Bill Keene (1927 – April 5, 2000) was a television and radio personality who became famous in the

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

market as a

traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

and weather announcer. He was particularly known for his colorful humorous traffic reports which included numerous

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

s and he became a fixture in Los Angeles broadcasting. Keene first took to the airwaves while still in high school in his native

Scottsbluff, Nebraska Scottsbluff is a city in Scotts Bluff County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. The population was 14,436 at the 2020 census. Scottsbluff is the largest city in the Nebraska Panhandl ...

. After serving as an Army Air Corps navigator during World War II, he was hired as news and sports director at KBOL radio in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

where he studied journalism at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

. Keene's Los Angeles broadcasting career began in 1957 at KNXT-TV (now

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

) as a weather reporter. He is credited with helping pioneer the station's hourlong news format, promoted as ''The Big News'', which featured Keene with long time Los Angeles news anchor

Jerry Dunphy Gerald Raymond Dunphy (June 9, 1921 – May 20, 2002) was an American television news anchor in the Los Angeles/Southern California media market. He was best known for his intro "From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a go ...

and sports reporter

Gil Stratton Gil Stratton Jr. (June 2, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an actor and sportscaster who was born in Brooklyn, New York. He most recently resided in Toluca Lake, California, until his death from congestive heart failure. Early life Stratton was ...

. During the same period he also reported the weather on the sister radio operation

KNX (AM) KNX (1070 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM radio, AM radio station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. It airs an all news radio, all-news radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. KNX is one of the oldest stations in the U ...

. Later he hosted the daytime television variety show ''Keene at Noon'', which was retitled ''The Bill Keene Show'' when it changed time-slots to 3:30 P.M. In 1976 Keene started working full-time at KNX where he became one of the first regular radio traffic reporters in Los Angeles. Puns were a regular feature in a Bill Keene traffic report. For example, when a ladder was reported on the freeway he would announce “Watch out for rung way drivers” and “Don’t worry, the highway patrol will be taking steps to remove that ladder.” Keene retired in 1993. He died in his sleep in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

in 2000, months after suffering a stroke.

Honors

In 1992 Keene was awarded a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

. In 2006, the

California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). Caltrans is headquartered in Sacrame ...

officially named the

Four Level Interchange The Four Level Interchange (officially the Bill Keene Memorial Interchange) is the first stack interchange in the world. Completed in 1949 and fully opened in 1953 at the northern edge of Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States, it connect ...

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

the Bill Keene Memorial Interchange in Keene's honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keene, Bill American radio personalities History of Los Angeles 1927 births 2000 deaths People from Scottsbluff, Nebraska