Roughly 50 years ago, an FM Top 40 station using the Drake-Chenault formula mastered at RKO’s KHJ in Los Angeles made WOR-FM a pioneer of static-free hit music radio in New York. One of its air personalities was a 22-year-old up-and-comer named Mark Driscoll.
Four years later, Driscoll would formally establish himself as a audio promo and voice narration specialist while embarking on a radio programming career that made him, in the words of WPAW-FM “93.1 The Wolf” in Greensboro morning host Dale O’Brian, “one of radio’s great talents.”
Now, Driscoll’s voice has forever been silenced, as the industry veteran has died at the age of 72.
The news of Driscoll’s passing on Monday (8/22) was first reported by music and radio trade publication AllAccess.com, with the news shared by longtime radio industry videographer and historian Art Vuolo.
Driscoll had recently relocated to Pompano Beach, Fla., from California, and was in West Palm Beach at the time of his death. He had reportedly been fighting issues related to a fall in July 2022. Radio and Music Pros (RAMP) notes Driscoll was in Hospice.
Driscoll’s voice is instantly recognizable, and like the legendary Ernie Anderson, was heard across both radio and television. More recently, he voiced promos for the ABC series Scandal and was a post-Don Pardo voice of Saturday Night Live for NBC. He also voiced a prime-time highlight reel for FOX.
Driscoll’s TV voiceover work came through representation by Los Angeles-based Avalon Artists Group.
In 1991, Driscoll was far more recognized for his liners and station promotional work at Radio, with clients including WKHI-FM in Ocean City, Md.; KKLQ-FM “Q106” in San Diego; and KTFM “Hot 103” in San Antonio. He was also a key voice at the time Scott Shannon arrived at WPLJ in New York, switching the station to “Mojo Radio” following his run in Los Angeles at “Pirate Radio.” Additionally, Driscoll was a key imaging and promotions voice for WIOQ-FM “Q102” in Philadelphia from the moment it debuted in 1989 — an era that saw the station topple WEGX “Eagle 106” in the market’s Top 40 wars.
“He was part of the psychological thinking when Randy Michaels put on ‘The Power Pig’ in Tampa,” recalls Tony Novia, the former CHR/Pop Editor at Radio & Records who had served as VP/GM of stations such as WHYI “Y-100” in Miami and WSTR “Star 94” in Atlanta.
Driscoll’s career began as a teenager, in Dallas, working at a radio station owned by Top 40 pioneer Gordon McLendon.
He’d work at scores of radio stations, including WBBF in Rochester, N.Y., in 1974; KSTP/Minneapolis in 1976; and WNBC-AM in New York, where he held the 6pm-10pm slot until October 1978 before shifting to independent voiceover work and his efforts as a programming consultant were honed. His client upon exiting WNBC: KELI in Tulsa.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION BY ADAM R JACOBSON
As a kid growing up in the Hudson Valley of New York, there were several influences that got me hooked on radio. Scott Shannon was a big one. Before that, it was John Records Landecker, as WLS could boom in at night, giving our little town a Top 40 home. In 1989, Mark Driscoll would be added to that list. At that time, freestyle dance music had gained popularity, along with a modern rock-fueled wave of music that Houston’s two Top 40 stations embraced. In the Northeast, combining the two genres didn’t work. But, some elements of that formula did. When WIOQ dropped its Oldies format under EZ Communications ownership, it became “The New Q102.” Driscoll did all of the liners and the top-of-the-hour identifiers. The music was one thing, with the pitch control shifted waaaay high. But, it was Driscoll’s voice that made this the station to listen to as Eagle 106 listeners flew away across the Delaware Valley. We couldn’t hear Q102, but trips to Philadelphia yielded plenty of cassette tapes of the station recorded while in the region. One of those cassette tapes remains in our collection. It’s just too bad we don’t have a working cassette player. Thank you, Mark Driscoll, for your contribution to the radio industry. Your voice left an indelible mark, and influenced perhaps more individuals than I to pursue a career in this crazy little industry.
