SHELBURNE — Franklin County is mourning the death of local radio pioneer Phil Drumheller, 15 months after he signed off the airwaves to close out his 70-year career in broadcasting.

Phil D, as he was known to area listeners, died on July 14, surrounded by his family. He was 85, and those who knew him say the industry has lost a treasure who set a high bar.

“He was an icon,” local DJ and radio personality Robert “Bobby C” Campbell said this week. “When I started my DJ business, I always told everyone, ‘I want to be like Phil D.’”

Campbell recalled Drumheller’s Friday night oldies show that ran from 8 p.m. to midnight on WHAI.

“It was huge. The guy had the biggest following of any DJ in this area in his prime,” Campbell said. “People would have home parties, they would literally be playing cards and listening to Phil D. That’s crazy.”

Drumheller aired his final show from his South Shelburne Road home in Shelburne on April 6, 2022, after which time ownership and operation of his WIZZ radio station transferred to Saga Communications, which also runs WHAI 98.3, Bear Country 95.3, The Outlaw 92.3 and EZ107.5 out of a station on Woodard Road in Greenfield.

“I think it’s time,” he told the Greenfield Recorder the day before his final show. “I’m in my 70th year of broadcasting. It’s been a worthwhile, happy career.”

Paul Drumheller, one of Phil’s sons, said his siblings and other relatives have been flooded via social media with condolences from former colleagues and listeners since his father died. He said Phil worked for 13 stations over those seven decades and sold WIZZ while he was experiencing some health problems.

“The personality you heard on the radio was the same personality he conveyed to us, even if he was in pain,” Paul Drumheller said. “He never took a sick day. He was like the Energizer Bunny.”

Paul Drumheller said his dad was a father first and foremost, and used to set reel-to-reel audio tape recorders so his kids could “play radio station at the house.”

Maggie Haigis, whose grandfather John W. Haigis founded WHAI, worked with Phil Drumheller at the station for years. She recalled learning how the broadcasting legend maintained such vitality and enthusiasm during his evening shows on WRFI and, later, WHAI.

“People wonder where he got his energy. He was just fired up the entire time ... and just had this huge energy,” she said. “He always started his show with doughnuts.”

Haigis said she met Drumheller when he was already a veteran broadcaster with a dream of owning his own station.

“He worked at it and he got it,” she recalled. “Not everybody gets to live their dream, and he did.”

Drumheller and his late wife, Michele, bought the license, land and equipment that had been WPOE and WGAM and established their own radio company, P & M Radio LLC, which started operating on Feb. 1, 2003, after the Federal Communications Commission approved the license transfer. The station played music spanning a few generations, dating back to the 1930s and ’40s. Rock ’n’ roll pioneers like Bill Haley, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis were near and dear to him.

“He was just connected to the music and connected to his audience,” Haigis said. “He lived it, he loved it.”

According to his obituary, Drumheller was born to the late George and Mildred (Cummings) Drumheller in Springfield on Nov. 20, 1937. The day before he retired, he told the Recorder that he started his radio career at Springfield Trade High School in 1953, working for the school’s FM station “before FM was really popular.” His first commercial radio job was with WKO in Springfield, where he handled the morning and afternoon programs. He rode his bicycle 20 minutes to get to the station by 7 a.m. because he was not yet old enough to drive.

In the early 1960s, he started in the position he held the longest, working at WHYN in Springfield for 20 years until the station was sold. He then joined Ed Skutnik’s WRSI, hitting the streets to sell advertising time to local businesses until the station got on the air, and later WHAI in Greenfield.

Drumheller was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2010, though he was unable to attend the ceremony in Quincy due to having had an unexpected heart attack days prior. Paul, who told the Recorder the health emergency was “the worst timing ever,” accepted the award on his behalf. The elder Drumheller attended the ceremony the following year in an event he admitted was unsatisfying, because the industry peers who voted him into the Hall of Fame were not present.

Paul Drumheller said his father worked until age 84 — not because he needed to, but because he wanted to.

“‘The show must go on’ — that was his attitude. He did it as long as he could,” he said. “His hobby was his job, too. He was just doing what he loved every day.”

Visiting hours are scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. at Smith-Kelleher Funeral Home at 87 Franklin St. in Greenfield on Friday. A Liturgy of Christian Burial is set for 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity Catholic Church at 133 Main St. in Greenfield on Saturday. People are asked to meet directly at the church, not at the funeral home on Saturday morning. Burial services will be private.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Drumheller’s honor to Rays of Hope or the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Western Massachusetts.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.

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