Former Denver radio news reporter and talk-show personality George Weber, found dead of stab wounds in his New York City apartment on Sunday, was the consummate newsman who loved radio, his colleagues said today.
“George was just a radio guy to the bone,” said Kris Olinger, director of AM programming for ClearChannel Radio, which includes 850-KOA. “George had started at an early age and loved it.”
“He was creative and entertaining. He worked very hard. He had two or three stories going at once,” said Olinger.
Olinger said Weber’s death was a shock to her and to the KOA staff, many of whom had worked with Weber not only at various Denver stations but elsewhere.
“I feel very sad,” said Olinger. “I’m going to miss him a lot. I loved George. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body.”
New York City police found Weber dead in his Brooklyn apartment with a stab wound to his neck.
The 47-year-old Weber worked at WABC-AM in New York for 12 years. He also had previously worked in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
WABC let him go amid programming changes last year. He had since worked as a freelancer for ABC News Radio, the national network.
His last newscast was on March 15.
In the weeks before his death, Weber had done some on-air work for KOA, broadcasting from New York.
Susan Witkin, of 850-KOA, worked with Weber at KOA and at KGO Radio in San Francisco.
“He was the consummate newsman,” Witkin said.
She said Weber loved being a radio newsman; it was the fulfillment of his boyhood ambition.
Weber had wanted to be in radio so badly as a boy growing up in Pennsylvania that he built a radio studio in the basement of his home, said Witkin.
“He was kind, considerate, a gentle soul,” said Witkin.
Weber got his first radio job while he was in high school at WBUX in Doylestown, Pa., about 30 miles north of Philadelphia.
He enjoyed Denver radio, especially covering the news.
On his website, his Top 10 list of stories he covered included three from Denver — the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 1713 at Stapleton International Airport in November 1987; a visit to Oklahoma City to cover the first anniversary of the Murrah Building bombing; and reporting on tornados, including one that hit Limon.
He particularly remembered the trip to Oklahoma City.
At the time, he was doing an afternoon talk show for KTLK in Denver.
“What touched me the most was the make-shift memorial on a chain-link fence where the Murrah Building once stood,” Weber wrote on his website. “Thousands of letters, flowers and photos were taped or tied to the fence by people from all across the country.”
Lynn Kimbrough, who worked with Weber at both KIMN and KOA, remembered him fondly.
“He was very smart, very friendly,” said Kimbrough, now a spokesperson for the Denver district attorney. “He always had a way of looking at things in a unique manner.”
“He would ask a question that no one had thought of” while covering a story and that is what made him so good, she said.
After he migrated from hard news reporting to a radio talk-show host, Weber became known for his pranks, his colleagues said. This included a series of “April Fools” programs. He also had Santa Claus arrested and once urged his listeners to drive by a Denver hotel in the middle of the night and honk their horns. The aim was to disrupt the sleep of a football team that was to play the Broncos the next day.
Jerry Bell, managing editor of news at 850-KOA, recalled Weber as having “a really playful sense of humor.”
Bell said two April Fools’ programs stand out in particular. Weber convinced people that the gold on the dome of the state Capitol was being replaced and was being chipped off. The gold could be found on the lawn surrounding the Capitol, Weber said. That caused dozens of people to turn up at the Capitol, said Bell.
Another time, Weber had a subway entrance built at the Comedy Works in Lower Downtown. Weber convinced dozens of listeners that Denver now had a subway system.
And then there was Santa Claus. Weber had a Denver police officer — who was in on the joke — arrest and handcuff a Santa — also in on the joke — at the Tabor Center. A trial was held at the Denver City and County Building and broadcast live.
It was all done in good fun, said Bell, and Santa was acquitted. But some listeners thought it could have been traumatic had kids seen Santa arrested, Bell recalled.
“He had a real passion for radio,” said Bell. “He had a way of capturing sound (during his broadcasts) and taking you to the scene.”
Bell remembers his reaction the first time he heard a Weber newscast.
“I said to myself, ‘This guy is really good,’ ” said Bell. “He was part of the community.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
