Wednesday, June 07, 2006

My Friend Bill Page

I found out I lost another friend today. When Bill Page was in the news department at KBOA in Kennett, he routinely told me how happy he was. He was being paid a pretty nice salary and in return, Bill gave them his heart and soul. During the tornados that touched down in Caruthersville, Bill did a 36 hour shift. He thought it was what newsmen did. Shortly after that, he was fired for "budgetary reasons". He was heartbroken and emailed me to say so. (See a previous post)He decided to become a police dispatcher and emailed me a couple of weeks ago to tell me how much he liked his new job, he missed radio. I only met Bill twice. Once at the MBA in Kansas City (he won a bunch of times) and once in Kennett at the station. He died yesterday. Whatever the cause was, Bill died of a broken heart more than anything else. It immediately reminded me of the story about Coach "Bear" Bryant of Alabama, who coached the tide forever and finally when he retired, he died. Bill was a professional newsman. I think he would like to have been known like that.
Here is the announcement of Bill's death in the local paper.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry about your friend. My husband worked at KBOA as the news director a few years ago and I know for a fact that the people there will stab you in the back in a heartbeat. I hate that Mr. Page's talent was rejected by rejects.

Anonymous said...

Bill was a great news director and a great friend. My husband and I both worked in radio at one time with Bill, and had left the field because of the constant back-stabbing and low pay that is par for the course in local radio. Bill stayed in touch over the years and put his heart and soul into his work. I was shocked to hear of his death yesterday, and I agree he died of a broken heart.

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