Jim "Brady" Felton

FELTON

Jim "Brady"



Jim "Brady" Felton, a.k.a., Jim Brady, Mark Richards, Scott Brady, Chuck Brady, (pick one already), legendary radio air personality, issued his RSVP to Rock and Roll Heaven on Thursday, June 5, 2014, after a five year battle with cancer. He was 67.

Jim Felton (real name) was born in Toledo, OH on August 21, 1946, to Edward and Eloise Felton. He graduated from Devilbiss High School. While still in high school, he saw Fred Mitchell, a longtime Toledo DJ doing a remote radio broadcast from a furniture store. Jim said, "you can make a living doing this?" Fred Mitchell responded, "yeah, you can do alright." From that point forward a radio broadcasting career was born.

In 1963, Jim Felton started working in radio at the former WTOL Radio, now WCWA, while still in high school. In January, 1967, he moved to Ft. Wayne, IN to work at WLYV as Program Director. But a year later, in January, 1968, found himself at CKLW, The Big-8 in Windsor, Ontario as Mark Richards. It was a time when powerhouse CLKW was the number one station not only in Windsor, but Detroit, Cleveland, and Toledo. While at CKLW, he had the chance to meet Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With Dr. King still in the studio and getting ready to intro a James Brown song, he said on the air, "The REAL soul king is in the studio right now, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself" But the memory was bittersweet when a month later, Dr. King was shot and killed in Memphis.

Jim Felton returned to WCWA to work as the morning air personality and program director, but again his talents were called elsewhere. After a brief stint in Montreal, Jim Felton went to WKLO in Louisville, KY in 1971. Then came the big move to Toronto in 1973, where he was given the opportunity to do the morning show at 680 CFTR. It was what would be the signature moment in his career. His "Brady in the Morning" show helped take the station to number one in the market, and in the process, he became the most listened to radio air personality in Canada.

While at CFTR Toronto, he met Eric Idle of Monty Python fame who appeared on his show and later that same week met up again with Eric Idle and Beatle George Harrison while on a first-class flight to London. In 1977, he was invited to watch the Rolling Stones perform one of the band's legendary surprise club dates at the El Mocambo in downtown Toronto. Jim "Brady" Felton would spend the next 18 years in Canadian radio, working not only in Toronto, but Calgary and Winnipeg as well.

His career would also take him to Los Angeles and Dallas-Ft. Worth before returning to Toledo in 1996, where he worked at WRVF, WCWA, and WRQN. He retired from radio on June 30, 2008, from WRQN.

In his retirement, Jim remained active. He became a published author when he co-authored a novel, "Death on the Dial" about a radio murder. He sold real estate and he did freelance voice work which included radio commercials for The Maritime Academy of Toledo and voiced TV commercials for D. Michael Collins during his mayoral campaign in 2013.

He was also a regular at Sidelines on Laskey Rd. where he loved to meet friends and play trivia. His 17,261,100 trivia points is tops at Sidelines.

He was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Linda, and his twin children, Stephanie and Edward. He is also survived by his former wives, Judy Felton and PatYancy-Felton.

Family and friends may visit at the Sujkowski Funeral Home of Rossford, 830 Lime City Rd. on Monday, June 9, from 2 to 8 p.m. A Celebration of Life will take place on Tuesday, June 10, at 11 a.m. in the funeral home. Interment will follow at Ft. Meigs Cemetery. The family would like to express a special thank you to the nursing staff at Hospice of Northwest Ohio, especially nurses Tracy, Kathy, and Jenny. Contributions can be directed to Hospice of Northwest Ohio or the American Cancer Society.

Jim "Brady" Felton's final wish is that everyone see their doctor and get a check-up. Jim did not have his first colonoscopy until he was 62 years old. It was at that time his cancer was discovered. As he said in his final interview given to The Toledo Blade, "I probably could have saved a whole lot of trouble. People have got to wake up and do it. I'm as guilty as the next guy of not checking it out. Get out there and get checked."

Jim Brady Felton ended his shows with a line that came from a time when he was being potty-trained. His mother put him on the toilet and then there was an unexpected phone call. "I sat there for a pretty long time yelling, "come get me mother, I'm through." With that, Jim Brady Felton requested that his life end with that line, "Come get me mother, I'm through!" Hopefully she's still not on the phone.

www.sujkowskirossford.com