RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond radio legend Tony Booth knew his career path from the very beginning.
"I was 13 years old when I went on the air for the first time," Booth said.
The 8th grader started spinning records and never stopped. All through high school, Booth worked at KFTV radio in his hometown of Paris, Texas.
"I came on at 3 o'clock and I played rock and roll. And it was, it was a euphoric high," Booth said.
The teen, who couldn't drive, hosted his own show during afternoon rush hour.
"I remember on the walls we didn't have soundproofing, they used egg cartons," Booth said.
Booth was making national headlines as a young, up-and-coming radio host when, one year after graduating high school, he was drafted in October 1967.
For 2 years, his voice reached troops across South Korea on the Armed Forces Vietnam network.
"I had done something that I didn't realize I was doing by making a joke, playing a song, whatever, and it boosted up some GI's morale for that day," Booth said.
After the war, Booth's radio career reached high wattage with stops at stations in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Dallas, where he also became the Texas Rangers in-stadium announcer.
The list of stations on his resume is a virtual alphabet soup — KPLT, KDOK, KNUZ, KYC, KLIF, KBBC, KKDJ, and WIFE.
In 1985, Booth landed a gig at WLEE in Richmond. His temporary stop in Central Virginia lasted more than 40 years, with radio gigs at 107.3, K95, 103.7, and Boomtown.
But what his loyal listeners didn't know was that Booth was hiding a secret.
"It's still tough to talk about it now," he said. "I was an addict. For a long time."
Ever since leaving the military, Booth had been battling addiction.
"If it was made, I did it. It was mainly booze and cocaine at that time," he said.
Off air, the disease was distorting his personal life for decades — until his family stepped in.
"I had an intervention. I've been sober 12, 13 years," he said.
Booth stepped away from the microphone about 4 years ago, walking away from the one job that had defined his life.
But he found a second calling.
"What you don't know is what I'm doing now," Booth said. "What I'm doing now is as fulfilling as anything I've ever done."
After earning his master's degree, Booth is now a licensed therapist, helping fellow addicts of all ages find their footing in sobriety.
"I have patients from age 20 to the 80s," he said.
Music, he said, will always be part of who he is.
"I think people should listen to whatever their genre of music is all the time," he said.
Now, with 60 years of airwaves behind him, Booth reflects on the career that shaped him.
"I feel I did my job to entertain somebody," he said.
Watch Greg McQuade's stories on CBS 6 and WTVR.com. If you know someone Greg should profile, email him at greg.mcquade@wtvr.com.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. To learn more about how we use AI in our newsroom, click here.
