Thursday, July 1, 2010

Marty Ambrose - Rest in Peace

I was sad today to learn of the passing of Marty Ambrose, long time traffic announcer in Houston, who succumbed to the ravages of Lou Gehrig's disease. If at any time in the last 30-odd years you've ever been stuck in Houston traffic and turned on the radio to find out what the problem was and how to get around it, then you've heard Marty. His calm and reassuring delivery probably did as much to ease the pain of the situation as any information he had to pass along.

He was there at the beginning of traffic reporting in Houston and I met him back in the 70s when I was at KODA. I seldom actually worked with him on the air as I seldom worked in drive-time shifts but I know he was as nice a guy as you could ever want to meet and a total professional.

My condolences to his family and to the greater Houston radio family on the loss of a great one.

Here's a recent interview Channel 13 did with Marty.

And the Chronicle published a nice tribute to Marty on July 4th.

1 comment:

Jake said...

Marty was like our friendly Great Uncle on the radio....his always unflinching, calm, soothing staccato voice kept us sane when we were stuck on I-10, 610 West Loop, North Freeway, 290@Mangum, the list is endless. I had just recently rediscovered him again on KUHF earlier this year and was delighted to hear him again. Off the air, Marty was the most generous, warm, friendly man you could ask for. My wife had the pleasure of working with him for awhile about 10 years ago. I met him in person a couple of times, and I KNOW if I had met him again recently, he would remember me. Marty remembered everybody.