Al Ross - Your Timekeeper
Before WRC Radio's all night programming is much past the halfway
mark, Al Ross is already ensconced in his office selecting music
to wake his listeners without jolting them and, to keep them awake
without arousing latent morning hostilities. At 5:30 to the second,
Al Ross from Studio 1 throws back the covers from another broadcast day.
He plays music in the morning mode, gives weather reports to dictate dress and thermostat, announces the time to regulate schedules and incorporates NBC News to send his audience out into the Washington world informed.
A St. Patrick's Day baby, Al Ross was born in Danville, Virginia where he was later to begin his broadcasting career as a crooner complete with ukulele. (The uke is still with him.) His first move in the industry was to WAIR in Winston-Salem where he served as chief announcer and production manager. While in North Carolina he worked on a state-wide network and was often heard over the Mutual Network. In 1942, Al switched his allegiance to WBAL in Baltimore and in six months took over "Around the Breakfast Table."
During the war, he was able to stick to his broadcasting with tenacity by serving as infantry radio operator, narrator of training films for Twentieth Century Fox and doing Ninth Service Command broadcasts. In 1946, WBAL saw the return of Al Ross and in 1947, he presented WBAL-TV's first program.
In 1955, Al Ross of WBAL became Al Ross, "Your Timekeeper," of WRC.
To read more about the Joy Boys, Walker and Scott, or the other
announcers who shared WRC's airwaves in the early 1960s, click on
any of the links below.)
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| Al Ross | Bob Kelly | Mac McGarry | Betty Groebli |
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| Night Watch (Walker and Scott) | Stan Karas | back to booklet | |
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