Russ Baldwin Was a New Bedford Area Broadcast Legend

If you were around the New Bedford area from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s, chances are good that you encountered Russ Baldwin.

Russ was News/Sports Director for WNBH/WMYS radio for 16 years, from 1977 to 1993, when he retired from broadcasting.

Russ was a morning news anchor, hosted special events such as election coverage, and co-hosted the New Day program with former WBSM morning man Phil Paleologos, known then as Phil Palace.

Russ also did play-by-play high school sports coverage with the late Jack Peterson before Jack jumped to WBSM. Russ, Jack and Bernie Picanisco hosted the popular evening sports-themed call-in show Speak Up on Sports.

Russell "Russ" W. Baldwin, born in New Bedford in 1931, was a 1948 New Bedford High School graduate and Air Force Veteran.

Russ' broadcast career included radio gigs in Springfield, Massachusetts and Utica, New York. For 20 years, he was news director for radio and television stations in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was the radio voice of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Omaha Knights hockey team and the Omaha Royals AAA baseball team.

Baldwin's involvement in youth sports was a game-changer for many youngsters. He believed in kids and invested his time in mentoring them.

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Baldwin was inducted into the UMass Dartmouth Sports Hall of Fame for Media Contribution and the Greater New Bedford Regional-Vocational Technical High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Russ was awarded the American Legion Fairhaven Post 166 Distinguished Service Award and the President's Award from the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.

Russ and his beloved wife Jean were parents to former Fairhaven School Superintendent Dr. Robert Baldwin.

Russ Baldwin was my teacher. My mentor. My supporter – and my friend.

I can still see Russ in the newsroom – he gave me my first news job – pounding on the keys to an old black Royal standard typewriter while mumbling the words, "We're doomed" as he typed.

Russ Baldwin helped launch or further the careers of several broadcasters, including Sheila (Sheehan) Martinez-Pina, Kathleen Burke, Tom Cole, Debbie Rich, Laurie Johnson and yours truly.

New Bedford High School Head Master Bernadette Coelho and former New Bedford School Department chief administrator for finance and operations Lawrence Oliveira also reported news for Russ Baldwin.

Russ passed away on July 8, 1996. He was 65.