Thanks to a friend of The Laurel for sharing with us this great tribute to Ed Flynn who is signing off from WATR 1320-am in Waterbury:
WATR’s Ed Flynn, who surprised his “Talk of the Town” listeners this week with the news that he would be handing over hosting duties to Larry Rifkin after 18 years, got a surprise of his own on Christmas Eve.
In the last hour of the annual Christmas program he co-hosts with his daughter, Regan, Flynn was unexpectedly joined in person by Waterbury area state Senator Joan Hartley (D-15) and state representatives Selim Noujaim (R-74) and Jeff Berger (D-73) who came bearing the gift of a proclamation from Gov. M. Jodi Rell. The proclamation, which details and salutes Flynn’s 55 years in broadcasting and his pending departure from his daily talk show, declares Dec. 31, 2009 “Ed Flynn Day” in the state of Connecticut.
The proclamation and the appearance of its presenters was organized by Regan Flynn, who works for the Waterbury Regional Chamber of Commerce and on Thursday co-hosted the final “Christmas with the Flynns,” a station staple for several years featuring her and her father.
Flynn, in noting the proclamation’s lengthy detail of his career in broadcasting dating back to the early 1950s, joked it was “quite obvious I could never hold a job for very long” and asked the visiting legislators tongue in cheek if state flags are to be flown at half mast on the day bearing his name.
