Dick Bertel

Dick Bertel, born Dick Bertelmann, is a radio and TV personality from the 1950s through the 2000s who was also an executive producer for the Voice of America.

Cynthia Lang profiled Bertel for the Wethersfield Post, writing about his early years before arriving at WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut:

"Bertelmann--the name is just too cumbersome to use on the air. It just doesn't come across." The speaker was Dick Bertel and he was recalling the day when he was hired by WTIC-AM-FM-TV Channel 3: "I had to use Dick Richards as my air name." When I joined the staff at WTIC they said, 'You have to change your name. We have Floyd Richards on the staff.' Fred Wade, then Producer-Manager for Radio, said, 'How about Bertel?' I was delighted to be hired. He could have come up with anything."... Dick was born on January 6th, 1931 in the Bronx. He moved to Darien, Connecticut with his family in 1944, attended Darien schools and later New York University from which he graduated in 1956 with a degree in broadcasting. He worked about three years in various radio stations before coming to Hartford. "The reason I came to Hartford was because I was being married. Hartford offered a larger market and I had my sights trained on this station."