- Roby Yonge
Roby Yonge (
1943 -July 18 ,1997 ) was a 1960s radio DJ. He was best known for being fired fromNew York station WABC-AM in 1969, after he reported over the air thatPaul McCartney was dead. fact|date=May 2008Born in
Fort Jackson, South Carolina , Roby grew up inOcala ,Florida and got his first radio job when he was 15 years old. Roby's firstMiami, Florida job was as a newsman atWIOD , which was then WCKR. Roby moved to Miami's WQAM and became a disc jockey.He moved to New York and WABC in December, 1968. Roby went on the air with the
Paul McCartney "death" rumor onOctober 21 , 1969. He received the rumor fromWKNR-FM (Detroit ) personalityChris Randall . Stating that he had already been fired (given 2 weeks notice) and that at 12:39 AM, he would not be cut because there was nobody around to cut the switch, Yonge began to speculate on the rumors that were circulating about the possible death of McCartney. Theswitchboard lit up tremendously. It was actually an hour and a half before program directorRick Sklar got Les Marshak in to relieve Yonge. Marshak continued to do Yonge's show until a replacement was hired. [http://www.interealm.com/robyyonge/]Shortly thereafter, Roby re-emerged on
WCBS-FM where he helped introduce the oldies format to that station. Roby stayed at WCBS-FM for a few years before returning to Florida, where he was hired as the original morning personality on Y100WHYI inFort Lauderdale /Miami, but was terminated after the first day on the air, August 3, 1973.Fact|date=February 2008 Roby was next heard in mornings on competitor WMYQ-FM.In 1987, he did a morning show at WKAT/Miami, then returned to Miami in 1993 to do a music/talk show on 790 WMRZ.
Roby died on
July 18 ,1997 of an apparent heart attack at age 54.External links
* [http://www.interealm.com/robyyonge/ The Roby Yonge Home Page]
* [http://www.musicradio77.com/images/robylast.ram Musicradio77.com] scoped aircheck from Yonge's final WABC show
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.