Remembering A Lowcountry Voice Now Silent.

As I write this..it is the day before Thanksgiving and I am remembering a former colleague of mine.

Dan Moon is gone.

You most likely don’t know..nor have ever known him personally.  He was a radio talk show host at AM1250 WTMA in Charleston, SC when I started working there in the early 1990’s.  It was about 1989 when ‘The Mighty TMA’ went news/talk.   That was about the same period the news/talk format was gaining popularity nationally thanks in large part to a firebrand on the microphone by the name of Rush Limbaugh.

Dan was — in his day — the local version of Rush.  Every weekday morning he would urge listeners to “turn your telephone into a microphone.”  And boy..did they.

But Dan had to be sold on talk radio..as he shared in this clip from ABC News 4 in Charleston as they reported on WTMA’s 80th anniversary celebration this past June.

Dan was operations manager as well for the station.  He was a comforting presence on air for the South Carolina Lowcountry when Hurricane Hugo hit the coast in 1989 and radio was the only lifeline many people had for days and weeks.

He retired from radio and left ‘TMA in 2003 dabbling in radio a time or two before shifting gears and becoming the public information officer for the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office.

According to his family..Dan passed peacefully after a battle with pancreatic cancer.  He was 78.

In the radio business…the voices you hear stay with you.  I will remember Dan Moon’s gravelly baritone for as long as I do this.

I say ‘Thank You’ to Dan for being part of the reason I love this medium.   Today and every day at WTMA the Dan Moon Studio continues to broadcast quality news and talk programming.

Its namesake would be proud.