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Dick Bennick
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Dick’s radio career goes back to North Carolina where he was a top-rated disc jockey for many years at Winston-Salem’s WTOB. Other than his radio work, he ran a nightclub in Greensboro, produced area rock ‘n’ roll groups for his own record label, Salem Records, and held teen dances on Friday and Saturday nights. He was also a TV dance party host before developing his Dr. Paul Bearer alter ego in the mid 1960’s (see Dr. Paul Bearer in Who’s Who).
In 1971, he packed up and moved to Florida. Once there, he first pulled mornings at Lakeland’s WQPD, and then moved into sales and the GM’s chair at Hubbard Broadcasting’s WGTO at nearby Cypress Gardens. It was while working there that he resurrected his Dr. Paul Bearer character to host weekend Creature Feature movies on St. Pete’s WTOG-TV Ch. 44, which Hubbard also owned.
After WGTO was sold in 1986, Dick became Regional Sales Manager for Lakeland’s WVFM/WEZY-FM and WLKF-AM, all the while continuing his Dr. Paul chores as host of those “horrible old movies” on TV. Unfortunately, his career was cut short unexpectedly in 1995 when he passed away from complications following open-heart surgery.
Station History
1987 - 1995 WLKF-AM 1430 - Lakeland (Sales)
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