Tom Darro’s career on the local radio airwaves is coming to a close on Christmas Eve when he will do his last Viewpoint show from 9 a. m. to 10 a. m. (WEBR AM 1440, FM105.3 & and 106.9 The Breeze) before stepping away after 20 years doing the show and much longer on local radio.
The Hall of Fame broadcaster, inducted in September of 2022, says he’s retiring because “it’s time.”
Kenmore Broadcasting owner Bill Yuhnke and station manager and program director Frank Miller jointly praise Darro’s incredibly long local career and power radio presence as just one-of-a-kind.
Darro said he greatly appreciates the sponsors who have backed his show, saying “they have been supportive throughout the show’s long run, and they have been very understanding about his retirement decision.”
Darro said he is looking forward to kicking back and relaxing a bit after he retires, saying “getting up and getting ready to do the show takes a lot, and it will be very nice to lay back a bit and enjoy the next chapter of my life.”
Viewpoint is one of America’s longest-running radio talk shows, the last chapter in Darro’s career that began in 1964 “knowing then when I was still in high school, the direction I wanted for the future. That year I did many ‘record hops,’ and I was given the opportunity to do a radio show once a week on WHLD courtesy of Eddie Jo. He would also influence my life in later years as well.”
Darro says in 1966 he was hired by WJJL to work with the legendary Bob Wells.
“I remember my first day at WJJL. It was May 16, 1964, Jimmy Thomas’s 40th birthday,” he recalls. “I followed him around all day when he finally said to me, ‘What do you want to do, kid?’ I remember telling Jimmy I just wanted to know what he knows. That day started a friendship that lasted over 30 years.” The friendship and mentorship lasted until Thomas died in 1993.
In 1967 to 1969, Darro worked middays at the former WUSJ in Lockport. In 1969, he took over the morning show at WJJL and continued until leaving in 1981. “in those years,” he recalls, “I was also the host of Viewpoint from 1975 to 1981,” and in 1981 he went to the Niagara Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Darro also managed to fit in much more, doing radio and television shows promoting Niagara Falls and the Festival of Lights. Later he was offered the position of reinstating Viewpoint in 2006 and he’s been there ever since. WJJL transformed into WEBR in 2020 when the station was sold to businessman Bill Yuhnke (Liberty Cab) who Darro says “took the station into the 21 st Century, putting it online and provided us listeners around the world.”
Current station manager and program director Frank Miller issued the following statement on Darro’s legendary career:“On behalf of Kenmore Broadcasting, we sincerely want to thank Tom for his dedication to the community, and we wish him nothing but the best in the years ahead.”
So does this writer. “Best in the coming years, Tom. You have provided so much to so many over a long run. Rest easy on a career well done.”