Helton hangs up the headphones

Sometime before 10 am Friday morning, Dick Helton will share some final thoughts, then switch off the microphone on the KNX anchor desk. He’ll then head to a celebration commemorating a five-decade career in news, the last 24 years at the Los Angeles all-news station.

“It almost like I’m going on vacation,” said Helton. “I’m now preparing what I’m going to say tomorrow.”

Helton attended the University of Illinois, graduating with Honors in 1966 with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, plus majoring in Political Science and Economics. While a student, he started his broadcast career at WKID, hosting a classical music show. He then worked for the Illinois Radio Network before being hired by CBS to work at WBBM Newsradio in 1969. At that time, he was the youngest news anchor on the air. In addition, he hosted “Ask the Mayor” (the first of its kind), later adding “Ask the Governor” and “Talk to the Mayor.”

“I loved working in Chicago,” said Helton. “Politics there is blood sport. I enjoyed covering those stories. The people living there are engaged with what happens.” In contrast, L.A. is “so big, with so many communities and neighborhoods.” Reporters in Chicago are “geared into what happens at City Hall, they know the politicians, they all have their sources.” Helton remembered offering stories about local politics at least two or three times a week. Helton also pointed out Chicago has a central downtown area, “everyone goes to the Loop.”

“When I started in Chicago, Richard J. Daley was the Mayor. As a stringer for WBBM, I was at the riots (during the Democratic National Convention) at Grant Park. I can still show you the scar on my forehead,” said Helton. He covered the Chicago Seven Trial, the administrations of both the aforementioned Richard J. Daley and son Richard M. Daley, war between India and Pakistan, nuclear weapons testing by France, among many other stories. Helton anchored WBBM’s election night coverage starting in 1985, plus providing live stories from the 1996 Democratic National Convention. Helton won numerous awards from AP and UPI, including “Best Newscast” awards virtually every year from 1995–1997.

It becomes clear Helton still has a fondness for his former hometown. Which then begs the question as to why he relocated to Los Angeles. “Because of a woman!” he laughed. Carol Ramos was his afternoon-co-anchor at WBBM. Their professional relationship became a romantic connection. When Ramos headed to LA and KFWB in 1994, they maintained a long-distance relationship between the two cities, until the two journalists married in 1997, Helton moved to Southern California to work at KNX within a year.

Tom Haule

“Dick and I met in 1982 at WBBM. I was the new kid hired part time and he was the established journalist at the all-news CBS outlet. Dick was always willing to offer a helping hand and sound advice,” said former KNX anchor Tom Haule. “I left Chicago for LA in late ’82 and Dick made the same move some years later.” Haule admired Helton’s respect for radio. “What struck me most was Dick’s extensive collection of archival audio and radio superstars.”

As he did in Chicago, Helton established himself as a political reporter at KNX. “I come from a political family. My Father, Grandfather, and Great Grandfather were all politicians in downstate Illinois. Between 1932–1970 , either my Father or my Grandfather was the Chair of the County Board.” He said “had my father lived, I was being groomed to someday run for Congress.” During the 2004 Presidential campaign, Helton hosted a one-hour daily program on local and national politics. He appreciated when some listeners accused him of leaning Democratic, while other listeners claimed he was biased toward Republicans. “You want to be in the middle, I call the news as it is. As a political reporter, you’re doing your job when you p**s off everyone.”

Helton said one of his pet peeves was the Midwest often gets overlooked. “A lot of (political) reporting is East Coast / West Coast journalism.” He continues to maintain a home and ranch in central Illinois which he visits regularly. Helton recalled a visit during the 2016 Presidential campaign. “Carol and I remember driving around town and seeing almost nothing but Trump lawn signs, it was hard to find any Clinton signs. We both knew after that trip Trump was going to be elected President.”

Over his 24 years at KNX, Helton appreciates the uniqueness of Southern California. “LA is laid out differently. You don’t have the downtown structure as you do in Chicago or New York.” He also said in Chicago, “you’re massively interested in sports…LA has a support base for their teams, but sports are not a news story like it is in Chicago. Also, weather is just nice in LA compared to Chicago – over there, you tune in to find out what to wear, how the weather will affect your commute – the weather is not an automatic tune-in topic.” He said it’s more challenging to attract an all-news audience west of the Mississippi, but Helton noted the morning drive numbers at KNX have been “better than one may expect.”

“You realize over time you have a massive audience. I have a voice people recognize. My mailman recognized my voice, we’re good friends now. I think of a woman named Stacy, a checkout clerk at my local market, who also recognized my voice. Other people I’ve met have also become friends.” Helton said a woman come to him last week at the market. “She said ’I’ve listened to you. Your calming manner makes me think everything’s going to be OK, even when things aren’t always OK.’”

“Dick was a calming, reassuring voice Los Angeles woke up to for the last 20 years,” said Ken Charles, former Audacy Vice President and KNX PD, now Director of Branding and Programming at WSB-Atlanta. “I know the listeners of KNX will miss his voice as they start their day.” Charles affirmed Helton skills as a journalist. “Dick’s passion for the news is unequaled. I’m really proud of the work we did and what we accomplished together during my seven years at KNX.”

Frank Mottek, Jennifer York, Dick Helton, Vicky Moore, Randy Kerdoon

Jennifer York is the KNX morning traffic anchor, currently part of the AM drive team. “Dick is definitely the hardest working person in radio that I know of.” She thinks Helton will quickly get used to “not having to get up at 3:30 a.m.”

Mel Baldwin at WBBM

When asked about his most memorable moments, Helton offered three stories. While at WBBM, he hosted “American Airlines Presents Music 'Til Dawn,” a program heard on many CBS radio stations (including locally on KNX). “It was one of my first jobs doing overnights. Mel Baldwin and I took turns hosting alternating hours.” One night, Helton received a phone call in the newsroom. “It was a woman who was distraught. She just wanted to talk, she sounded suicidal.” Helton signaled to Baldwin to continue through the next hour while alerting a producer to contact the police and have the call traced. “We kept her on the phone for the next 20–25 minutes. Eventually the police were able to find her.” About five years later, Helton received a request to meet someone in the station lobby. “It was the woman on the call. She’d gotten her life together, found a job, gotten married – she came to thank me.”

"The sketch was done by Tony Bennett while he was waiting to be interviewed by me.  I thought he was taking notes.  Had no idea he was doing this."

Shelton shared another story from the night the Beatles officially broke up the band. “We’d received the bulletin from London from Apple Records, 4 a.m. Chicago time. We got on the phone and called Apple Records, asking if there was anyone I could talk to. After a pause, a voice came online. ‘Hello, this is George Harrison.’” It turns out Harrison had a sister who lived in downstate Illinois, “so he figured he’d take the call from a Chicago station. We did the interview live, on the air!”

Others recall the interview Helton did with a survivor of the Titanic disaster. “On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, I was able to interview a man who was a survivor. He was 9 years old when he was on the ship…he gave me an unbelievable story, full of details.” The man described when the ship hit the iceberg, preparing to board a lifeboat with his Mother, “and saying goodbye to my Father.”

When asked why he was retiring now, Helton said “it was just right. Carol and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, our farm operation (in downstate Illinois) is going well. I actually started to consider retiring earlier, but the pandemic delayed that decision.”

“Carol and I are news junkies, we’ve some like-minded friends who’ve encouraged us to consider doing a podcast, I don’t know yet.” Helton said one advantage of marrying a journalist is “she understands and got used to me getting up every morning at 3 a.m., something I’m going to enjoy not having to do.”

Dick Helton, Vicky Moore

As to the future of the medium he served since the 1960s, Helton said “news is not going to change. But the platforms continue to change. Journalism students know where the world is today and will need to know how to report where it’s going.” He noted many younger people are getting their news from multiple digital sources, though “it does bother me they’re getting their news from social media, which is a second-hand source. It’s about ‘did you hear that’ or ‘did you hear about’ rather than getting the stories first hand.”

Summing up, Helton said “It has been great working with Vicky (Moore) and Jenn (York). There are so many good, decent people at KNX. I’ll miss this as much as I missed leaving 'BBM.”

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