Ron Baxley
To pursue his radio career, Ron left his hometown, Plant City, in 1956 for some of the biggest stations in the country after attending the University of Florida and serving in Army Intelligence as a cryptographer in Naples, Italy.
His list of stations is impressive and includes those of radio programming pioneer and innovator Gordon McLendon (for whom he worked as music director Mack Sanders at KEEL in Shreveport and KTSA in San Antonio). He also worked at stations in Alabama and Georgia (WPLO/Atlanta).
In the mid 1960’s, Ron temporarily gave up his successful radio career and returned home to help out with his parents’ furniture and carpet business. But he kept a foot in radio, picking up a part-time job doing afternoons at hometown station WPLA, and play-by-play for its Friday night Plant City High School football games.
Not a country music fan, he left WPLA when the station flipped to a country format in 1970 and returned to radio in Atlanta. He also went on to do syndicated satellite radio (morning man for the Satellite Music Network) and play-by-play for Atlanta Hawks basketball.
Ron passed away at home May 10, 2021 in Grayslake, IL at age 89.
Station History
1966 - 1970 WPLA (Sports)
1966 - 1970 WPLA (On Air Personality)
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