when their numbers were called. Odd that most of the winning numbers came from that dumpster.

Ron- You need to be less “warm and fuzzy”. Don’t try to be exactly like Paul… Everyone is their own person.

For all of you who want to gripe about Ron Chapman imitating Paul Harvey’s manner of speech, if you haven’t noticed, all of PH’s stand-in’s do the same, including his son. I know it isn’t cool, but maybe it’s a requirement, since the local announcers here in Amarillo do it too, when they advertise his presence on their stations (not flattery folks!).

I was born in Dallas, and I remember the day KVIL (1150) switched from “elevator” music to rock and roll. I think I was about 15. Since we had lost KBOX (1480), we really didn’t like being forced to only have KLIF (1190). So we all got up at 5:30 AM to listen to the format switch. At 6:00 AM it all began, with “Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band”, the first rock and roll song that KVIL played. Good. We had two rock and roll stations again.

I tried to email Ron, a few years ago, but never got an answer. I had erroneously supposed that he had passed away, but now I know differently.