Alan S. Burke (September 15, 1922 – August 25, 1992) was an American

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

television and radio talk show host who was on the air primarily in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from 1966 to 1969 on

WNEW-TV WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship WWO ...

Life

He was born in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, in 1922. He graduated from the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

. He became a sportscaster at a radio station in

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

. He married Claire Canniff and they had two sons, David Jonathan Burke and Morris Daniel Burke. His television show was on the local

channel 5 at station WNEW from 1966 to 1969 as '' The Alan Burke Show'' and was syndicated nationally. After his show was cancelled he moved to

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

, where he continued to work in broadcasting. He died on August 25, 1992, in

Work

Burke was a pioneer of the confrontational style where he would attack or insult his guest and plant ringers in the audience who would attack the guest. Burke had programs on various

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

radio stations during much of the 1970s and 1980s, where he continued to employ his confrontational style. Burke's best known caller was known only as "Raymond", a presumed burn-out who spouted comically clever poetry, often espousing the virtues of his hero, Alan Burke. Burke was sufficiently well known in the late 1980s to get a guest spot on ''

The Morton Downey Jr. Show ''The Morton Downey Jr. Show'' is a syndicated American talk show presented by Morton Downey Jr. that ran from 1987 to 1989. The show and its host pioneered the concept of " trash TV" format. Starting as a local program on New York-New Jersey sup ...

'', where he, Downey, and Bob Grant traded barbs. On June 25, 1994, Howard Stern reflected upon how he and a friend watched Alan Burke, "the guy who yelled at people."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Alan 1922 births 1992 deaths American conservative talk radio hosts American talk radio hosts American television talk show hosts University of Richmond alumni