Richard (Dick) Goggin passed away suddenly on August 29, 2021. He was 67 years old.
Born in St. Louis, Goggin grew up in Newtown, CT. As a child, he attended Sandy Hook Elementary. He graduated from New York University. Goggin’s career in advertising and broadcasting would take him to nearly every corner of the country, with assignments in New York City, Providence, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and South Carolina. He worked with clients in Boston, Orlando and Pittsburgh. He recorded music in Dallas and Chicago. Goggin lived in many places but considered Baltimore, MD, his home.
Goggin’s professional successes were many. When he left WJZ-TV in the mid-1980s, that station’s evening newscasts had the highest audience rating and share of any television station in the nation. At WRC-TV he oversaw the audience research, talent changes and new marketing direction which led to this NBC O&O’s climb from fourth place in late night news ratings to first place, where it remains today. His tenures at NBC6 in Charlotte and Fox Carolina helped those stations achieve new heights in audience ratings, as well. In 2007, Goggin returned to Baltimore for a third time to help launch the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN). During his tenure as creative & marketing director, television audience ratings for Orioles broadcasts on MASN were among baseball’s best; top five for all MLB teams between 2015-2017, despite the Orioles having a winning record only one of those seasons.
Goggin’s creativity and marketing acumen were well-documented. During his time at MASN, he won more than 70 Addy and Emmy awards. These were just a fraction of the honors Richard received during his career. His most prized awards? An Addy for original music composition and a national Emmy award for public service campaigns. He was proud that so many he mentored went on to have significant careers in broadcasting and marketing.
Goggin–who chronicled his battle with cancer during the COVID pandemic for a much-heralded opinion piece in The New York Times–leaves behind his sister, Vicki Goggin, a son, Justin Redd, and his long-time companion Lori Ann Helmholz, along with many cherished colleagues and friends.
