Gary Stevens (radio)
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Gary Stevens (April 5, 1940 – February 17, 2025) was an American radio personality and
disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...
and later, an American music executive. Stevens is best known for being one of WMCA's "Good Guys", a line-up of high energy AM radio disc jockeys that served the greater
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
area in the mid to late 1960s. After Stevens retired from disc jockey duties in 1968, he embarked on a decades long career in the radio industry working as a station manager, program distributor and media investment advisor.


Career

Stevens' interest in radios developed in his early years, growing up in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
. After graduation from high school, he attended the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...
. While on break from his studies, he launched his career in 1959 at
WWOW WWOW (1360 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Conneaut, Ohio, broadcasting an oldies format. Owned by Matthew Jarvi, the station serves the eastern portions of Greater Cleveland and Northwestern Pennsylvania. The station's transmitte ...
in
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. Returning to
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, he also worked at 610 WCKR, 1260 WAME (“Whammy in Miami”), and WFUN 79. In 1961, Stevens joined WIL in
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
. Two years later he achieved fame at WKNR (Keener 13) in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
,
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. In 1965, Stevens moved to WMCA in New York and became part of that station's famous "Good Guys" line up of disc jockeys. While working there, Stevens vacationed in England and returned home with
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...
'' album, which had not yet been released in the United States. Stevens played songs from the album on a heavy rotation during his 7–11 pm shift at WMCA, claiming that he was the only DJ in the United States who had access to the songs. During his shift, Stevens would frequently converse with his fictional sidekick, a teddy bear he named Wooly Burger, whom Stevens amusingly credited with smuggling the ''Sgt. Peppers'' album out of England. During his tenure at WMCA, Stevens appeared as an imposter on the December 20, 1965 episode of the CBS game show ''
To Tell the Truth ''To Tell the Truth'' is an American television panel show. Four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants (the "team of challengers", each an individual or pair) and must identify which is the "central character" whose unusual ...
''. Despite his success in New York, after three years at WMCA Stevens left the station, telling his wife that he didn't want to be a 40 year old disc jockey. In September 1968, Stevens moved to Europe where he started a company that sold American TV programs to foreign broadcasters. Stevens moved back to the United States in 1971 when Nelson Doubleday Jr. hired him as manager of KRIZ in
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. From 1971 to 1986 when
Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...
sold off its broadcast assets, Stevens worked in a number of positions, eventually being promoted to President of Doubleday Broadcasting, overseeing a portfolio that included radio stations in Detroit, St. Louis, Denver, Washington, DC, New York and other metropolitan areas. When Doubleday divested their broadcast business in 1986, Stevens transitioned into media investment banking as Associate Managing Director at
Wertheim & Company Wertheim & Co. was an investment firm founded in 1927 by Maurice Wertheim and Joseph Klingenstein, who met when they worked together at Hallgarten & Company. The firm engaged primarily in the merchant-banking business; it invested (in companies ...
. He later started his own firm as President & CEO of Gary Stevens & Co., specializing in radio station investments while also serving on the boards of the
National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a Industry trade group, trade association and lobbying, lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, broadcasters in th ...
, the Radio Advertising Bureau, the Electronic Media Ratings Council, and Saga Communications.


Legacy

Although Stevens' work in the entertainment world lasted far longer than his time as a disc jockey, he is best remembered by the public for the years he spent at WMCA, particularly for his early play of ''Sergeant Peppers.'' "It was something like we'd never heard before. It was stunning to the ears." Stevens was the last surviving member of WMCA's "Good Guys".
"People were not just tuning in to hear music and call letters, they tuned in for a friend, a familiar voice who made you feel good. If you were successful, you knew the secret: how to talk right directly to the audience. Gary had that secret." --
Bruce Morrow Bruce Morrow (born Bruce Meyerowitz; October 13, 1935) is an American radio performer, publicly known as Cousin Brucie or Cousin Bruce Morrow. In an October 2020 interview, Morrow said he received the moniker "Cousin" while in the lobby of h ...
“Although Gary Stevens’ accomplishments and influence on the radio industry stretched over more than half a century and was quite profound – kids of my generation, who had the opportunity to grow up in New York during the swingin’ sixties, will always remember him as one of the glorious WMCA Good Guys. His passing truly marks the end of an era.” -- Michael Harrison, ''
Talkers Magazine ''Talkers Magazine'' is a trade-industry publication related to talk radio in the United States. Its slogan is "The Bible of Talk Radio and the New Talk Media". In addition to radio, it also covers talk shows on broadcast and cable television, a ...
''


Personal life

Stevens had a well-known love of sports cars and at various times in his life owned a Corvette, Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Jaguar. "He liked attention, he liked dazzle," his son Christopher Stevens said, "He didn't care how fast they went. He liked how loud they were, and he liked the fact that everyone looked at you." In 1966, he met his future wife Frankie, an airline stewardess, while driving a white
Lincoln Continental The Lincoln Continental is a series of mid-sized and full-sized luxury cars produced between 1939 and 2020 by Lincoln, a division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. The model line was introduced following the construction of a per ...
convertible. Within a month, he had proposed and the couple stayed married until his death. They had three children. Stevens was survived by his wife, Frankie; his children, Kristin (Stevens) Sexton, Christopher Stevens, and Victoria (Stevens) Chapman; and his grandchildren, Georgina and David Chapman III.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Gary 1940 births 2025 deaths