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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Radio veteran’s death rocks stations
Veteran broadcaster Greg Everett, of Maui, died Monday night at his Pukalani home after suffering an apparent heart attack.
Everett was station manager overseeing the cluster of Maui radio stations belonging to Wailuku-based
Visionary Related Entertainment LLC. They include: KAOI-FM 95.1 and 96.7; KAOI-AM 1110; KDLX-FM 94.3; KHEI-FM 107.5; KMKK-FM 102.3 and KNUQ-FM 103.7 and 103.3.
He was in his mid-60s, according to John Detz, VRE president, who said he and the rest of the company have been shaken by Everett's sudden death.
"Anyone that's worked with him will always have a great Greg Everett story," Detz said.
"He was truly a radio professional from the school that's virtually hard to find now. He was a true broadcaster."
Detz said he and Everett used to joke that with their ages combined, "the two of us outdated Marconi," referring to radio innovator Guglielmo Marconi.
While holding an executive title, Everett also had regular air-shifts.
"He did news, he did some talk shows," did sales and was a general all-around utility player, "as most people are, in radio," Detz said.
He and his family moved to Hawaii some 20 years ago after a lengthy career on the mainland.
The Web site www.440int.com, where broadcasters list the stations in their resumes, cites several call letters under Everett's name, including KKJO in St. Joseph, Mo.; KYOS in Merced, Calif., KWUN and KKIQ in San Francisco as well as many Maui stations.
The Hawaii phase of his career started in 1987 as the general manager of KNUI-AM 900/FM 99.9 in Kahului. (KNUI-FM became KJKS in 2005.)
Former employee Paul Robinson, now at a competing station, worked for Everett at the old KMVI and KNUI.
"He was a good strong guy at the helm of the radio stations ... and he knew how to coddle talent and make them better," Robinson said.
He had seen it and done it all, including dodging a computer thrown at him by one hot-headed employee who was immediately fired.
"He was always doing community-involved stuff ... he had the position and the power to actually do real radio, live on the microphone, talking to people."
"I always thought of him as the quintessential radio man," Robinson said.
Everett is survived by his wife Toni, VRE's Maui office manager, and grown children. Detz declined to release further information, citing a family request for privacy.
Condolences may be sent to the Everett family in care of KAOI Radio Group, P.O. Box 1437, Wailuku, HI 96793.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com