Rob Rees                            Ford Colley                            Phil Reid


About  Ford Colley

1968

RADIO
WCLR/WTMX
WBBM
WLS/WDAI/WRCK
WIND
"THE LOOP"

Other Credits
Voiceover Artist
Record Producer
Composer
Musician
Video Director

2023
First "real radio" job (1973)

Fresh out of college, it was WMRO - Aurora,IL.
Within two years, he was on the air in Chicago at THE LOOP. Then ... WIND, WLS/WDAI/WRCK (ABC), WBBM (CBS), WCLR/WTMX over a 20 year period. In addition: Music Director at WIND, Asst. Program Director at ABC and Program Manager at both WBBM and WTMX. Ford left the air in 1994.

WTMX (1994)

Dolly presenting Ford
with a Gold Record.

Interviews: "During my years on the air, I interviewed everybody from Ronald Reagan to Ringo Starr and seemingly everyone in between." Some of Ford's favorites ... Belushi and Aykroyd (on the morning The Blues Brothers opened), Cheech & Chong, Ali MacGraw, Dick Clark, Christopher Reeves, Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice, Nick Nolte, John Denver, Bob Hope, Sally Kellerman, Harry Chapin, Olivia Newton-John, Gordon Lightfoot, Meatloaf, Heart, Lou Rawls, Don McLean, Joan Rivers, Ricky Nelson, Grace Slick, Dennis Miller, Adrienne Barbeau, Roger Daltry, Barbie Benton, Hugh Hefner and too many politicians, plus many celebrities from sports and other realms, including those you see here!

"Here You Come Again" Dolly Parton (1977)
Ford and Ringo 1980
Ford and Elton 1992
Jimmy Webb and Ford  2015
Broadcast Consulting Services

In 1994, after concluding 21 years of broadcasting in Chicago, Ford established Broadcast Consulting Services (BCS) and within two years had more than 40 radio stations around the country on his client roster. During the next several years BCS grew until the government decided to deregulate radio station ownership rules. Within two years of that decision, nearly all of BCS clients had been gobbled up by larger corporations, no longer in need of consulting service. Following a decade of success, as the contracts expired, BCS ceased operations in 2004.

VOICEOVERS     Audition Demos:    Commercial     Character    Narration      Med/Tech
Throuhgout his four decade career, Ford was a "freelance" announcer for hundreds of Radio and TV commercials. At the turn of the century, as the client roster of BSC began to evaporate, he once again returned to his "voice" and his connections with the Chicago advertising agencies. Doing film narrations, commercials, book narrations during this period, he also served as the "corporate" voice for the top row of companies below, shown along with just a few of the many companies Ford's voice has represented over the years. Oh, and he's played the voice of Santa Claus and ... God. Ford retired from voiceovers in 2013, but you can still check out his demos above.
 
 
         
            
    

For the past decade, Ford has truly enjoyed retirement, finally having the time to produce and create music, his first true love in life. During his career, he did produce recording sessions for a few artists including Frankie Valli and enjoyed "making the hits" more than "playing the hits" on the air. Since 2013, Ford's made up for lost time and has composed, arranged, recorded, and produced over 40 original songs. With today's recording technology and the many instrument samples available through computers, he's a "one man band", playing and performing all the instruments individually, then mixing and blending them together into a complete song. Check out his music site Eighth of Eight where you'll hear many different genres and eclectic arrangements of his work.

Other interests sidelined by his career included Model Railroading. Since 2006, Ford has been working on his N-Scale train layout and creating Model Railroad YouTubes about it. Visit his website Radio Trains or his YouTube channel Radio Trains Plus to see over 20 videos about his work. Most of all, Ford enjoys spending time with his children and grandchildren, traveling with his wonderful wife Mary and spending time on their boat. Ford & Mary reside in Longboat Key, FL and Williams Bay, WI. Contact Ford Here