Two DC Radio Alumni Reflect on the Life of Chris Barnes

Chris Barnes, a longtime radio news voice, has passed away at the age of 66. Barnes worked for a wide range of outlets over the years, including SiriusXM, Fox News Radio, The Blaze Radio Network. He also spent time with the Maryland News Network and had earlier runs at multiple stations in Boston, Cape Cod, and across New England. Along the way, he built a reputation as a guy who seemed to know just about everyone in the business.

In a moment that quickly spread among radio circles, Barnes went live on Facebook from his hospital bed after doctors told him to get his affairs in order. The stream, still up, was classic Barnes, unfiltered, candid, and very much connected to the medium and people he spent a lifetime around.

DCRTV heard from Hank Silverberg, who Is best known for his 16 years at WTOP, and Jim MacKay, from WBZ in Boston. They Both shared stories about Barnes:

Jim MacKay: “When I first started working in DC at WNEW for CBS Radio. I was 26 years old, having just moved to Washington for a freelance gig at CBS from New Hampshire. Fresh off covering the 2012 NH primary for a local group of stations in New England. I was working every shift they gave me (and loving every second of it) & that included weekend mornings. At around 11PM on a Saturday night in the Summer of 2012, in the heart of that year’s Presidential Race, it was reported that Mitt Romney would be selecting Paul Ryan as his VP. The announcement would be taking place Sunday morning from a Naval ship in Norfolk, VA. Our News Director Michelle Dolge called me right after the report hit Twitter to let me know would be in breaking news mode all Sunday morning and we would be taking Ryan’s acceptance speech live. It was the true first major market breaking news, live moment of my career. Who was my co-anchor that morning?

Chris Barnes

When I got in that Sunday morning at 3AM, kinda nervous….he could almost read it on my face. As we were getting our newscasts together before we were going on the air, I said “This is a big morning eh Chris?” — His reply: “Piece of cake Jimmy, we’ll rock and roll”. Totally took the wind out of my nervous sails in the best way possible and we crushed it on the air that morning with our editor Melissa Howell. Chris had many struggles and problems in his later years, life can beat any of us up and time is undefeated. Chris was a tremendous human being deep down inside and he LIVED….let me say it again, LIVED to be on the air. God Bless ya Barnes. RIP.”

Hank Silverberg hired Barnes when he was in his 20’s at WGHQ in Kingston, NY: One story not too many people know was— Chris had speaking role in the movie The Stuff. 

Garrett Morris, the guy from the original SNL crew, came up to Kingston to film a B graded science fiction movie called “The Stuff, a white substance that was eating people and threatening the world.  Terrible plot. But they used our Newsroom at WGHQ as a set for one scene and some of our staff were used as extra’s . (So they could avoid union wages )

Chris got in one scene where he actually had one  line to say. He then spent of the movie dressed as soldier running up and down hills. 

The movie was on the big screen just one night in Kingston as a radio station promotional tool and was never shown in the theatres again. BUT it went right to DVD where it had a bit of a cult following for a few years.   

Chris liked to talk about that one small role all the time.

He was burning candles at both ends right up until the end, always talking about his next radio gig. He even said on-line a week before he died that he had a new lead on a radio job.  

He never got over the fact that he was not on the air anymore after decades in the business.