Staying Power

When I first arrived in Westchester … the highest compliment which could be bestowed by the old men of the neighborhood in the west end of our city was to tell you a certain individual “stays”. This lofty designation was accompanied by a right hand moving slowly toward you, chest high and palm down. He “stays”.

As the new year 2007 dawns I am aware once more that my portfolio as a community broadcaster for almost 50 years in the New York area has provided me with the unique opportunity to observe many thousands of strong, vivid, unforgettable souls. But these, I believe are the truly Great Ones. They operate in many disparate fields of endeavor, and know no age nor season. Their magic endures.

These are the ones who … “stay”.

These are also the individuals I most admire. Many have left us. But their luminous genius and essential goodness lingers on to inspire and instruct.

Among this highly personal and arbitrary assemblage will be some who are familiar and known to you for their remarkable talents that have brought them great acclaim and the admiration and approval of millions.

Included are politicians who have inspired me, clergymen who have forgiven me and those in sports, the arts, communications, journalism and business. Some without high estate excelled merely in the business of life.

I realize I’m top-heavy with restaurateurs (who have fed me). But as I’ve squandered half my life at agreeable public tables, I’ve listed some of those in whose hospitable care and keeping I’ve known the delightful haze of an evening while scribbling in my notepad.

As with politics and public service in which Mario Cuomo and Nelson Rockefeller have few equals, Sirio Maccioni is the greatest of his profession. But everyone on this list, no matter their last, is sui generis … unique and able to be defined only in his or her own terms.

Others less known have also earned my poor imprimatur. Some never played the center ring or enjoyed the spotlight or felt the glow and applause of the national stage. Although they were merely sidemen in orchestras long dispersed, they came into my life bearing only a remarkable generosity of spirit. Some, a few, even possessed that rare commodity Mario Cuomo calls “sweetness"

2. And a fair number of them encouraged our efforts to sustain WVOX and WRTN (now WVIP), overlooking my erratic, confused and stumbling stewardship. Thus, they are included merely because they believed in me and mine. They earned their right to be here because of inexplicable kindnesses I don’t forget.

That’s something I also learned from those old men …

The Great Ones

Bob Abplanalp … Floyd Abrams … Laura Accurso … Cindy Adams … Val Adams … Roger Ailes … Harry Albright, Jr. … Col Allan … J.R. Allen … Mel Allen … Conroy Allison … Joe Amaturo … Joe Anastasi … Walter Anderson … David Annakie … Joseph Apicella … Peter Applebome … Robert Armao … Louis Armstrong … Fred Astaire … Michael Athanasatos … Monsignor Terry Attridge … Ken Auletta … Chris Barclay … Ed Barlow … Edward Larabee Barnes … Charles Beaudoin … Marty Beck … Keeling Beckford … P.J. Bednarski … Rocco Bellantoni, Jr. … Sir Richard Rodney Bennett … Max Berking … Henry Berman … Richard Berman … Jeffrey Bernbach … H. Jerome Berns … Steve Bernstein … Phil Beuth … Mario Biaggi … Ken Bialo … Alex Von Bidder … Senator Joe Biden … Bob Blake … Junior Blake … Mayor Michael Bloomberg … Louis Boccardi … John Bodnar … Frank Boyle … Frank Brady … James Brady … Mayor Noam Bramson … Jimmy Breslin … Tom Brokaw … Lois Bronz … Les Brown … Bob Bruno … Gerardo Bruno … Al Bryan … Colin Burns Sr. … John Burns … Anthony Bulfamante … Dan Burke … David Burke … President George H.W. Bush … President George W. Bush … Jonathan Bush … William “Billy” Bush … William Butcher … Governor Brendan Byrne … John Cahill … Suzanne Calabrese … Jimmy Cannon … Joseph Wood Canzeri … Louis Cappelli … Nat Carbo … Governor Hugh Leo Carey … Michael Carney … Oreste Carnevale … Patrick Carroll … Kevin Casey … Winston Churchill … Toni Cimino …

3.The Great Ones (contd.)

Bill Clark … James Mott Clark, Jr. … Bobby Clarke … Douglas Clement … Rosemary Clooney … Tony Cobb … Anthony J. Colavita … Kenneth Cole … Maria Cuomo Cole … Nat “King” Cole … Lisa Colin … Michael Collins … David Patrick Columbia … Rick Condon … Frank Connelly … Frank Connelly Jr. … Monsignor Ed Connors … Tom Constantine … Rob Conte … E. Virgil Conway … Michael Copps … Pastor Lester Cousins … General Richard Crabtree … Ted Crane … John Crigler … Jerry Cummins … Billy Cunningham … Jim Cunningham … Andrew Mark Cuomo … Chris Cuomo … Governor Mario M. Cuomo … Matilda Raffa Cuomo … Steve Cuozzo … Walter J.P. Curley … Paul Curran … Bernard F. Curry, Jr. … George D’Angelo … Marvin Dames … Richard Daronco … Esther Davidowitz … Mayor Ernie Davis … Ossie Davis … Mike DeGiacomo … Ruby Dee … Lionel Van Deerlin … Janet DeFiore … Tom Deignan … George Delaney … C. Glover Delaney … Matt Dennis … Abramo DeSpirito … Frederic Dicker … Arthur Hill Diedrick … George Dillon … Michael DiLullo … Joseph Paul DiMaggio … Bob Doll … John Donnelly … Robert Royal Douglass … Hugh A. Doyle … Vincent DePaul Draddy … Anne Dranginis … Brother John Driscoll … Dr. Ronald Drusin … Steve Dunleavy … Bruno Dussin … John Eggerton … Edward Cardinal Egan … Dr. Marc Eisenberg … Edward Eliot Elson … Jean T. Ensign … Jamie Escobar … Sidney Frank … Frederic Fekkai … John Feerick … Paul Feiner … Kevin Falvey … Jinx Falkenburg … Joe Farda … Jim Fitzgerald … John Fix … John “Chippy” Flynn … William Flynn … Trevor Forde … Lisa Foderaro … Thomas Fogarty … President Gerald Ford … Dick Foreman … Dr. Spencer Foreman … Alex Forger … Clint Formby … Avril Francis … Samuel George Fredman … Louis B. Freeh … Judy Fremont … Adam Friedlander … Marek Fuchs … Scott Fybush … Cindy Hall Gallagher … Pastor Richard Garner … Herman Geist … Jim Generoso … Arthur Geoghegan … Edward “Ned” Gerrity … Charles Gill … Anthony B. Gioffre … William Gibbons … Nancy Gibson … Dick Gidron … Frank Gifford … Charles Gill … Pete Giordano … Mayor Rudy Giuliani … Marty Glickman … Howard Goldfluss … Martin Goldsmith … Terry Golway … Jack Gould … Marsha Gordon … Rob Gordon … Larry Gottlieb … Murray Grand … Alicia Grande … Bob Grant … General Alfred M. Gray … Ralph Graves … Robert Greene

4.The Great Ones (contd.)

… John Greenhut … William Griffin … Rich Guberti … Tom Guida … Claude Guignon … Pranay Gupte … Pete Hamill … Gordon Hastings … John Harper … B.J. Harrington … Ron Harris … Michael Harrison … Mernetta Hayden … Chris Hazelhurst … Mark Hedberg …John Hennessy … Nat Hentoff … Neil Hickey … David Hicks … Denny Haight … David Hinckley … Kitty Carlisle Hart … Paul Harvey … Phil Hollis, Jr. … Townsend Hoopes … Josh Horowitz … Marc Humbert … Scott Humphrey … Bobby Hutton … Dennis Jackson … Senator Jacob K. Javits … Harry Jessell … Derek Jeter … Richard Johnson … Tom Johnson … Dave Juddah … Charlie Kafferman … Mike Kansler … Peter Kaplan … Rick Kaplar … Mel Karmazin … Monsignor Charles Kavanagh … Nancy Q. Keefe … Art Kellar … John “Shipwreck” Kelly … Murray Kempton … President John Fitzgerald Kennedy … William Kennedy … Corey Kilgannon … Craig King … Larry King … Arnold Klugman … Mayor Edward I. Koch … Henry Kissinger … Burt Korall … Bernard Koteen … Laura Kowalski … Erwin Krasnow … Rainer K. Kraus … H. Peter Kriendler … Bernard Kruger … Josh Kurtz … Cappy LaBarbera … Albert LaFarge … James “Jimmy the Doorman” Lopolito … George Latimer … Ron Leal … Louis Lefkowitz … Paul H. Lenok … Mel Levin … Arthur Levitt … Gary Lewis … Don Lia … John V. Lindsay … Seth Lipsky … Jim Lisa … Arlene Lenok … Marcel Levy … Michael Lomonaco … Philip Lombardo … Joe Lovece … Jim Lowe … Nita Lowey … General Douglas MacArthur … Gavin K. MacBain … Sirio Maccioni … Egidiana Palmieri Maccioni … Francesca Maccioni … Father Kevin Mackin … Joe Mahoney … Patrick Maines … Anthony “Tony” Malara … Ed Mancuso … Jim Mann … Archbishop Henry J. Mansell … Ann Mara … Wellington Mara … Kevin Marquis … Bill Martin … Ralph Martinelli … Douglas Martin … Charles Massimi … Chris Matthews … Loomis Mayer … Lowry Mays …Senator John McCain … Bishop James McCarthy … Richard McCarthy … Aidan McCormack … Edward McCormack … Tim McCormick … David McCullough … Susan Mara McDonnell … William McElveen … J. Raymond McGovern … Bryan McGuire … Thomas McKnight … Paul McLane …

Ed McLaughlin … Paul McMasters … Patrick McMullan …

5. The Great Ones (contd.)
Father Joseph McShane, S.J. … Mabel Mercer … Robert Merrill … Danny Meyer … Frank miceli … Edwin Gilbert Michaelian … Dr. Luigi Miele … Joseph Migliucci … Mama Rose Migliucci … Ray Miles … Cay Miller … Mark Miller … Sandy Miller … Stephen Miller … Howard Mirchin … Bob Mitchell … Jay Mitchell … Joseph Montebello … William Mooney, Jr. … Walter Moore … Arthur H. “Red” Motley … Tommy Moretti … Peter Morris … Gem Morrison … Robert Morgenthau … Carl Moxie … Daniel Patrick Moynihan … Tom Mullen … Stan Musial … Peter Mustich … Rupert Murdoch … William Mulrow … Thomas S. Murphy … Marcia Myers … Helaine Naiman … Dr. Emancia Neil … Dean Newman … Edward Noonan Ney … Julian Niccolini … Frank Nicolai … Margaret Noonan … Deborah Norville … Dick Novik … Jack O’Brien … Archbishop Edwin O’Brien … Father John O’Brien … Monsignor William B. O’Brien … Bob O’Connell … John Cardinal O’Connor … John J. O’Connor … Kathleen O’Connor … Niall O’Dowd … Father Joseph O’Hare, SJ … Michael “Buzzy” O’Keefe … Valerie Moore O’Keeffe … Robert O’Neil … Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill … Bill O’Reilly … Andrew P. O’Rourke … Catherine Tucker O’Shaughnessy … David Tucker O’Shaughnessy … John T. O’Shaughnessy … Johnny O’Shaughnessy … Julie O’Shaughnessy … Kate O’Shaughnessy Nulty … Matthew Thayer O’Shaughnessy … Nancy Curry O’Shaughnessy … James O’Shea … Emilie O’Sullivan … James O’Toole … Stu Olds … Bob Oppedisano … Maria Oppedisano … Nick Orzio … Bob Packwood … William S. Paley … Nancy Palumbo … A.J. Parkinson … Richard D. Parsons … Michael Pasquale … Lt. Governor David Patterson … Gregg Michael Pavelle … Pele … Eileen Perotti … Augie Petrillo … Ray Planell … Alex Philippidis … Jeanine F. Pirro … Kathy Pisano … Richard Rocco Pisano … George Plimpton … Caryl Donnelly Plunkett … Kevin Plunkett … William Plunkett, Jr. … Don Pollard … Mary Porcelli … Cole Porter … Elizabeth Backman Potter … Maurie Povich … Frederic Powers, Sr. … Saverio Procario … Ward Quaal … Ken Raskie … Dan Rather … M. Paul Redd … Marty Rochelle … Ogden Rogers Reid … Carol Fernicola Reilly … Joseph Reilly … Phil Reisman … Allie Reynolds … W. Franklyn Richardson … Aaron Richman … Murray Richman … John Riordan … Mariano Rivera …

Wilfred Roberts … J. Max Robins … Jackie Robinson … Sugar Ray Robinson … Joseph “Jim” Rocco … Happy Rockefeller … Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller … Angelo Roncalli - Pope John XXIII … Tim Rooney … Alan Rosenberg … Kyle Rote … Jon Rothstein … Natale Rusconi … Alvin Richard Ruskin … Tim Russert … Nancy Rutigliano … Tony Ryan … Howard Samuels … Lisa Scanlan … Jack Scarangella … Chuck Scarborough … Dr. Stanley Schneller … Jonathan Schwartz … Louis O. Schwartz … Gene Scott … Paul Screvane … John Scully … Sue Scully … Nino Selimaj … Robert Serrao …Tony Serrao … Benito Sevarin … Hugh Shannon … Michael Scott Shannon … Gary Shapiro … Rev. Al Sharpton … Noel Shaw … James J. Sheeran … Preston Sher … Allie Sherman … Daryl Sherman … James Sherwood … Bernard “Toots” Shor … Robert F.X. Sillerman … Francis Albert Sinatra … Herman Singh … Sally Bedell Smith … Scott Siskind … Jeffrey Smith … Jan Johnson Smith … Liz Smith … Michael Smith … T.K. Smith … Tommy Smith … Richard Norton Smith … Bruce Snyder … Scott Solomon … Nick Spano … Jerry Speyer … Rob Speyer … John Spicer … Joseph Anthony Spinelli … Jeff Sprung … George Steinbrenner III … Andrew Stengel … Stuart Stengel … John Sterling … Noel Stevens … Martin Stone … Chuck Strome … Howard Sturman … Edward O. “Ned” Sullivan … John Van Buren Sullivan … Arthur O. Sulzberger … Teddy Suric … Cameron Swayze … Stephen Sweeny … Lawrence B. Taishoff … Sol Taishoff … Gay Talese … Val Taubner … Steve Tenore … Harry M. Thayer … Walter Nelson Thayer … Kenneth Theobalds …Lowell Thomas … Mac Tichenor … Don Tramontano … Richard Neal Travis … Marietta Tree … Donald Trump … Joe Vacarella … Joe Valeant … Jack Valenti … Jerry Valenti … Linda Vaughn … Jim Veneruso … John Verni … Nick Verbitsky … Giuseppe Vitorelli … Floyd Vivino … Sean Vokhshoor … Mario Wainer … Buddy Waller … Joe Ward … Stephen Warley … Will Weaver … Don West … Bruce White … John Hay “Jock” Whitney … Marylou Whitney … Alec Wilder … Brian Williams … J. R. Williams … Ken Williams … William B. Williams … Bud Williamson … Governor Malcolm Wilson … Robert Windeler … Duffy Witmer … Rabbi Amiel Wohl … Greg Wright … Robert Zimmerman … Giuliano Zuliani … Todd Zuzulo.

7.

Like I said: a broadcaster encounters many a colorful soul, on … and off … the microphone.

But these, I believe, are The Great Ones during my time.

Shakespeare said, “Greatness knows itself… “ So perhaps this is a futile exercise for I suspect the ones here designated already know of their worth.

But so do I.

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William O’Shaughnessy is president of Whitney Radio and editorial director of WVOX and WRTN (now WVIP). A staunch First Amendment advocate and former chairman of Public Affairs for the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, he was among the first 25 broadcasters elected to the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

He is the author of Airwaves! A Collection of Radio Editorials from the Golden Apple. … It All Comes Back To Me Now … and More Riffs, Rants and Raves … published by Fordham, the Jesuit University Press in the City of New York.

He also edited Serving Their Communities, A 50 Year History of the New York State Broadcasters Association.

He is at work on his fourth book: Again! Run That By Me One More Time which will include this piece Staying Power.

He presently serves as a director and chairman of the Endowment Committee of the Broadcasters Foundation of America, based in Greenwich, CT.