Farewell to a radio legend

The Boston area lost a legend this week with the passing of Larry Glick, 87, known to most New Englanders for being the late night voice on WBZ-AM radio. He was the guy you listened to when you couldn’t sleep or for those who worked the midnight shift.

In the days before satellite and internet radio, his was the voice which would keep you company on your late night or early morning drives throughout New England and beyond. I remember listening to Larry a few times when I was visiting family in Tennessee.

You never knew what you would hear on his show, one day it might be some local history tidbit, the next politics and the next maybe a ghost story. Whatever it was it was always entertaining, interesting and fun. You were sure to laugh at least once during the night.

There are two memories I have of the Larry Glick show, the first was when my wife was pregnant with our son, our first child. She would have trouble sleeping, and like countless others, we would put him on the radio and pass the night with Larry in our ear. The next was later on when we lived next door to my grandparents, they would listen to Larry all night, and since they were hard of hearing the radio could be heard clear as a bell on those hot summer nights. When I think of Larry, I picture my grandmother sitting by her portable radio, either on the back porch or in her room.

It’s funny I was thinking of Glick just the other night when I had to work late and how I would listen to him when I used to make my early morning runs to the produce market. I would listen to him on the AM radio in the truck and more than once he was all that would keep me awake.

Those days are long gone; the local all-night radio talk show is pretty much gone from the scene, replaced by syndicated national shows which just don’t have that local flavor like Glick did. Even though I know we can’t go back, sometimes I wish we could.