Wally Sherwin Leaving KABC Radio

KABC-AM(790) program director Wally Sherwin, best known to Los Angeles TV audiences as the mustachioed commercial spokesman for Adee Plumbing, is leaving the radio station after eight years to become a promotion consultant for radio and television.

All-talk KABC will be one of the stations Sherwin will consult, so his brand of mixing journalism with entertainment won’t be abandoned altogether by the station.

“I approached radio as show biz,” Sherwin said. “Just interviewing people on radio doesn’t work anymore. You’ve got to have an opener and a dynamite close so they’ll remember you. I always believed in treating talk radio in a dramatic sense that would make it more palatable to the listening audience.”

Before joining KABC in 1980, Sherwin spent 10 years with RKO Broadcasting during which he filmed the first of several commercials for Adee Plumbing. The commercials, in which Sherwin utters the line “Adee Do!” have been on the air continuously since 1970 and Sherwin says they will not end with his departure from KABC.

Sherwin is not scheduled to leave his post until July 15. KABC has named no replacement.