Miami Herald article:
ARNIE WARREN, 73
Longtime radio celebrity teamed with 'Amos' on air
Posted on Thu, Apr. 24, 2008 -
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com
Arnie Warren, who began his South Florida radio career as Moon Cat, a pop-spinning disc jockey on WKAT in the early 1960s then created the popular, half-fictional team of Arnie and Amos, died of a heart attack on April 19. He was 73.
Warren, who lived with his wife, Kathleen Field Warren in Wellington, also worked in television, taught television production at Lindsey Hopkins Vocational School, gave motivational speeches, and wrote several business books, including The Great Connection, published in 12 languages.
A member of the National Speakers Association and past president of the Florida Speakers Association, Warren had a smooth baritone, flawless diction and a facility for accents. ''When he read to us, he was Dr. Seuss,'' recalled his daughter, Leslie Warren of Leesburg, Va.
He read books-on-tape for the blind and appeared in high-profile commercials.
''He was the spokesman for Levitz furniture,'' Leslie said, and hosted a local game show called Bowling for Dollars.
Arnold Warren Jr., born in Fall River, Mass., was the son of Ina Warren, an opera singer/pianist, and Arnold Sr., the local newspapers' printing press manager. Through his mother, he discovered the performing arts as a preschooler and, said his daughter, knew immediately what he would do as an adult.
''He learned that. . .he could make people laugh and he fell in love with that,'' Leslie Warren said. A multi-instrumentalist, he played the ukulele ``with style and grace.''
After graduating from Northfield-Mt. Hermon, a prestigious Massachusetts prep school, Warren attended Michigan State University, where he studied hotel management, then graduated from the University of Miami as an English/speech major.
There, he met his first wife, Joan Trout, from whom he was later divorced.
After college, to his parents' surprise, he joined a band, Sonny Bloch and his Coralairs, which played Miami Beach's Rock'n M.B. Lounge and then toured Cuba in the late 1950s. They had a modest hit with the Christmas song, Buona Natale.
Warren's first radio gig was the midnight shift at WKAT. At the time, Sid Levin was vice president/general manager.
''Arnie was remarkably inventive and clever, a lifelong student of whatever he was doing: communication, humor, storytelling,'' Levin said.
''He was too good for the middle of the night,'' Levin said, and was given the coveted morning drive slot.
Warren's show evolved into a talk format that in turn inspired him to create Amos Rutledge, a crusty old Mainer who would ''talk'' to Arnie -- in a thick New England Yankee accent -- on a specially wired microphone.
Amos, a weatherman, supposedly was stationed atop what was then the Dade County Courthouse.
The Arnie and Amos act survived for 13 years on WKAT, WGBS and WIOD.
The fictional Amos, of Kennebunkport, Maine, even ran for president in 1972 -- on the American Dream Party ticket.
''No less than 85,000 automobiles in Dade, Broward and Monroe counties bear bumper stickers emblazoned with the Rutledge name,'' The Miami Herald reported at the time.
He then became ''Commander Bolt'' on a children's television show and worked as a weekend weatherman on WTVJ-TV.
In 1982, when Warren retired from broadcasting and joined the Plantation advertising agency, Brown/Dau and Associates, he told The Miami Herald: ``This is the first 9-5 job I ever had in my life. It's nice to be in sync with the whole world, finally.''
But in 1985, Warren left Florida for KMOX in St. Louis, a high-powered station that was heard from Chicago to Texas. He was a celebrity interviewer, chatting with the likes of First Lady Rosalynn Carter, singer Mel Torme and comic Phyllis Diller.
He became a prolific public speaker, wrote a sequel to The Great Connection, and several other business books, then began working on a historical novel, unfinished at his death.
WRITER'S BLOCK
During a recent period when he developed writer's block, ''he did the damnest thing,'' said Sid Levin. ''He went to work for Apple [computer] for three months. . .He loved his experience with the young people and was still learning from that. It unhinged something with the character,'' so Warren went back to writing.
His latest work was The Story of Chautauqua, a stage presentation about a late 19th century/early 20th century adult education movement.
His website is http://www.greatconnection.com
In addition to his wife and daughter, Arnie Warren is survived by son Christopher H. Warren of Bradenton, and Kathleen's children: Chrissie Field of New York and Jack Field of Fort Lauderdale.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the T.M. Ralph Plantation Funeral Home, 7001 NW Fourth St., Plantation.
In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations to Insight for the Blind, http://www.insightftb.org
Miami Herald Obituary for Arnie Warren
WARREN, ARNOLD (ARNIE), loving husband, father and friend, born in Fall River, Massachusetts on September 27, 1934, to Ina and Arnold Warren, deceased, passed away at his home in Wellington, Florida on Saturday, April 19th.
Mr. Warren was a graduate of Mount Hermon prep school in Massachusetts, attended Michigan State College, Boston University and graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in English and Speech. He toured the U.S. with a vocal instrumental group, the Coralairs, which recorded the popular Christmas song: Buona Natale. He composed songs, was a soloist, and played the drums and piano with that group. Returning to Miami, he established himself as the foremost morning radio personality during the 60's and 70's and was seen on local television with various programs. He was a part time Speech teacher at the University of Miami and taught TV production at Lindsey Hopkins Vocational School while working at his morning radio program. He began radio at WKAT. In 1965 he moved to WGBS, where the Arnie and Amos show became a South Florida favorite for over 13 years. He was a voice over talent and on camera presenter for local and national businesses. In 1985 he was hired by KMOX in St. Louis to host the morning show, which resulted in his being named one of America's top interviewers.
After retiring from radio, he created a Communications Skills course and conducted seminars on those skills plus behavioral styles for corporations across America and extended to the Pacific Rim. Arnie was a member of the National Speakers Association and served as President of the Florida Speakers Association. He narrated books for the Library of Congress for the sight impaired from the Insight For the Blind studios in Fort Lauderdale. He loved words, loved to affect people intellectually and emotionally with those words, and was rewarded when those words helped someone. He wrote The Great Connection, which is published in twelve languages; Find Your Passion and The Great Connection: sequel: Devon. His last presentation was The Story of Chautauqua. He is survived by the mother of his children, Joan Trout Warren; his wife, Kathleen S. Warren; and his two children: Christopher Hathaway Warren, Christopher's wife Sydney and daughter Leslie Helen Warren. Extended family: children of wife Kathleen; Chrissie, Jack, Susan and granddaughter Taylor.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Insight for the Blind, http://insightftb.org , 954-522-5057. Services will be held on Thursday, 11:00 AM, April 24th at TM Ralph Plantation Funeral Home, 7001 NW 4th Street, Plantation, FL 33317 (954-587-6888). www.tmralph.com To visit this Guest Book Online, go to http://www.MiamiHerald.com/obituaries
Published in The Miami Herald on 4/23/2008.