INDIANAPOLIS – We were years from becoming RTV6 when Dick Lingle was a fixture on Channel 6 across central Indiana.
Lingle, the pioneering broadcaster of the 1950’s who returned to the station as a salesperson before his retirement, died Saturday morning at his home in Largo, Florida according to his wife, Beverly Lingle. Dick Lingle was 89 and had suffered from Parkinson’s disease for several years.
Lingle got into broadcasting right after he served in the Navy during World War II. His first job was in Ashland, Ohio as a music librarian for a radio station, and he worked for WMRI-FM in Marion, Indiana before joining what at the time was WFBM-TV 6 in 1950.
In a 2010 interview with the Largo Leader newspaper in Florida, Lingle talked about getting a chance to interview celebrities such as Jerry Lewis – in Indy while Channel 6 was airing a telethon, something that made Lewis famous for decades. “He was an easy interview because you asked him one question and then five minutes later you said, ‘thanks a lot, Jerry’, because he just takes over,” Lingle told the paper.
Lingle also worked trackside during early broadcasts of the Indianapolis 500, and he was the public address announcer for the 500 Festival Parade for three years. He also read live commercials – most of them were live during the 1950’s.
Leaving to become part-owner and manager of WASK radio in Lafayette in 1960, Lingle would return to Channel 6 in 1967 as an account executive, staying until his retirement in 1990. He met his wife at the station, too – Beverly was an administrative assistant to the station’s vice president. Dick Lingle was inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame by the Indiana Broadcasters Association in 2010.
In addition to his wife, Lingle is survived by five children and two stepchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.
