Announcer Fred Foy, best known for his work on the radio and television versions of The Lone Ranger, passed away yesterday at the age of 89. According to The New York Times, Foy began working at radio station WXYZ in Detroit in 1942, was an announcer for Armed Forces Radio during World War II, and then returned to WXYZ, where he became announcer for “The Lone Ranger” radio show in 1948. The show, which began in 1933, aired until September of 1954. The television version debuted in 1949 and produced 221 episodes before going off the air in 1957.
Here’s an excerpt from Foy’s 2008 interview with the Archive of American Television in which he discusses The Lone Ranger:
An obituary can be found at The New York Times. Here is Foy’s entry at the Radio Hall of Fame. And here is a page at the Lone Ranger Fan Club about Foy.
Even later, Foy joined ABC’s New York announcing staff starting in 1960; in his early years, he rotated with other staffers in “anchoring” “Action Central News” updates at :55 and :25 at WABC Radio 77 in its early years of playing Top 40 radio. Besides “The Lone Ranger,” Foy’s other most famous gig was as announcer for Dick Cavett on his numerous ABC talk shows at various times (late morning, prime time and, most famously, late night) from the late 1960’s to the first half of the ’70’s; Cavett noted that Foy’s voice used to give him goosebumps, and Foy occasionally revived his “thrilling days of yesteryear” spiel from “The Lone Ranger” on the Cavett show to uproarious audience applause. In his later years with ABC, Foy frequently did local booth work at WABC-TV, including promos for “The 4:30 Movie” in 1980; after retiring from ABC in 1985, Foy did several record offer commercials (with the late Gene Edwards heard at the end advising where to send your money for the records in question).
Foy’s TV tenure on “THE LONE RANGER” didn’t begin until the fall of 1954 (just as the radio show ceased producing new episodes), when Clayton Moore returned after the season featuring his temporary replacement, John Hart. In earlier seasons, Gerald Mohr was the show’s announcer, delivering a somewhat menacing tone in his “bumpers” {“Be with us again next week, at this same time, when General Mills brings you another exciting adventure. THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN!!”}- this wasn’t surprising, given his usual tendency to play “tough guys” and the like. With Foy, it was like “old home week”.