Tom Noller (McCarthy) Checks In

Hey Jason!

I discovered your website after my wife asked me what became of Jordan Steele on KING-5 and it’s now bookmarked on my old PC’s browser! Reading one story leads to another and I’ll never get out of my chair if I keep going. Ha!

I’m the air personality formerly known as Tom McCarthy and spent over twenty years on the Puget Sound airwaves, now retired after a 50 year career tune-spooning the ballad-salad up the platter-ladder. (sorry…)

A few years back, I digitized all my photo albums and could look for radio related pics you might find interesting. I had only a few wonderful years working with Larry Nelson and Norm Gregory, to name a few. When I was at KOMO, we were transitioning from music to news/talk and I wasn’t controversial or incendiary so my years there were short.

Two shots of Larry Nelson, the long-time morning guy at KOMO and one of the truly big hearted, kind and super people you remember in life.
Also in one of the pics is the terrific Gina Tuttle, also now retired. She worked with me during many of my Warm 106.9 years doing news and traffic.

Also found one of when I was PM drive guy at WGY in Schenectady, 10 years before… and more recently, when Lionel Richie came to visit when I was at Warm 106.9, probably about 2009.

Notice, nature has not been kind to my hairline – from the early shot to the latest! Most likely, the KOMO studio pic is the most relevant to your audience. We were spinning the hits back then, playing CDs and the monitor at the left we flipped between Newstar (AP news copy delivery by early internet) and the WA State DOT cameras.
All in all, it was great fun and our PD at the time was Rob Dunlop, who’s now the president of KCTS-TV and doesn’t look a day older than when he hired me! Rich Robertson was GM.
When KOMO transitioned to news, they no longer needed a “song & dance man” so they cut me loose and eventually I ended up at Warm. 15 years later, after a wonderful time hosting mornings, ownership decided to sell their Seattle stations and they said goodbye to me, Will Johnson, Daryl Summers and our Production Director, Eric Prill. A good friend was the morning man and PD at Des Moines, Iowa’s WHO-AM and he offered me the morning news anchor spot, which I took. At 66 and tired of bone-chillin’ winters and hot, humid summers I retired in 2018 and we were able to sell our home and move back to western WA.
I’ve been so blessed to have worked with fantastic men & women over the years…learn so much and have more fun than a grown-up should be allowed to have after 50 years in the business!