MACON, Ga. — For nearly 70 years, she's been on the air at 13WMAZ. Before that, she broadcasted across the radio waves.
I got the chance to sit down with a 13WMAZ legend - Del Ward.
She was born right here in Macon in 1926, thinking she was headed for a career in education until a chance meeting with a radio station owner.
Del Ward through the years
“I went to see Al Lowe and he had a job for me. It changed my whole life,” said Ward.
She took the airwaves as a disc jockey at Macon's WNEX, eventually moving on to places like Chicago. She was the first female disc jockey in the U.S. to play all night.
“It was all over the country. Mama listened every night, it was like being at home,” she said.
And then she did come home, where she fell in love with her husband Henley Napier, and had a new proposal to go from radio to television.
“We were all very interested in TV because we knew it was going happen and we wanted to be a part of it,” she said.
She started broadcasting at WMAZ in 1957 and ‘Date with Del’ was a born, an interview segment featuring movers and shakers from around Central Georgia. She stuck with it, still producing a segment for WMAZ today called ‘Personal Profile.’
It was at WMAZ that she also coined her signature sign off – ‘trody tro.’
When asked what it means…
“It’s Delanese,” she said with a smile.
It seems we’re going to have to accept that answer.