Ballou was born on December 11, 1942 and raised in Liverpool, New York, a suburb of Syracuse. His father was Leslie G. Ballou, and he had a brother, James.
After a stint as an electronics technician at Western Electric in Syracuse, Ballou began his radio career as disc jockey at WOLF in 1962. With Ballou's help WOLF enjoyed a majority share of Syracuse radio listeners in 1963 and 1964. In 1964 he moved to WNDR radio. He also hosted a black-and-white television version of "The Bud Ballou Show" on WNYS-TV, channel 9, originating from the station's Shoppingtown studios in DeWitt, which premiered on February 8, 1965.
The "Bud Ballou Show" combined the hit songs of the day, local bands, and top national recording acts that toured the area. Freddie and the Dreamer (I'm Telling You How), The Shangri-las (Leader of the Pack) were just a few worth mentioning. His TV show, the Beatles, the British Invasion and his eminence popularity led to offers from larger radio markets.
The KBTR Crew
c.1971Ballou left Syracuse for KBTR in Denver, Colorado in 1966, and in 1967 he departed for Buffalo's WKBW Radio AM 1520 a 50,000 watt giant, to replace Joey Reynolds. As an April Fool's Day stunt in 1967, Ballou hosted one shift on WPOP, trading places with another DJ.
Here's 24 year old Bud Ballou on WKBW Radio in Buffalo some time in 1967. [ LISTEN ] (14:01) WKBW sounded much different in ’67 than a couple of years later in the 70s.
Ballou moved to the Boston area in 1968 appearing on WMEX until 1971 and then moving to WVBF in Framingham until 1976. During this period he was an avid hockey fan who sometimes watched games even while broadcasting.
Beatle Hour airing on WNDR [ LISTEN ], WMEX in December, 1969
[ LISTEN ], WMEX Summer of 1970 [ LISTEN ], WMEX in December, 1970
[ LISTEN ] and one more WMEX cut with Bud in 1969. [ LISTEN ] (13:42)
[ LISTEN ], WMEX Summer of 1970 [ LISTEN ], WMEX in December, 1970
[ LISTEN ] and one more WMEX cut with Bud in 1969. [ LISTEN ] (13:42)
Confusingly, a different ex-WOLF disc jockey from the Syracuse area named Howie Castle used "Bud Ballou" as his professional name while working for Radio Caroline in Europe in late-1967 and early-1968.
Ballou died April 15, 1977 at age 34 of a massive stroke at Leonard Morse Hospital in South Natick. After his passing Ron Robin and WVBF produced a special "Tribute To Bud Ballou". It featured some of his favorite songs as well as rare airchecks of WKBW and one of his first shifts on WOLF (1/14/62). It aired Sunday evening April 17, 1977. [ LISTEN ]
He was laid to rest in Fulton, New York. He was survived by his wife, the former Kasia Rondomanski of Fulton, and four children.
Some materials used in this article were originally published by the following: Airchexx, The WOLF 1490 Tribute Site.
