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Dave is best known in Buffalo for his 20 years of reporting on local traffic from the WBEN Traffic-copter. But there is so much more. May is an accomplished broadcast engineer, and he hosted a radio talk show in his native Pennsylvania years before the genre became a popular radio format.
May says his interest in all things electrical dates back to his earliest days. At age 4, he changed a damaged plug on an electric lamp. May, whose father was a broadcaster in the early days of radio, was always fascinated by media. His first job was as a summer replacement at WPAZ in his hometown of Pottstown, PA, in 1957. From there, May landed his first full time job as a disc jockey at WGSA in Ephrata, PA. He earned his First Class Radiotelephone license from the FCC and became the station’s chief engineer. May was also tapped to host a new talk show on WGSA, which soon earned a top rating in the Harrisburg market.
May worked at several other Pennsylvania radio stations before joining a company that specialized in the sale of radio automation equipment. He sold such a system to WBEN-FM for its Rock 102 automated format. Then, in 1976, May joined WBEN-AM and became the station’s first Traffic-copter reporter. Soon after, he became chief engineer and eventually senior vice president of engineering.
During his time at WBEN, May filled in on air shifts and did voice-overs on commercials. He hosted a two-hour daily talk show in the 1990s and voiced daily commentaries titled It Seems to Me. May was executive producer of Buffalo Bills broadcasts on WBEN. He wrote the nation’s first computer program for managing school closings and built the first digital recording studio in Buffalo broadcasting.
After leaving WBEN in 1996, May continued to do voice-over work and computer consulting. In fact, if you’re ever part of a bus tour of the Gettysburg battlefield, you’ll hear Dave May’s narration that was recorded back in the early 1970s. Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Famer Jim McLaughlin once praised May as a real Renaissance Man in recognition of his versatility and accomplishments in broadcasting.
May lives in East Amherst with his wife Roseann.
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