Staff photo by Fritz Busch Margaret and Ray Sallstrom of Winthrop, high school classmates of Roger Erickson, pose with a high school yearbook photo of Erickson, upper right.

WINTHROP — Ray Sallstrom sat back in his chair and smiled, recalling memories of Winthrop High School classmate Roger Erickson.

“My memories go way back. He grew up on a farm east of town. He had hogs. We had dairy and sheep,” Sallstrom said. “He liked to have fun. He was no high swinger at all. He was a joy to be around. We’d meet at the drug store downtown and drink pop or malts. He ventured into radio but never lost contact with small town people, which made him so popular.”

Two decades into retirement from midwest powerhouse WCCO Radio 830 in Minneapolis, Erickson died at 89 Monday.

Erickson and sidekick Charlie Boone were the longest running on-air duo on a single station in American radio history, they said in 2013. Erickson was at WCCO for 40 years. He played Bozo The Clown on WCCO TV Channel 4.

He hosted an early morning show that led with he and Boone’s song in two-part harmony: “Good morning, good morning. It’s grand to be on hand. Good morning, good morning to you.”

Decades ago, listeners will recall him reading often lengthy Minnesota and western Wisconsin school closing lists. Boone and Erickson’s most comedy popular skit was Minnesota Hospital. He reprised his role as Dr. Gil Whitney at the 2014 Minnesota State Fair. It was his last radio appearance there.

Erickson was a 1947 Winthrop High School graduate with Ray and Margaret Sallstrom. Erickson’s yearbook photo caption read, “I want to be bashful, but the girls won’t let me.” He was active as class treasurer, high school newspaper and yearbook staff, choir, boys glee club, quartet, speech, class play and forensics. Quartet members were Erickson, Sallstrom, Bud Erickson and John Martin.

“We had a lot of fun with our (vocal) quartet. He had such a deep voice. His mother tried to get us to sing songs in Swedish,” Sallstrom said. “He liked theater and telling jokes, often the same ones, over and over, but I liked them anyway. Everybody liked Roger. His family was very successful.”

“Roger was the class clown and very active in class plays,” Margaret Sallstrom said.

Erickson put Winthrop and Bernadotte Township on the map with his creation of Bernadotte International Airport.

That wasn’t all.

“We had a lot of fun with WCCO radio’s Breakfast on the Farm show. They put on a live show here,” said Doug Hanson of Winthrop Publishing, Inc. and the Winthrop News. “They did their Minnesota Hospital skit. Lots of WCCO radio people came including Agriculture Director Roger Strom, sports personality and Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman, Boone and Erickson.”

Erickson was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2001.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.