New York radio icon Bernie McGuirk had a major impact on the lives of many of his colleagues both past and present. On Wednesday, several of them joined Sid Rosenberg on 77 WABC to share their stories.
McGuirk died of prostate cancer last week, he was laid to rest on Monday.
Comedian and actor Rob Bartlett said McGuirk made comedy and bit writing look easy.
“For a guy that wasn’t really in show business, initially, to be able to spit these things out like they were nothing, it was kind of a weird thing to see,” he said. “I was so envious of the stuff that kind of just fell out of his mouth.”
Warner Wolf worked with McGuirk on the “Don Imus Show.” Wolf said McGuirk was a key player on the show replacing newsman and head writer Charles McCord.
“We didn’t miss Charles as much as we would have if Bernie wouldn’t have taken over,” said McCord. “I don’t know how much Bernie was paid by Imus, but it wasn’t enough. Bernie wrote all the answers to the questions for the interviews, and he booked all the guests.”
Fox News host Carly Shimkus met McGuirk when she was an office assistant for Imus back in 2009.
“McGuirk always said hello to me,” Shimkus said. “He would say don’t worry about Imus, you’re doing fine. “I don’t know if it was because he had a daughter himself or he was just that kind of guy, but it just became that kind of relationship. That’s why I will always appreciate him.”
