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Mel Berman
Mel put in over 50 years behind the mike at some of the biggest stations in the country, including heavyweights like WKYW/Louisville (1953), WHB/Kansas City (1954), and WMCA/New York (1960’s) as one of the “Good Guys.” He was also fortunate enough (and good enough) to work for NBC, Metromedia, Storz, and Rounsaville.
Beginning his career at a station in Brookhaven, MS in 1952, The Philadelphia native landed his first job in Tampa Bay in 1970 at Rand Broadcasting’s WINQ. A year later, he moved to WDAE as production manager, and then opened his own company, Professional Broadcast Productions, in 1973.
In 1985, Mel began “The Capt. Mel Berman Show” on 970-WFLA, which became the most popular radio fishing show in Florida. It was best described as sort of a weekly fishing “town meeting” among a large segment of Suncoast listeners.
When growing up years before, he fished the waters off the New Jersey coast and held a U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license for many years, several of them as an offshore charter skipper. While pursuing his broadcast career, he took several years off, but resumed his first love when he relocated to Florida.
Never considering retirement, Capt. Mel Berman continued to live in Tampa and do his weekend radio fishing show on 970-WFLA. Sadly, he passed away from complications of heart surgery on February 5, 2010 at 81.
The Peabody Award winner (the Freedoms Foundation’s George Washington Medal) had been a disc jockey, voice-over announcer and narrator, talk show host, TV news anchor, operations manager, program director, producer, and even a beat reporter in the New York City area with Metromedia. He was also a writer for various fishing publications, newspaper columnist for the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times, an accomplished photographer, and a contributor to Popular Photography, US Camera, and Modern Photography magazines.
Station History
1970 - 2010 Other Tampa Bay Area Stations (On Air Personality)
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