Former WBSM Host Marc Bernier Dies From COVID-19

I have been friends with 46-year radio and television veteran Marc Bernier for as long as I can remember. Another friend of mine, commentator and analyst John LeBoutillier, informed me on Sunday morning that Bernier had died at age 62 from COVID-19. Ten days prior, John told me that after spending a week at home sick, Bernier was admitted to a hospital with COVID. When I heard the sad news, I was out for the count at the outset. I couldn't believe it.

When Bernier first came to New Bedford as WBSM's new morning guy "Marc in the Morning," he dropped by the Shawmut Diner to pick my brain, wanting to know where the action was and who's who on the SouthCoast. Over the many decades as friends, we went through some very rough, personal messes for him, but we did what friends are supposed to do: we just hung in there together, when most everyone else bailed out on him.

Although we'd only see each other at special events on "radio row" with our other bosom buddy, Fox News correspondent Ellen Ratner, Bernier and I stayed in touch. When he'd return to the area to see family, we always made it a point to have lunch and talk at length about anything and everything.

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As one of TALKER Magazine's Top 100 talk show hosts, Marc Bernier had made his enduring mark as a successful conservative commentator and host. He had a great many listeners who loved him, and droves who rejected his points of view. It's the nature of our broadcasting business.

For nearly the last two years, Bernier hadn't made his yearly visit back here. Unbeknownst to me, Bernier became an outspoken anti-vaxxer on the air in Daytona Beach, Florida on WNDB. How morbid and ironic that he rejected getting vaccinated against a killer plague, a vaccination that feasibly could have changed the anatomy of his fatal outcome?

My prayer is that Marc's unnecessary death might serve as a change of heart for anyone who is opposed to getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

And to think, the next time I saw my friend, I was going to surprise him with an old prize of his I found that dates back to the 1980s.