Wally Kennedy, former 6abc host and KYW anchor, has died at 76

Walter “Wally” Kennedy, 76, of Exton, radio broadcaster and longtime 6abc host known for his wide-ranging interviews with celebrities and Philadelphia politicos, died at home Wednesday, Oct. 30, of lung cancer.

Mr. Kennedy was a 6abc fixture for more than 20 years, hosting morning news shows AM Live and AM Philadelphia before transitioning to host the station’s attempt at a late-night talk show, Philly After Midnight. There, Mr. Kennedy perfected his personable and intimate approach to interviewing stars, churning out memorable conversations with the likes of Rosie O’Donnell and Prince Albert of Monaco, in which they bonded over how his mother — Grace Kelly — was a Philly girl.

“Wally was a consummate news professional who loved Philly and loved working in service to our viewers. His ability to listen and connect with his subjects was unparalleled and made him one of the greats,” Bernie Prazenica, 6abc’s president and general manager, said in a statement.

Amy Buckman, Mr. Kennedy’s former producer, called him innately curious, with a penchant for taking his interview subjects “on a journey where they would end up feeling comfortable enough to share things they’d never thought they would.”

“Wally’s unique skill was to really listen to how people answered his questions and then follow up to ask what everyone was logically wondering,” said Buckman, who later became an on-air personality at 6abc herself. “He prepared for his interviews, but he had this ability to pivot down unexpected paths that led to very revealing” discussions.

Mr. Kennedy grew up in Chicago, and fell into broadcasting after entering a contest to guest host as a teen DJ on the radio station WLS while a freshman at Columbia College. After bouncing around radio stations in Evanston, Ill., and a stint in the Army Reserves, Mr. Kennedy got his first break as an overnight talk-radio host in Flint, Mich. He landed in Philadelphia in 1981 as on-air talent for what is now 1210 WPHT after a CBS radio talent scout poached him from a major station in Atlanta. Three years later, he began his decades-long television career.

“Growing up in a large Irish Catholic family with a college professor dad, talk came pretty naturally,” Mr. Kennedy told Broadcast Pioneers in 2011, when he was inducted into the local industry group’s Hall of Fame.

Buckman first met Mr. Kennedy when she was an intern for his talk-radio show on WCAU — 1210 WPHT’s precursor — in 1982. She went on to work with Mr. Kennedy at 6abc until he left the station in 2004.

“I learned just by watching him,” said Buckman, recalling their nine-month stint covering the O.J. Simpson trial and a particular string of interviews she and Mr. Kennedy did with women incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution in Muncy for committing high-profile crimes, such as Sylvia Seegrist, who killed three people during a 1985 shooting at the Springfield Mall. “He was able to humanize them beyond the sensationalized headlines.”

Action News anchor Matt O’Donnell recalled a similar experience in a tribute to Mr. Kennedy that he posted to Facebook. The megawatt host reviewed audition tapes and wrote recommendation letters on O’Donnell’s behalf when he was trying to break into the industry, persuading 6abc executives to give O’Donnell an internship at the station while he was in college.

“If it weren’t for Wally Kennedy, I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair delivering the news to you this morning,” O’Donnell wrote.

Try as hard as he might not to let it, Mr. Kennedy’s work often followed him back home to Chester County, where his daughter Kaitlin Kennedy recalled getting stopped by strangers while out with her father on Saturday lunch dates to mall food courts. Once, his wife, Glendia Kennedy, said, an Action News helicopter even landed in their backyard to drop Mr. Kennedy off after covering a major snowstorm.

Still, Mr. Kennedy’s wife and daughter stressed, the brightness of Mr. Kennedy’s star did not blind him. “Even when he became well known, he still came back home every night and was grounded” enough to do normal things — mowing the lawn, changing diapers, reciting bedtime stories — Glendia Kennedy said.

Kaitlin Kennedy’s favorite memories of her dad are equally simple: dancing around the house to Motown, being dragged by her parents to Temptations and Four Tops concerts at the bygone Valley Forge Music Fair, and getting chastised to practice her handshake. The latter was part of Mr. Kennedy’s signature piece of advice.

“It was always ‘Never underestimate the power of a good handshake’ and ‘Be kind to everyone,’” she said.

After departing 6abc in 2004, Mr. Kennedy boomeranged back to radio, where he served as an anchor for KYW until 2019 while teaching broadcast journalism classes at Temple and Immaculata Universities.

“We were so fortunate to have had Wally Kennedy on the KYW Newsradio team,” David Yadgaroff, Audacy Philadelphia’s senior vice president and marketing manager, said in a statement. “His professionalism, expertise, warm way, and genuine curiosity made him such a delight to our audience.”

As he waded slowly into retirement, Mr. Kennedy’s favorite pastimes were brushing up on World War II history, watching classic films, and reading children’s books to his only granddaughter in his deep radio voice. Broadcasting, it seems, never quite left him.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Kennedy is survived by another daughter, Erin; a son, Tom; a brother, Thomas Kennedy Jr.; sisters Mary Anne Kennedy-O’Neill and Kathleen Kennedy; a granddaughter, Gwendolyn Grace Denofa; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

A celebration of life will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, at SS. Philip and James Catholic Church, 723 Lincoln Highway East, Exton, Pa. 19341.

Donations may be made to SS. Philip and James School, 721 Lincoln Highway East, Exton, Pa. 19341, or the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia scholarship fund via email at pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com.