Everything about Wally Phillips totally explained
Walter Phillips (
July 7 1925 –
March 26 2008) was an
American radio personality best known for hosting
WGN's morning
radio show from
Chicago for 21 years from January
1965 until July
1986, and was number one in the morning slot from
1968 until he left for an afternoon radio slot in 1986. including a variety no longer allowed by the
FCC: putting people on the air without their knowledge.
Early life
Phillips was born in
Portsmouth, Ohio. Six years later, after his father's death from
tuberculosis, his family (including three siblings) moved to
Cincinnati. Phillips later dropped out of high school to join the
United States Army Air Forces during
World War II, but he ended up in
Georgia in a tow target
squadron assigned to fly practice targets for fighter pilots and
anti-aircraft artillery.
Radio career
Cincinnati
Phillips expanded his career as a radio personality at
WLW in Cincinnati where he established his call-in format and his trademark style of remixing prerecorded interviews as a comedy piece. He was eventually fired after he inserted a phony item into a newscast.
Innovations
Phillips was one of the first broadcasters to routinely use humorous and offbeat phone calls in his show, including
prank phone calls. Sometimes, he called random
payphones to see who would answer. For example, he called a
pet cemetery to arrange a funeral for his mouse
Phillips was the first to offer a $1 million prize to listeners—as a part one of his most famous and longest-running promotions in which he'd debunk self-proclaimed
psychics on the air. Listeners were invited to guess what celebrity name was written inside "Wally's Black Box." No one ever successfully guessed the name. He eventually revealed the note bearing the name of
Jean Rogers, a movie heroine Phillips admired for her role as
Dale Arden in several
Flash Gordon film serials.
Personal life
In 1969, Wally Phillips founded the Neediest Kids Fund, which has since raised $35 million for charity.
Phillips was married three times – all to the same woman, Barbara.
He had two daughters Holly and Jennifer, and a son, Todd.
He died in
Naples, Florida on
March 26 2008 after suffering from
Alzheimer's disease for the previous five years.
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