Memorial services were held Saturday for radio humorist and longtime Dawson County resident Ludlow Porch at Big Canoe Chapel in Jasper.

Porch, whose real name was Bobby Crawford Hanson, died Feb. 11. He was 76 and had lived in the county with wife Nancy Hanson for the past 16 years.

A Georgia talk radio icon, Porch spent more than three decades making people laugh, paying little attention to political correctness and establishing a legion of loyal listeners.

As a former radio man, Harris Blackwood visited with Porch on a few occasions over the years.

“He was one of those people who was the same on and off the air,” said Blackwood, the director for the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety whose weekly newspaper column appeared for years in the Dawson Community News.

“He may have been one of the most quick-witted people I ever met. If a caller verbally opened a door, Ludlow would shoot right through it. Most of the time, it was hilarious.”

Porch’s approach to talk radio became a pattern Blackwood tried to emulate.

“He was a pure humorist and was funny in the finest sense,” he said. “Talk radio has become the domain of angry people. Ludlow Porch was a refreshing change of pace.

“We should have more people like him on the air.”

Porch got his start in radio after late stepbrother Lewis Grizzard introduced him to Sports Illustrated as a trivia buff.

He worked for WRNG Radio, WSB and later founded the Funseekers Network, where he remained on air until his health declined.

His radio audience remained loyal and followed the laughter over the years.

“I was once manager of a hotel and we used Ludlow as our spokesman,” Blackwood said. “He would always say things like, ‘Tell ‘em Ludlow sent you.’ And sure enough, people would call for reservations and say that Ludlow sent them.”

While longtime listeners can quote adage after adage, Porch may be most widely known for always ending his shows with his famous line: “Whatever else you do today, you find somebody to be nice to.”

A Marine during the Korean War, Porch was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame in 2007 and is the author of numerous books.

In addition to his wife, Nancy, Porch is survived by his children: Barbara Davison of Asheville, N.C.; Philip Hanson of Marietta; Charles McGarvey of Washington, D.C.; Kyle Harvey of Alpharetta; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. 

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Leigh Ann Hanson.