William O”™Shaughnessy, owner of Westchester radio stations WVOX and WVIP, has died at his home in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was 84.
O”™Shaughnessy was a former president of the New York State Broadcasters and chairman of public affairs for the National Association of Broadcasters. He served as editorial director of WVOX. He was chairman of the Guardian Fund of the Broadcasters Foundation.
O”™Shaughnessy had written a number of books in which he told about his encounters with various politicians and celebrities and talked about radio broadcasting and his experiences operating what have turned out to be among the last remaining full-service community radio stations in the U.S.
He served as president and CEO of Whitney Radio, the parent company of WVOX and WVIP. O”™Shaughnessy and his radio stations received numerous awards over the years. Some of them are:
- Â Indiana University Award for “Outstanding Editorials in the United States”
- Â Abe Lincoln National Award, Southern Baptist Radio”“TV Commission
- Â George Washington Medal of Honor, Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge
- Â Crystal Prism Award, American Advertising Federation
- Â League of Women Voters Award for Communications
- Â Italian-American Columbus National Award
- Â Communications Medals, Archdiocese of New York
- Westchester County Distinguished Service Medal for Public Service
- Corporate Achievement Award, NAACP
Visiting hours are scheduled for May 31 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Lloyd Maxey funeral home at 16 Shea Place in New Rochelle. A Funeral Mass is scheduled for June 1 at 11:30 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 49 South St., in Litchfield. Interment to follow at St. Anthony”™s Cemetery, also in Litchfield.
The broadcasting trade publication “Talkers” reported that O’Shaughnessey had been battling cancer.
The publication “Yonkers Times” quoted Westchester County Executive George Latiimer as saying, “Bill O”™Shaughnessy was a giant in Westchester. He single handedly kept WVOX as the last local media voice”¦. he was the chronicler and compadre of the famous in this County. He knew them all, interviewed them all. He waxed poetically about them all. He reported on their comings and going”™s, and especially their final departures. He knew, perhaps alone, the impacts they had on his home Heath. And now, he is with those he knew so well from Hughie Doyle to Alfred Benedict DelBello, hoisting a beverage in remembrance of a Westchester now gone, but not yet forgotten. Rest In Peace, Bill.”
