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From the Don Baird Family Collection
From Mike Kavanagh:  A personal note here about Don Baird, who left us on March 28, 2008 at the age of 72.  His obituary printed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (see below) and the great note written by broadcasting legend Don Kennedy (also below) say much about his great career, but for me personally - like Don Kennedy - Don Baird's passing allows me to heap upon his name all the praise that while living he would never accept. 
Dave Kirschner sums it up in the obituary below - Don was the driving force behind the idea of getting all the living WSB "Oldtimers" together before they (we) inevitably began to leave this earth.  (At the same time, let me add that humble Dave Kirschner who has refused to take any credit had a lot to do with that too - gotcha Dave!!)  At the first reunion, I sat astonished listening to the stories of the people from the 30's to the 60's who Don knew by first name.  Don introduced me to these living legends and it was that meeting that made me resolve that the historic contributions they made would not be forgotten.  Thus, the founding of this web site.  If it were not for Don Baird, this would NEVER have come about. 
For the many years I knew Don and his childlike glee when our conversation turned to WSB, he never once made mention to me of his enormous contributions to the station.  Instead, he talked about all "those great people" he had the honor of working with.  He never got over what he called the great "luck" of getting to work at WSB.  He did not have to elaborate because I shared the exact same feelings.  I think that is why we clicked.  We both truly loved the fact that we worked at one of the greatest radio stations in history.  We got to document history, not just report celebrity gossip. 
It is one of the great honors of my existence on this earth that in the final days of his life Don chose to visit me at my office.  I insisted that I come to visit him but he was determined to come see me.  Despite his frail health he climbed the stairs of my old office building (no elevators - I'm hoping to have some installed soon) to see my collection of antique radios.  We talked about the news reports we knew came out of the speakers of those old radios - the attack on Pearl Harbor, VE and VJ days and so many more great news reports.  Don recalled the old programs he heard when he was a kid - the WSB Barn Dance, Bob Van Camp playing the organ and so much more.  He totally forgot his health problems for a few minutes and was lost in his memories.  We were two kids lost in a candy shop and we enjoyed every moment of that day. 
I was in New York when I heard the news of Don's passing.  I made a few calls hoping that the newspaper would do a decent piece about Don.  The new "kids" at the AJC did not know Don, but I gave them names and phone numbers of other Oldtimers and the result was an incredible tribute reprinted below. 
Don of course would be mortified at the all the fuss made over him in the past few days.  This is one spotlight though he can't duck.  In the end - he finally got the tribute he so long deserved. 

Don Baird, newsman earned respect of his colleagues during 40-year career

By Jill Vejnoska
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/30/08

Don Baird didn't have the biggest voice on radio, but everything he did spoke volumes. A versatile, tenacious reporter, he followed the news and newsmakers wherever they led him, especially during the turbulent 1960s.

A respectful crafter of language, he wrote for radio and television —- and even a country song that was recorded by Willie Nelson. A solid newsman with an endearingly soft side, he tracked down former co-workers for reunions and courted his wife with a single flower.

The Who's Who of people he knew and covered during a 40-year journalism career in Georgia extended from one-time governor and segregationist Lester Maddox to civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.

More remarkable still, he rarely met an enemy anywhere he went.

"He was a wonderful, warm human being," said Frank Stiteler, who worked at Atlanta radio station WSB for 25 years, spending much of the 1960s on the on-air side with Baird.

"There was not a phony bone in his body," Mr. Stiteler said. "Some people in the media are kind of artificial. Don was anything but that, and anyone he spent time with could sense that and appreciate it."

Recalled current CNN Radio anchor Dave Kirschner, who began his career at WSB, 750 on the AM dial: "We used to have a phrase back when the station played records. We'd say, 'Now here's a real 750 favorite.' You could call Don that. He was a real 750 favorite."

Mr. Baird, 72, died of cancer Friday in his Douglasville home. He is survived by his wife, Claudia; stepchildren Rusty Weinberg of Stone Mountain, Shannon Weinberg of Douglasville and Kim Hallenbeck of Sugar Hill; and two grandsons.

Working at WSB from 1962 to 1974, Mr. Baird's reporting took him deep inside the civil rights movement and the state Capitol. Veteran radio reporter Mike Kavanagh didn't arrive at WSB until the mid-1970s, but he had long known of Mr. Baird from his reports that went out over the NBC radio network.

"He was the voice of Atlanta, as far as I was concerned," said Mr. Kavanagh, who recalled covering a news conference soon after arriving here and hearing Julian Bond, Joseph Lowery and others ask for Mr. Baird by name. "Don was at the forefront of covering the civil rights movement in the '60s —-which today sounds ho-hum, but back then, it was quite revolutionary and controversial."

Mr. Baird, who went on to work for CNN for 15 years before retiring in 2002, could be dogged if that was what the story called for. His former colleagues delight in recalling the time Mr. Baird sprinted after Mr. Maddox for an interview while the latter was busy chasing black diners from his restaurant.

But he also possessed the touch of the poet. Married to Claudia for three years, he showed up at their first date clutching a single red rose, having read in her Match.com profile that she considered that the most romantic gesture.

He wrote a song, "It Will Come to Pass," that appears on Mr. Nelson's CD "Legends," and was in the middle of writing a novel, "Cabbagetown," according to his wife.

Mr. Baird never grew self-important about his work, his associates said. At the same time, he never failed to appreciate the significance of it.

"In later years, Don told me that one of his greatest thrills was to be able to hold Martin Luther King's Nobel Peace Prize when he interviewed him," Mr. Kavanagh said. "I haven't met many people in this business who've had a wondrous enthusiasm for the work, who thought they were the luckiest person on the planet to be doing it. But that was Don."

About five years ago, that same sense of history led Mr. Baird to organize a reunion of people who had worked at WSB since the 1950s.

"He said, 'We've got to get all these great people and stories together,' and darned if we didn't have a great reunion at Manuel's Tavern," Mr. Kirschner recalled. "It was so great that someone said, 'Let's have another,' and we did."

And they'll continue having them, Mr. Kavanagh vowed Saturday.

A memorial service for Mr. Baird is planned for 11 a.m., April 7 at the United Methodist Church in Douglasville.
A note from another broadcasting legend - Don Kennedy - in a note to members of the WSB Oldtimers Club.  Don was the founder of the Georgia Radio Network and he recalls Don Baird working for him.  His note to us was so good that we had to reproduce it here for posterity.

Don Baird worked for the original Georgia Network for a time, writing and delivering weekend newscasts. His death is, of course, a shock but made more sad because there are so few journeyman newsguys left. Don Baird was one of those who could do anything in news: dig out a story, write with effectiveness and deliver his copy with an authority born of knowledge and experience.

Four traits come to mind when thinking about what a loss Don Baird is to radio and to those who knew him: His talent, his reliability, his self-effacement and his humor. Like so many talented people, Don made it look easy, deceiving those with lesser talent into thinking is WAS easy.
When a news shift needed covered at the last minute, simply phone Don and he'd be there. No discussion about why he couldn't show up; he simply was there. In a business such as ours, modesty is rare, but Don had it. It was entirely possible he actually didn't know how good he was, but if he did he never showed it. And his humorous outlook made being around him a treat.
If, indeed, death brings rewards in the afterlife, Don Baird will receive them, for he'll be welcomed. His presence here certainly enriched our lives, even to the existence of this message to fellow broadcasters. It would simply not be without Don Baird. Over a lifetime there are maybe two or three people you wish you could reach out to and bring back. Don Baird is one of them.