Who's Who at WONN

Brad Baad

Brad was from Canton, Ohio, and joined Lakeland’s WONN as program director and on-air personality in 1976 after previous work at Tampa Bay’s WDAE (as Jerry Vincent) and Y95 (as Ron Allison). Before that he had been with WFUN in Miami.

A couple of years later, he left the radio profession altogether and opened two area restaurants – Submarina, in Haines City, and Chelsea’s, an English-style pub at U.S. 92 East at Combee Road in Lakeland. It was during this time that both he and his wife, Linda (who also worked at WONN), were introduced to the EMS profession from the guys who would come down from the nearby fire station and have lunch. With inspiration from talks with them, both decided to go back to school and became paramedics.

Brad was a paramedic for Lakeland’s ALS 14 on Main Street until 1992 when cancer (renal cell carcinoma) forced him to stop working. He passed away the following year at the age of 49.

Station History