A message from Stan's son, Chris Major:
Stan lived, without a doubt in my mind, one of the most incredible, storied, and satisfying lives anyone could ever hope for. The places he traveled, people he met, and memories he made were enough to last ten lifetimes.
Born Stanley Thomas Major on September 9th, 1935 in Paris, Illinois, Stan spent the better part of the last century journeying around the world, experiencing things of which many of us could only dream.
His life, in my opinion, has always been something to be celebrated. To my friends and I, my father's legend would grow with every story and recollection. It was for this reason that I insisted he begin writing everything down a few years ago. What started as a simple collection of documents on his computer quickly turned into the idea to publish a blog.
I believe it is monumental that Stan's voice and thoughts have been experienced across the entire chronological spectrum of media's technological evolution...from early 1950s local radio to being globally broadcast via NBC News during Vietnam, to national broadcast and satellite radio, all the way through writing a successful blog and having all of the aforementioned media archived digitally online. His work started on a Ham radio station in rural Illinois, and ended up being permanently archived for the entire world on YouTube, Soundcloud, and Google - to borrow a line from our favorite show, Mad Men... "He's an astronaut".
It pains me greatly to write these words, knowing how many of you have followed him over the years and admired not just his recent writings but his entire body of work. It has taken me the entire month to find the strength needed to make this announcement, and for that I apologize.
I will continue to update this blog and repost his best stories from time to time. It has long been a dream of mine to collect his stories, edit them, and turn them into a book for him. I was not able to accomplish this during his life, but still hope to out of respect...something I can pass on to my kids some day...if anyone out there knows someone who can help make this a reality some day, please reach out to me.
I thank you all for continuing to keep Stan's memories alive, and invite you all to revisit this blog, dive into the archives, and relive his stories with me. I assure you...there is some amazing stuff written in these pages. Please feel free to leave comments or reach out to me personally at followmajor@gmail.com for any reason.
And one last time, his classic line...
"This is Stan Major, NBC News, Saigon, signing off..."
Thank you.
Here is one of Stan's greatest moments, interviewing President Richard Nixon:
Godspeed, Stanley T.
ReplyDeleteRIP Stan Major. Besides Neil Rogers, Stan was one of the earliest talk radio hosts I listened to regularly on WIOD in the late 80s. With few to no guests, he always kept things entertaining.
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ReplyDeleteRIP
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ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your loss Chris. Glad I was able to speak with him a few months ago about old times. RIP
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in High School I came in 2nd to Stan in the State Speech competition. Followed his career. Sorry to see his passing, but he lived it well. Bud Sechrest
ReplyDeleteThere was this radio host I used to listen to in the early 70s, very low on my clock radio lest I disturb my parents down the hall. I couldn't recall his name beyond "Stan", but I clearly remember being 13 and feeling for the first time that I could understand the world as an adult.
ReplyDeleteStill working on that four decades later, but finally "Stan"'s full name popped into my head out of nowhere. Stan Major. That led me here, and it's been a pleasure reconnecting, even if posthumously. RIP Stan Major.
I remember Stan when he did overnights on the old Sun Radio Network. I was Engineer, PD, Ops Manager for WGAI in Elizabeth City NC where we proudly aired his show. He was entertaining and the way he did his show would make listeners feel like they had someone to relate too on a variety of things. I was a regular caller to the network whenever they would have a technical issues that resulted in .messing up the show. Stan would hear about it and it got to the point that he would say something about it over the air.
ReplyDeleteI miss Stan and how he would do his shoes....in my opinion he was a cut above Larry King and Jim Bohanon.
RIP Stan Major...job well done my friend.