Ricci Ware

Ricci Cone Ware, Sr. (1937 – October 21, 2016), was a radio legend for more than a half-century in San Antonio, Texas, much of his time with KTSA AM, at which he was a disk jockey and then the host of a talk show. He was known for his old-fashioned demeanor and penchant for the countryside.

Career

On September 1, 2007, Ware was honored at an old-fashioned sock hop at John T. Floore’s Country Store in Helotes, Texas, on the occasion of his fiftieth anniversary of being on the airwaves in San Antonio though his career actually started in Austin. Two former mayors attended; performers included the legendary musicians, Fiddlin’ Frenchie Burke and Augie Meyers of the Texas Tornados, along with the Oh So Good Band. The event was sponsored by San Antonio industrialist Red McCombs and emceeded by Ware's long-time friend, Bruce Hathaway (1938-2017), another KTSA veteran. Less than a year after the fiftieth anniversary celebration, KTSA cancelled Ware's talk show, which was then airing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays. The premise for his removal was the establishment of an hour-long mid-day news program. Ware was allowed to announce his exit on the air and was given a Sunday program from 5 to 7 p.m. instead; "they tossed me a bone," Ware quipped.

Ware was also instrumental in motorcar racing in San Antonio. Himself a racer in his younger years, he became the owner and operator of the Pan American Speedway on the Austin Highway and then on the Toepperwein Road. Ware's track closed after the building in 1978 of the San Antonio Speedway. He encouraged stock car racing undertaken by his two sons, Ricci, Jr. (born July 13, 1960) of Culpeper, Virginia, and Trey Allen Ware (born October 1963), another long-term KTSA radio personality who hosts the call-in program on weekday mornings. In 1989, Frank Howell, the former owner of the San Antonio Speedway, hired Ricci Ware to manage and run the half-mile speedway. During this time he booked the popular Texas Super Sprinters Association, a winged sprint car series that raced on dirt tracks across Central and South Texas.

Ware was among the outspoken conservatives of talk radio. He was not always accurate in his predictions, as in 1992 when he claimed that then U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush would defeat Bill Clinton based in part on overwhelming Bush support in a KTSA opinion poll. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ware co-hosted with Jud Ashmore The Ricci and Jud Show, a rowdy morning program on the old country station KBUC. The two sometimes picketed San Antonio City Hall over controversial matters.

Ware and Bruce Hathaway were household names during the rock ’n’ roll era of the 1960s. Hathaway, who died three months after his friend's passing, said at the time: "He shouldn’t be dead. He and I should just now be getting out of prison for all the fun and happiness that we had. He was one of my dearest friends, and we raised hell. We were like brothers. It’s just a sad day.”

Jud Ashmore, who was later a television weather broadcaster, called Ware "a rock star. He was totally unpredictable, very honest. He called it like he saw it." Trey Ware, who co-hosted with his father for many years, posted a farewell on Facebook: “My hero returned home to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this morning. My dad, Ricci Ware, was my hero in every sense of the word. He was a one-of-a-kind talent who had the natural ability to make you laugh and feel better about life in all circumstances. He could also cause you to think — deeply"