FALMOUTH — Charles Sanford, the retired general manager and vice president of WGAN radio who was considered a pioneer of Maine broadcasting, died on Wednesday. He was 86.

Mr. Sanford began his broadcast career at WJOR in Bangor in 1947, then went on to become a disc jockey and announcer for WGUY radio.

In 1952, Mr. Sanford joined WGAN in Portland. In his early years, he was a morning show host. He worked his way up to news director and program director, then vice president and general manager of the station.

He retired from broadcasting in 1986 and was later inducted into the Maine Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

As general manager, he hired Kim Block, a longtime TV news anchor for Channel 13 in Portland, now WGME.

She remembered Mr. Sanford on Wednesday as a mentor and role model who set the standard for broadcasting excellence.

“We have lost another broadcast legend in Maine,” Block said. “He gave me a shot at a young age and gave me a career that I really love. He was one of the most genuine, kind, gracious and supportive people I have ever worked for.”

Mr. Sanford also launched the career of Cary Pahigian, president and general manager of Portland Radio Group. He hired Pahigian in the early 1980s as program manager of WGAN.

He said Mr. Sanford was an “icon in Maine broadcasting.”

“This is a huge loss,” Pahigian said Wednesday. “His knowledge of Maine broadcasting was second to none. He had a great love for the state. He had a deep respect for the on-air broadcasting component. He was a throwback to serving the community, serving the public, serving the listener and working hand-in-hand with the media.”

Mr. Sanford grew up in Minnesota. He was an accomplished high school athlete but turned down a football scholarship to the University of Minnesota and enlisted in the Army Air Corps.

At the age of 19, he was a B-17 bomber pilot with the 100th Bomb Group, known by many as the Bloody 100th. “Those were the good old blood-and-guts days, where they had no fighter planes guiding them and no oxygen masks,” said his daughter, Jo-Ellyn Harris of Weare, N.H. “Not many men finished their tour alive flying out of that group.”

After he was discharged from the service, he moved to Machias to work at his brother’s gas station.

He was married to June Sanford for 57 years. The couple raised two children.

Mr. Sanford was remembered by his daughter Wednesday as a supportive and loving father who was involved in the lives of his children. She said he was respectful and calm when making decisions.

“He loved watching my brother play sports and was always at his games,” Harris said. “That carried over to his grandchildren. He would go to their soccer games and track meets right up until last year.”

Mr. Sanford had a passion for the outdoors. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and continued to play golf until last year.

One of his favorite places to go was Smith Pond Camp in Elliotsville Plantation, where he hunted and fished for 60 years.

In his later years, he pursued his passion for cooking and wrote and published “Chuck’s Camp Cookbook.”

Harris said her father often cooked at the camp and enjoyed creating new recipes. She said his happiest times in life were spent at the camp.

“He was happiest when he was hunting and fishing with his brother and friends,” his daughter said. “He found peace there. My brother and I think that his love of nature is reflected in his personality, in the way he approached people and treated people. My father was one of a kind.”

Staff Writer Melanie Creamer can be contacted at 791-6361 or at:

mcreamer@pressherald.com

 

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