Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] W. Russell Withers, Jr.

["Paul B. Walker, Jr." <walkerbroadcasting@xxxxxxxxx>]

I met Russ the same day I met john conlee. I was working for WGGH 1150 at
the time. Russ was rough around the edges, but overall, fair

Quite the legend in Southern IL

Paul





On Saturday, January 25, 2014, John <johncallarman@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> I learned this morning from a Mt. Vernon, Illinois Facebook Group page
> that W. Russell Withers, Jr., owner of WMIX-940 and WMIX-FM 94.1 since
> 1973, had died last night at his home in Mt. Vernon.
> I posted this message on the group page's wall:
> If ever I thought anyone would outlive me, it was Russ Withers. I was one
> of two surviving staff members when Russ purchased WMIX after John R.
> Mitchell's death.
> WMIX was the cornerstone of his broadcasting dreams, as he was growing up
> in Cape Girardeau, Mo., with the goal of owning the AM and FM stations
> Mitchell put on the air in 1946.
> Russ had a wicked sense of humor, in the Don Rickles mode, as those who
> have attended gatherings he emceed over the years can attest, but I
> personally enjoyed his barbs, even when they were directed at me.
> I put in a lot of hours at WMIX ... doing both news and sports
> play-by-play ... sometimes as many as 70 hours in a week when there were
> ballgames and music to cover, but I can honestly say that Russ never
> questioined or criticised the way I covered the news or broadcast the
> ballgames.
> Later, when financial considerations (and an easing of my working hours)
> resulted in my move dto the Register-News, the mutual respect we held for
> each other continued.
> He was prominent in the broadcasting industry, one of a few station owners
> who kept local news and information programming alive during a tiime when
> most radio stations, after deregulation, were dropping news to do
> wall-to-wall music programming, mostly via satellite. His stations
> integrated satellite programming into the local mix.
> He was also a prime mover in national media politics, a member of the
> National Association of Broadcasters board and a pioneer in the move to
> allow AM radio stations to be relayed by FM boosters, a move that extended
> the lives of many AM broadcasters to whom the FM band would not normally
> have been open.
> Russ, as most who knew him know, had his flaws. Like most entrepreneurs,
> he enjoyed power and used it. In the late 1990s, when a local power play
> evolved over the Mt. Vernon EDC, he and I had different ideas over how the
> contoversy should have played out. Neither of us got what we wanted, and
> for a time, Russ was critical of how the R-N covered the stories that
> evolved.
> When I returned to the King City twice this century for MVTHS Sports Hall
> of Fame occasions, I was surprised at the friendly reception I received
> personally from Russ, with no reference to the conflct a decade earlier,
> and to the -- I have to say glowing -- words he used to describe my
> sportscasting work in an R-N article covering that year's HOF program, I am
> grateful.
> To Russ's daughter, Dana, my sincere and deepest sympathies.
>
>
> John Callarman, KA9SPA, Family Genealogist, Retired Newspaper Editor,
> DX-oyente, Krum TX (AKA Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon)
>
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