André Baruch

André Baruch (August 20, 1908 – September 15, 1991) was an American broadcaster who had a familiar voice as a film narrator and on radio as an announcer, news commentator, talk show host, disc jockey and sportscaster.

Although Baruch made his name as a major announcer, he tried to begin his career as a pianist for NBC Radio. He got into the wrong line of applicants; he had entered the announcers' line and was hired on the spot. A native of France, he spoke fluent French, as well as fluent English.

A World War II veteran, Baruch was in the original invasion of North Africa, spent almost four years overseas and was honorably discharged as a major. Baruch was involved in the mid-1940s launching of the Armed Forces Radio Service with stations in Algiers, Casablanca, Oran, Sicily and Tunis.

Mr. and Mrs. Music

After World War II, Baruch and his wife, singer Bea Wain worked as a husband-and-wife disc jockey team in New York on WMCA, where they were billed as Mr. and Mrs. Music. Their show was later presented on the ABC and NBC networks.

Baruch was an announcer for such programs as The American Album of Familiar Music,[1] The Fred Waring Show, The Kate Smith Show, The Shadow, Your Hit Parade and The United States Steel Hour.

In 1954, fulfilling a 20-year dream, he was named to the Brooklyn Dodgers broadcast team, for whom he worked for two years on WMGM radio and WOR-TV.

In 1973, Baruch and Wain moved to Palm Beach, Florida where they did a top-rated daily four-hour talk show on WPBR, 1340 AM. Baruch was the host of the show and ran the control board. Wain on occasions asked him to play tape cartridges (a selection of about 12 hung in a metal rack on the wall to the right of Bea) of vintage songs she had once recorded, the most popular being "Deep Purple."

When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls
And the stars begin to twinkle in the sky—
In the mist of a memory you wander back to me
Breathing my name with a sigh...

After nine years in Palm Beach, Florida at WPBR radio, Baruch and Wain relocated to Beverly Hills, California. During the early 1980s, the pair hosted a syndicated version of Your Hit Parade, reconstructing the list of hits of selected weeks in the 1940s and playing the original recordings.

The couple had two children: Bonnie Baruch and her husband, Mark Barnes, operate a vineyard in Northern California and run the Daisy Foundation, an organization which recognizes nurses for their critical role in patient care and supports research towards the cure of autoimmune diseases. Wayne Baruch has a career in the music and theatre business, and his wife, Shelley Baruch, is a theatrical producer and filmmaker.

References

  1. ↑ Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. P. 25.

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