Dick Bertel, a trailblazing figure in Connecticut radio and beyond, has passed away at the age of 92. His family confirmed that he died on Monday in Maryland, surrounded by loved ones.

Bertel had a long and varied career in radio broadcasting that spanned several decades and multiple stations in the northeast and abroad. His journey began in the late 1940s at Fairfield County radio stations in the New York suburbs, during a time when the FCC had just lifted its wartime ban on issuing new licenses. This period also saw the rise of commercial television and the struggle of FM radio to find an audience.

Bertel’s first station was WNLK in Norwalk, where he began as an unpaid news writer and announcer while still in high school. He later moved to WNAB in Bridgeport, and during this period, he earned a degree in broadcasting from New York University. Bertel also worked for WGCH in Greenwich, where he hosted various shows and became the acting program director.

In 1954, he moved to WSTC in Stamford, and by 1955, eyeing a larger market, he transitioned to Hartford’s WGTH Radio. In 1956, he joined the prestigious WTIC Radio, owned by the Travelers Insurance Company. Bertel managed WKSS, a “beautiful music” station, from 1978 to 1984 before becoming the executive producer for Voice of America. He also worked as an anchor for Washington, D.C.’s all-news radio station WTOP, as well as for NBC Radio Network and Mutual Broadcasting System.

Throughout his career, Bertel took on multiple roles, from announcer and host to program director and executive producer, showcasing his versatility and commitment to the field of radio broadcasting.

Obituary from Radio Ink

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With his family by his side, Richard E. Bertelmann, who was professionally known as Dick Bertel throughout most of his extensive media career, passed away peacefully at Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, Maryland on the morning of September 11, 2023. He was 92.

Dick was born in the Bronx, New York on January 6, 1931, and spent his childhood in its bucolic Wakefield neighborhood before his family relocated to Darien, Connecticut in 1944. Before he had even graduated from high school there, he had landed an announcing position at a nearby radio station. By the time he earned his broadcasting degree from New York University in 1952, he had already garnered four years of experience working at WNLK Norwalk, WGCH (FM) Greenwich, and WNAB Bridgeport.

He met his beloved wife Jean, then a nurse at Stamford Hospital, while working at WSTC, the local radio station there. They were married a year later in 1955 and relocated to Hartford, Conn. where he joined the staff of the legendary 50,000-watt radio station WTIC, owned at that time by the Travelers Insurance Companies.

He quickly became one of Connecticut’s best known and most versatile media personalities. In 1957 WTIC put its long-awaited television station, Channel 3 (WFSB today), on the air, thereby opening a whole new broadcast dimension for Dick. Television was still in its formative years, allowing him to experiment with new concepts and approaches.

Dick’s WTIC assignments included a wide variety of high-profile TV and radio programs. They culminated in 1972 with his appointment as the anchor of Channel 3’s Six O’clock Report.

He was recruited to be the vice president and general manager of an easy listening radio station in Hartford, WKSS, in 1978. He also hosted the morning show.

In 1984 the Voice of America, for which Dick had been a freelance correspondent for more than 15 years, offered him a fulltime position. To be near its Washington, D.C. headquarters, he and Jean relocated from Wethersfield, Conn. to Gaithersburg, Md. During the first several years at VOA, he also anchored newscasts for all-news radio institution WTOP as well as the NBC and Mutual radio networks.

Before Dick retired in 2006, he managed affiliate relations for its VOA Europe network from an office in Munich, Germany. He also created, produced, and hosted the global radio and television call-in program Talk to America.

Throughout retirement, Dick volunteered for Montgomery County’s Gilchrest Immigration Center as a teacher of conversation skills for people who speak English as a second language. He stopped in February 2023 only because his health demanded it.

Richard Edwin Bertelmann was predeceased by his father Henry Bertelmann, his mother Martha (née Delventhal) Latz, his stepfather James Latz, and his brother Harry Bertelmann. In addition to many close friends, he is survived by his wife of 67 years, Jean Bertelmann of Gaithersburg, Md.; their daughter Darcy Bertelmann of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; their son Jim Bertelmann of Fairfax, Virginia; their daughter Susan and son-in-law Michael Rau of Leesburg, Va.; their son Doug and daughter-in-law Lynette Bertelmann of Fort Mill, South Carolina; four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and numerous adored nephews and nieces including his brother Harry’s daughter, Nancy Sheets of Reno, Nevada.

At 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 8, 2023, a memorial service will be held in Germantown, Md. at the United Church of Christ of Seneca Valley. It will be livestreamed. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donating to the church at uccsenecavalley.org or to Smile Train, a charity that provides corrective surgery for children born with cleft lips and palates, at donate.smiletrain.org.

Obituary from DeVol Funeral Home

Here is a link to the WTIC Alumni Site, with articles about Dick Bertel.
The Alumni Site was developed by the late Bill Clede, and is maintained by former WTIC Engineer David H. Kaplan.