11 thoughts on “‘Radio Reader’ host Dick Estell dies at 90

  1. Dick Estell: That time at Oregon Public Broadcasting in the early 1990s, when there was a problem with part of the Radio Reader feed and an on-staff announcer had to “read” the rest of that missing section for the listeners. Feedback was swift and unforgiving! No one could then, or now, replace Dick Estell!

  2. Many years ago I listened to Dick Estell on a public radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area. I loved that radio show.

  3. Could the recordings of his shows be circulated as a podcast? Also, where can I find a list of all the books Dick Estell read on air over the years? I have found it in the past, but it seems to be gone now.
    I loved this show. I grew up listening to it and miss it.

  4. I listened to him read The Chamber (John Grisham) in 1993 at work in Southeast Florida. I would write code while listening to him on my headset.. A true service provider to the masses.

  5. True story: I discovered “Radio Reader” quite by accident. I was shopping in a used clothing store, being mostly broke and borderline homeless (later to become completely thus, but that’s another story.) I had next to nothing, but I did have books, and I always had a radio. Imagine my delight when I heard the store playing Radio Reader. I asked what station they had on–WPLN in Louisville–and I was a devoted listener from that day till I moved in the early 90s.

  6. My wife had died, I remarried and got a new job in Joplin Missouri. On the night shift, I tuned in every night to hear Dick Estell read from a book. I really enjoyed it. It was refreshing to hear him telling another story. I will never forget Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox. Dick had just the right, soothing voice. I will never forget those stories that he told.

  7. Radio Reader was broadcast weekday afternoons on WNYC in New York in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
    I would listen daily between service calls driving around NYC. I miss Dick Estell and Radio Reader.

  8. I still miss The Radio Reader and Dick Estell! I made it a point to make sure I was near my radio for his 30-minutes daily broadcast. When we moved from the San Francisco Bay area yo North CarolinaI became a member of WKAR in Michigan just so I could listen to Dick every weekday morning. It seems like it would be a great program to rebroadcast on NPR. I’m sure many of us would delight in listening to Dick read books from the past. One doesn’t have to listen to the “latest and greatest” to delight in Dick’s delivery. A Podcast would also be a delight. Heck, if they can do it for Art Bell’s radio programs why can’t they do it for Dick Estell’s?

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