John McDonald, author, longtime Portland-area radio host, dies at 78

Portland-area author and storyteller John McDonald, a fixture on local talk radio for nearly three decades who was known for his dry humor and interviewing style, died Tuesday. He was 78.

He had been in poor health for some time, said his son, Jeremiah McDonald.

A fundraising campaign has been set up to help pay for the health care expenses of John McDonald, celebrated Maine storyteller and longtime Portland radio host. Photo courtesy of Islandport Press

“When he was on the radio, he was always extremely focused, so I think that was helping keep him young,” McDonald said. “He always appreciated his audience. He loved entertaining them.”

Dean Lunt, editor-in-chief of Islandport Press in Yarmouth, which published three of McDonald’s books, called his death the “end of an era.”

“He was this sort of rare, multimedia threat. He had books, he was on the radio every weekend, he was doing live performances,” Lunt said. “He was as committed to living that life as anyone could be.

“I don’t know who will pick that up. He was definitely carrying the torch a long time.”

McDonald started his career as a radio DJ in Hancock County, where he developed his own brand of Down East humor. One night, two well-known Maine humorists, Marshall Dodge and “Captain” Kendall Morse, were performing at a local theater and asked McDonald to join them on stage.

That served as a spark.

He soon graduated to writing columns, often humorous, first for the Bangor Daily News and later for the Portland Press Herald and other publications.

Crash Barry, another Maine writer and humorist a generation younger than McDonald, said he always marveled as his creative output.

“He was an inspiration because he did columns, wrote books, did radio, all at the same time,” Barry said. “And his stage presence was very unique. People loved him.”

McDonald is likely best known for his weekly radio show on WGAN, a news and talk station, that ran on Saturdays and Sundays for nearly 30 years. He would conduct interviews with local newsmakers and take calls from loyal listeners.

“I was on his radio show numerous times – you never knew where it was going to go,” Lunt said. “Sometimes he would ask a question and then answer it himself.”

Jeremiah McDonald, whose first job was as a producer on his father’s radio show, said even though the topics were often political, his father always treated guests and callers with respect, even if he disagreed.

“Radio was very intimate,” McDonald said. “He was great in front of a crowd, but I think he felt a great power in talking to someone one-on-one like that.”

Never one to settle on just one thing, John McDonald also did voiceover and commercial work for local businesses. Perhaps his best known voice work was for an ad many years ago for the Taste of Maine Restaurant.

“He even made the location of the restaurant a catchphrase,” McDonald said, mimicking his father’s Down East accent. “Route 1 Woolwich, just north of Bath.”

John McDonald was let go from WGAN in April 2020 and started to develop health problems shortly thereafter.

“He loved that job,” Lunt said. “He loved talking to callers. That was a huge part of his identity. And he was such a gregarious, outgoing guy that the pandemic was really hard on him.”

HEART SURGERY AND A BAD FALL

Last year, he had heart surgery and then suffered a bad fall. More recently, McDonald’s memory had started to go. Barry said he visited him this past summer with plans to turn the tables and interview him for a podcast.

“It was kind of a walk down memory lane for a guy whose memory was starting to go, but he still remembered a lot of his career,” Barry said. “I’m going to miss him.”

Phil Zachary, market president of Portland Radio Group, which owns WGAN, praised McDonald’s longevity and skills. Zachary was not with the company when McDonald was let go. In an email to the Press Herald last year, Zachary said there are three things that can be said of anyone who lasts in media as long as McDonald did – “they’re perpetually curious, they’re willing to embrace inevitable change and they’re riveting storytellers. John McDonald checks all those boxes.”

McDonald’s first book, a collection of columns and essays called “A Moose and a Lobster Walk into a Bar …” remains one of the biggest-selling Maine humor books ever.

“It’s the biggest selling book in our history,” Lunt said. “At his height, he was so popular, he would get booked on cruises as the entertainment.”

McDonald is survived by his wife, Ann, his three grown children, Jeremiah, Josh and Rebecca, and a granddaughter, Alison Pritchard. Memorial arrangements had not been made as of Wednesday.