I apologize for all my obit type entries recently, but one more. Fred Foy has died. Trust me you know Fred Foy’s voice. He said this:
A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty “Hi Yo Silver!” The Lone Ranger.
Has there ever been an announcer with a deeper, more powerful voice?
Fred was one of the last staff announcers at ABC. Back then there were men… always men… sitting in tiny announce booths round-the-clock. All the station and network announcements were done live. Not today.
As a kid I remember Fred Foy doing local news on WABC radio and immediately realizing it was a voice I’d heard many times before. He was also the announcer on Dick Cavett’s nighttime talk show on ABC TV.
Still it was that Lone Ranger intro that people remember. AP reports his daughter, “Nancy Foy says that to the end of his life, her father never tired of repeating the intro to anyone who would ask.”
I’m glad to hear that. So many people try to run away when they’re primarily remembered for a single thing.
Come back with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear.
Very sad, but who will be the third?
As a young man of 20 years old in 1967, I met Fred Foy, the announcer, when I was a program director at WABC-FM New York City. Fred mostly worked up at the WABC TV Channel 7 studios on 66th Street. But when he came down to the radio station, he never failed to thrill us all with his Lone Ranger recite that will remain in the hearts of us all. He was a good personality and always was just as excited to “…do the Lone Ranger…” as we were to hear him. Thank you for this opportunity to remember Fred Foy