John B. Kennedy

John B. Kennedy
Radio: West side of the 1600 block of Vine Street
Newscaster | Radio Personality
Born Jan. 16, 1894 in Quebec, Canada
Died July 22, 1961 in Toronto, Canada

Radio commentator John B. Kennedy espoused an all-business on-air philosophy.

“I hate homey, friendly voices on the air. I’m not friendly. I’m businesslike, and I make no pretense of being a pal of my client. I just work for him,” Kennedy told The Times in 1936, when he was working as a commentator for NBC.

Perhaps it was Kennedy's abhorrence for pretense and small talk that caused him to be fired from every newspaper job he held, but it certainly didn’t interfere with his onrush of fame in other fields.

He took the mic — on "Collier's Hour" — for the first time when he was managing editor of Collier's magazine. He later left Collier's to join NBC.

Outside of his radio work, Kennedy was associated with Herbert Hoover in relief work abroad and had charge of Knights of Columbus activities at the front during World War I.

Born in Canada to an Irish father and French mother, Kennedy came to the United States in 1909 and attended St. Louis University.

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