Yesterday’s celebration of the life of Glenn Mitchell, host of public radio’s Glenn Mitchell Show, brought an SRO crowd to the Dallas Theater Center – and for good reason. Mitchell was a community treasure and will be missed on the local media scene.

His passing was all the more tragic because he was poised to go national with his show on Sirius satellite radio. But Mitchell made his mark in Dallas radio, with numerous Dallas Press Club Katies for radio reporting and for the widely appreciated KERA (90.1) radio show he hosted for the last 10 years over the noon hour.

As his friend and colleague David Johnson said at the memorial, with that show, Mitchell was doing what he really wanted to do in life. A favorite among listeners was the Friday show in which Mitchell took call-in questions about “anything you ever wanted to know.” If he couldn’t answer the question, he relied on other callers to phone in the answers.

Remarkably, Mitchell could answer many because he had such broad interests, ranging from music (all kinds) and books to baseball and all sorts of trivia. He loved interviewing musicians and authors and was known for doing his homework before an interview. He spent weeks each year preparing his Christmas Blockbuster music show for KERA radio. The show, in his absence, will nonetheless air this year on Dec. 18.

The memorial service was as eclectic as Mitchell, featuring music, audio clips, and remembrances from friends – from Johnson’s “Mitch could do anything,” to Bob Ray Sanders’ “Everything I know about radio I learned from Glenn Mitchell,” to Tom Blackwood’s “He respected his audience; he really respected Dan from Tyler.”

But the best comment may have come from fellow blogger Norm Hitzges, Mitchell’s roommate from 30 years ago. Mitchell, he said, “had a remarkable 7-11 mind. It was always open.”

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