Johnny Donovan is an American radio announcer and former producer at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

WABC (AM) WABC (770 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a conservative talk format known as "Talkradio 77". Owned by John Catsimatidis' Red Apple Media, the station's studios are located in Red Apple Media headqua ...

. He grew up in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie ...

, nicknamed "Sarge," after his father's rank in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. A radio enthusiast from an early age (with an

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communi ...

station K2KOQ in a corner of the basement), he became a DJ ("Large Sarge") on

WHVW WHVW (950 AM) is a AM Broadcasting, radio station licensed to Hyde Park, New York that is noted for its eclectic format based on old-fashioned blues, jazz, country and Americana music. In a time of corporate ownership of broadcast outlets, it is a ...

in nearby

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austr ...

, after helping build the station. He went on to stations in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

(

WBAZ WBAZ (102.5 FM) is an adult contemporary music formatted radio station licensed to Bridgehampton, New York, and serving eastern Long Island and Southeastern Connecticut. The station is owned by WEHM on-air talent Lauren Stone (68.8%) and her ...

) and

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluenc ...

( WENE), New York and

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

(

WMID WMID (1340 kHz) is a radio station licensed to Atlantic City, New Jersey, which plays "the classic oldies". Its parent company is Equity Communications (the station was at one time owned by entertainer Merv Griffin). WMID also carries the Phil ...

) before landing in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, first at

WOR-FM WEPN-FM (98.7 MHz) branded as ''ESPN New York'', is an all-sports radio station licensed to New York City. The station is owned by Emmis Communications and its operations are controlled by Good Karma Brands, under a local marketing agreeme ...

, and finally at WABC (at the time the "Holy Grail" for DJs), where he preceded

Dan Ingram Daniel Trombley Ingram (September 7, 1934 – June 24, 2018) was an American Top 40 radio disc jockey with a 50-year career on radio stations such as WABC and WCBS-FM in New York City. Career "Big Dan" started broadcasting at WHCH Hofstra C ...

on the air. Donovan stayed on at WABC as Production Director and chief staff announcer when WABC went to a talk format in 1982. With the assistance of Peter Kanze, Rob Frankel and Allan Sniffen, he produced the now defunct WABC ''Rewound'' program each

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

. In May 2015 he retired from WABC after 43 years. He remained the "voice" of

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

show, for which WABC was the flagship station from 1988 until the end of 2013, since then airing on WOR.

References

External links

WABC Rewound
nbsp;— pictures of Donovan and his usual studio {{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Johnny American radio DJs Radio personalities from New York City People from Poughkeepsie, New York The Rush Limbaugh Show Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people