News Break: Checking in With Harry Donahue, the Radio Legend in Our Midst
Long before we had social media, GPS, or the internet, one man’s voice had the power to deliver the news and alter the routines of thousands of Delaware Valley citizens every weekday morning.
As the morning news and sports host on KYW News Radio from 1979 to 2014, Harry Donahue was the one who let us know who, what, when, why, where, and how things were happening in Philadelphia and around the globe. Every 10 minutes, “Traffic on the Twos” told us which roads to avoid or take. Every snowstorm gave Donahue’s voice an almost mystical authority, as he read those school-closing numbers that every school-age child longed to hear. In this age of Twitter and text messages, it’s hard to conjure the rapt attention that Donahue and KYW commanded.
“Back when I started doing the morning drive in the late ’70s up until probably the ’90s, at any given time in the morning, we had 250,000 people listening to us,” Donahue recalls. “It was powerful, and at the same time humbling. It was a big responsibility to sit in that chair.”
It was a responsibility he wore well. “Harry’s familiar voice spoke the truth. It was honest and dependable,” says Marc Rayfield, the former senior vice president/market manager for CBS Philadelphia who worked with Donahue for more than 20 years. “There was nothing pretentious about him. As a co-worker, he was the best. He was a consummate team player and a good friend. There will never be another like him.”
In fact, his long and distinguished tenure at KYW would earn him not only the respect of peers and listeners, but also two Pennsylvania Associated Press Awards and induction into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
Donahue retired from KYW in 2014. But he has not been idle. We recently caught up with Donahue, who now spends a good part of the year at his beloved Avalon home with his wife Lynda. Here he shares reflections on his career at KYW, what he’s been up to since retiring, and where you can still find him on the airwaves.
The road to radio
Donahue’s original ambition was quite far from the broadcasting booth.
“Believe it or not,” he says, “I studied for a couple of years at St. Charles Seminary to be a Catholic priest.”
Though he didn’t end up pursuing that calling, St. Charles Seminary still led to his destiny.
“One of my professors was a layperson named Joe Grady, who had been a very successful disc jockey in Philadelphia, and he taught public speaking for priests,” Donahue says. “When I decided that the priesthood wasn’t for me, I approached him and asked if he could get me a summer job at WPEN. And he said, ‘Yeah, we have an opening in the mailroom.’ That was the summer of 1968.”
While fulfilling his duties in the mailroom, Donahue took advantage of any opportunity to learn from the professionals in his midst.
“There was a fellow by the name of Bob, who was a legend in Philadelphia, he was the morning guy at WPEN and he would let me watch him do his show,” Donahue says.
“Robin Roberts, who was a Hall of Fame pitcher with the Phillies, used to do the sports and I would sit in there and not say anything, just watching them perform. I had a real love for radio, it was probably bigger than TV at the time.”
For the next two years, Donahue continued studying toward his college degree at St. Joseph’s University while working a series of part-time jobs in radio. After graduation, he landed a full-time job at WPBS before transitioning to KYW.
“I joined KYW in 1978, and in 1979 I started working what they called morning drive, which was the early morning show,” he recalls. “That was, in addition to reading the news and sports, reading the school-closing numbers and all that fun stuff.”
The famous school-closing numbers were indeed the “fun stuff” for kids throughout the Delaware Valley. “I have a lot of people who tell me they still remember their number,” he laughs.
Relaying history
But for Donahue, who rose at 3am every day to prepare for the broadcast, the role was much bigger than snow days.
“I realized early in my career that, regardless of what was going on that hour, something was going to break sooner or later that I’d be talking about on the radio,” he relates. “I didn’t know where it would come from, whether it would be a tragic situation or a major traffic jam, but you could always anticipate there was going to be an event. And that was the level of expectation that made my job as interesting as anything I ever did.”
Some of those big events are seared into Donahue’s memory, including the morning in 1981 after Pope John Paul II was shot in Vatican Square, the morning in 1980 after John Lennon was assassinated, and of course, the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
On that particular morning, Donahue recalls reporting that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings before he went to the traffic report. Then everything changed.
“We had a small TV monitor in the studio, and during that traffic report, while everybody was listening to the traffic on the radio, I looked at the monitor and I saw a plane crash into the World Trade Center. It was obviously a commercial airliner,” he recalls. “And I got on the intercom, and I talked to the editor, who was like our producer, I said, ‘Did you just see what I saw?’ And she said, ‘I think it’s a second plane.’ And I went, ‘Oh, my God.’ So, I’ll never forget that. The minutes from 8:46 until 9:03, you know, the world came to an end.”
Retiring … sort of
Thirteen years and thousands of stories later, Donahue decided to step away from his duties at KYW.
“At the time I was around 65 years old, and I had definitely put my time in,” he says. “I was also doing play-by-play by then for Temple University football and basketball and I got to the point where I wanted to cut back. So, I left KYW and stayed on with Temple. I just thought it was time to move on and get into Phase 2 of my career, and I stayed with Temple up until two years ago.”
Retirement from KYW also afforded Donahue more time to devote to another passion project, his weekly TV program, “Inside Golf.” The show has been on the air for 12 years, covers all aspects of golf, and brings in a large audience on NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN Plus, and YouTube.
Life after KYW
Donahue credits Temple and “Inside Golf” with easing the transition after his KYW.
“If there was a bit of a void, I was fortunate to have these part-time jobs doing football, basketball, and the golf show, so that my professional life didn’t crash into a wall all of a sudden,” he shares. “I still have an outlet to do what I always did. To this day, here I am now, out of KYW almost 10 years, and you know I still answer the bell – not as frequently, but I still do something that I love to do, and I feel fortunate that I’m able to do that.”
While the world of media remains in his life, there was something from the KYW days that was easy to let go. “I didn’t miss getting up at 3 o’clock,” he says with a laugh. “I forgot what it was like to sleep in until 6:30 or 7:00am.”
The changing media landscape
For someone who began their career when radio was still the go-to medium for news, it is impressive to see Donahue’s up-to-the minute presence on platforms such as YouTube and Twitter. He has certainly kept up with changes in media, though he hopes skills and nuance will not be lost in progress.
“It evolves every day, the various platforms and everything,” he says. “You can’t compare it to back in the day. So much information is at your fingertips. You don’t want to lose the whole who, what, why, when, and where, getting your fingers dirty by sitting down and talking to somebody, learning how to sit down and interview somebody and talk to them. My greatest fear is that people who are sharing information are not getting out there and feeling it and seeing it and evaluating it in person. So that is a real quandary with technology. But I think there’s room for both. You have to be optimistic.”
Secrets to success
Donahue believes his curious nature has been a big part of his multimedia success.
“An inquisitive mind is a gift, especially if you want to get into this business,” he shares. “You don’t just nod your head. You think … well, wait a minute. What about this? What about that? Why did you do this? So, I always had that. I wanted to know what made people tick. And if I could share that with a larger audience, I think then everybody would benefit.”
For young people who want to work in media, Donahue offers sound advice: “Have an inquiring mind. Consider both sides, or all three sides to a story. Be open to change. But respect tradition.”
For the love of Avalon
While he’s still working in the media, Donahue’s KYW retirement has afforded him more time at his Avalon home. Since purchasing a home on the island in 1975, Donahue has watched Avalon evolve.
“When I first got here, there were only two houses on my block that had telephones,” he says. “We had no sidewalk. Our street had just been paved for the first time the year before.”
While the times have certainly changed, Donahue’s affinity for the shore is steadfast.
“If you have a couple of hours to sit on the beach and look out at the ocean, there’s nothing better,” he shares. “I also love Mallon’s cinnamon buns with raisins. My favorite breakfast treat is a dozen cinnamon buns.”
Beyond natural and culinary treasures, Donahue enjoys the time spent with family and friends in Avalon most of all.
“We have three married sons and nine grandchildren and there are certain times during summer when all 17 of us are in our house,” he says. “We get together, and I usually cook or one of my sons will help me barbecue. We just love sitting around the house telling stories, collecting memories, and making more.”
And after a lifetime of reporting breaking news from around town and around the world, Avalon has proved to be the perfect retreat.
“This sounds silly, I guess, but Avalon is like a tranquility base,” Donahue says. “I have had the most relaxing, enjoyable times since 1975 in Avalon … without a doubt.”
PUTTERING AROUND
A few years before he retired from KYW, Harry Donahue began working on a labor of love called “Inside Golf.” As the host of this half-hour weekly TV program, Donahue gets to do a deep dive into one of his favorite subjects. “Golf is a big hobby of mine,” he says. “And the show covers golf from all different sides. It’s fun.”
Airing on NBC Sports Philadelphia on Sunday mornings (with repeats throughout the week), “Inside Golf” is also broadcast on ESPN Plus and its own YouTube Channel, InsideGolfTV. With a large and loyal fan base, the show highlights Donahue’s curiosity and expertise as an interviewer. “I like to dig beneath the surface a little bit and find out a detail or something that nobody knows,” he says.
While “Inside Golf” allows Donahue to travel to beautiful courses and interview an array of golfers from local heroes to world-famous pros, he also revels in sharing the behind-the-scenes aspects of golf. “We talk to the greenskeepers and superintendents who keep the conditions up so that people can enjoy the game,” he says. “They’re the unsung heroes.”
Donahue also enjoys sharing insights from an annual pilgrimage to the PGA trade show in Orlando, Fla. “We get to meet people from all aspects of the game there, like club manufacturers like Taylor Made or Calloway,” he says. “We meet touring professionals and get tips and lessons to share with our viewers.”
For Donahue, “Inside Golf” sits at an ideal intersection of personal and professional interests. “It’s on 52 weeks a year and I get to travel a little bit,” he says. “But mostly I enjoy the people that I meet in the course of doing the show every week. You know, there are some interesting personalities, we talk about the game, we look at golf courses. We do everything.”
Check out Harry Donahue on “Inside Golf” on NBC Sports Philadelphia, Sunday at 5:30am and 10am or on ESPN Plus, or the show’s YouTube Channel, InsideGolfTV. You can also follow Harry on Twitter @harydona and the show @InsideGolfTV.
