If microphones could speak, they would sing the praises of Dick Buckley. His rich baritone has been making them all sound good for nearly 60 years. And the message that voice has been delivering for most of those years is one of an everlasting love of jazz music. Buckley’s radio career began in the late forties at a 250 watt station in Fort Wayne, not far from his boyhood home in Decatur, Indiana. In the mid-fifties, Buckley found his way to Chicago, and since then his voice has been one of the most recognizable on local airwaves. In 1977, he brought his jazz program to WBEZ.

In 2004, Chicago Public Radio’s Steve Edwards talked with Buckley, who said that deep voice of his was once even deeper…