TONY BIANCHI NAMED HONORARY
CLEVELAND CHAPTER MEMBER

At the May 2001 Annual Meeting of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, veteran Cleveland radio broadcaster Tony Bianchi was named an Honorary Member of the Cleveland Chapter. Mr. Bianchi recently retired from Cleveland's classical music station WCLV after 37 years in front of the microphone. The following resolution was read and presented to Tony:

---

En chamade!
A salute to Tony Bianchi

Over a span of several decades at WCLV, you have supported the concerts, services, and work of local organists (and the occasional visiting celebrity).

For this support, we--and in turn our appreciative audiences--are deeply thankful. And as much as we would like to consider this the rightful due of things organic, in our hearts we know that you have been generous with your help (not to mention that you know how to pronounce "Buxtehude" and that you know one fugue from another).

We thank you and wish you the very best in all you do!

Cleveland Chapter, AGO
May 2001

---

Tony's last day on the air was Friday, March 30, concluding a career in Cleveland broadcasting that began in 1964. WCLV's President Robert Conrad originally hired the Michigan State graduate in 1960 when Conrad was Program Director of Detroit FM station WDTM. When Conrad came to Cleveland in 1962 to co-found WCLV, he hired Tony to be the new station's first announcer. However, just as Tony was to make the move, the U.S. Army interceded and invited him to spend two years in Texas in an Army communications van. He finally arrived at WCLV in 1964.

In the mid 70s, Tony was given the WCLV mid-day shift, which he has held down with grace and civility ever since. As one listener said, "When Tony Bianchi is on the air, you just know that everything is right with the world."

In addition to his WCLV duties, Tony sings in the Epworth Euclid Church Choir. He has also sung in a number of other Cleveland choruses such as the Singers Club. And he has been active as a narrator for many area performances, including a memorable performance of William Albright's "The King of Instruments" for the 1989 AGO regional convention in Cleveland, a work that featured Tony running down the aisle screaming.

[adapted from a press release by WCLV]