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From: TidewaterForever
Date: 09 May 2007
Time: 21:10:16 -0500
Remote Name: 12.5.56.200
The late Ogie George Crawford (his rea name) was born January 24, 1920 in Washington, D.C. and died at Norfolk's DePaul Hospital on April 8, 1986. George came to WTAR in July 1958 and did afternoon drive. Because Channel 3 (the CBS affiliate) was also owned by the Virginian-Pilot, there were TV promos encouraging Channel 3 viewers to listen to Crawford afternoons on WTAR-790. When Crawford first came to Tidewater from the D.C. area (he had worked at WMAL, WOL, WINX, and for a brief period at WTT-Channel 5) a red-haire Texan named Jim Stanley did Breakfast in Bedlam at WGH. On October 31, 1960, Crawford and Stanley essentially switchd jobs. George made the commute from Norfolk or Virginia Beach through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel for 23 years until the evil Commcor of Ohio came in and demonstrated to the world the boundless cluelessness of corporate radio. George retired in 1983, and died in the spring of 1986. He had a broadcasting career that spanned five decades, and he spent it all in either his native D.C. area, or Tidewater. To the best of my knowledge, George's five children (Bruce, Tina, George, Jr., and Christopher...by his first wife) and his daughter by his second wife Bea all live in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area. I know he had at least four granchildren.