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Bernice Judis Is Dead at 83; Headed Radio Station WNEW

NY Times

Published: May 26, 1983

Bernice Judis, a former general manager of radio station WNEW, died of a heart ailment Tuesday at the North Beach Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She was 83 years old and lived in Fort Lauderdale.

Miss Judis joined the new station in 1934. Within a year she was named general manager, a position that enabled her to introduce such newcomers as Martin Block, whose ''Make Believe Ballroom'' made him radio's first disk jockey. She was also credited with introducing ''Milkman's Matinee,'' a program that began in 1936 and continues today. Other radio broadcasters who trace their careers to Miss Judis are Gene Rayburn, Ted Brown and William B. Williams.

Miss Judis also initiated 24-hour news reports immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and later introduced live remote news broadcasts. After retiring from WNEW in 1954, she and her husband, the late Irta Herbert, operated radio stations in Birmingham, Ala., and Atlanta.

There are no immediate survivors.