Lou Hanlon

Dear Grady,

Hello and THANK YOU for such a fantastic site and all the memories -- brought back many, many fond memories of being at various radio stations with my Dad as a child in Houston and going with him to functions, events, and even some interviews he did.

My name is Mary Dillon. I'm 53 years old and reside in the Austin, Texas area.

My father was Lou Hanlon (radio name and the name his friends knew him by); full name Luther O'Hanlon. He was a radio newscaster and DJ during the 1960s and 70s in Houston. He passed away in the early 1990s and I'm currently trying to track down ANYONE in Radio during that time who remembers him.

I'm ultimately trying to put together a chronological history of where he worked when (which stations, dates) AND would gladly pay for ANY recordings of his voice. (I listened to several things - most I think!) on your site and didn't hear him, though I recognized jingles and station announcements that he too would make.

I know he worked at KTRH, KEYH (talk/news). The only DATE I have is that he was at KEYH News in 1976. He also once worked at KODA in the 1960s. I believe he also worked at KPRC and KXYZ and KULF. Possibly others and maybe one of these is wrong.

He was a very petite man, but quite handsome, lots of red/(auburn brown as he got older) hair. He originally came out of Armed Forces Radio; did numerous radio shows back then overseas in Europe (I was born in Germany). I have many photos of him in radio recording rooms back in the late 1940s and 50s - and one from the early-mid-70s in Houston. I could scan this and send it to anyone who thinks they may have known him.

He had a marvelous deep baritone friendly voice, was a people person, great interviewer and liked either investigative reporting or human interest stories. I've run into people over the years who recall listening to him and the name, but no one yet who was in Radio back then that knew him. He also worked as a DJ off and on; worked a lot of late night hours too.

Any suggestions? Or do you know anyone else I could write to that may recall him?

ANY assistance at all would be greatly appreciated!

Best Regards,

Mary (O'Hanlon) Dillon

Web master's note:

I am posting this item for Mary because I didn't set up this blog until after she wrote to me.

In the future, I hope to get people to post their questions directly to this blog. After that, they can sign up for email updates. Those updates would include responses to any posted questions.

Although I have had a web site since 1997, I am new at this blogging thing. The blog is not technically part of my web site. It is operated by Google, and I am still working through the nuances of how it works.

My actual radio site is at http://houstonretro.com .


Grady

A radio blog just for you

For some time, I have suggested that people find a blog for posting their radio questions. I say this because most of the questions they ask me are ones that I can't answer.

Nonetheless, people keep coming to me with those "what ever happened to" questions. I am usually the last person to ask since have I not been a heavy radio listener since the mid 70's. (Once I discovered educational audio listening, there just wasn't much time left for radio.)

So, here is what I have done: I set up a blog of just for you. It is not a place for ME to answer radio questions. It is a play for ANYBODY to answer a radio question. If I happen to know the answer, I will write one. However, the chances are there will be someone else out there who is better equipped to give an answer.

I can think of two other purposes for this blog:

1. People can post comments about radio even if they are not related to a particular question.

2. People can debate details of radio history without dragging me into the middle of any disagreement. Comments which are less than civil will be removed.


So, you see, this blog is not about me but about you: Your questions, your answers to questions, and your opinions about radio . . . past, present, and future.

Grady McAllister