Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

Gary Stevens died Monday after a long, glorious career in which he rose from dj (in New York City among other places), radio general manager, president of Doubleday Broadcasting, a media investment banker at Wertheim & Schroeder and then president of Gary Stevens and Company media brokers just as radio consolidation was heating up.  He was 84.

Gary also fought Parkinson’s Disease which reared its head early in his 50’s but he remained vital for decades up to and including being active as interim chairman of the board of Saga Communications until about a year ago after the death of his friend and founder Ed Christian.

I have dreaded this moment because Gary was my first radio friend outside the Philly market and my best friend who saved my life and career from what I saw as the bullying of Clear Channel Radio President Randy Michaels.

Michaels sued me and Inside Radio, the publication I founded for $100 million shortly before the turn of the century.  I counter-sued Clear Channel for $125 million and we were off to the races.  Gary was my consigliere who held my hand throughout this terrible time.  And he paid a price for it.  Michaels’ attorneys deposed Gary twice trying to build a case that did not exist and he never did another penny’s worth of business with them again after that.

Still, he was steadfast.  Gary had the best read of humans that I ever met.  He used to tell me get to what a person really wants before you deal with them and I have sharpened that skill thanks to him.  After all, he was not known as a “dealmaker” for nothing.

He was also very honest once telling me that he could predict the outcome of this lawsuit because “you and Randy are alike”.  What!!!  Both of you are conducting your lawsuits like the radio program directors you are.  He predicted I’d prevail and we did.  Michaels was removed from his position by Lowry Mays several weeks before they announced a settlement in which Clear Channel paid me handsomely to drop my countersuit.  Gary read it right from the beginning.

Gary was also the brightest person in the room.  Even recently he reiterated his oft-repeated commentary that he first shared 25 years ago that consolidators bought radio stations at prices that were so high that they would never be able to service the debt.  Right again – look at all the companies including iHeart (then Clear Channel) that have been, will go again or are set to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Gary was also a good man – taking my son under his wing as he grew up, attended college and became an entrepreneur on his own (Gary and I are pictured below with our mutual friend Steve Pendergast at my son, Jerry’s wedding in Los Angeles).  Who says radio people can’t clean up nicely?

I saw Gary bravely fight Parkinson’s the way he did everything else – found the best doctors, came up with the optimal plan and was still driving sports cars into his 70’s.  We shared a love of fast cars.  And had a good laugh when a cargo ship that caught on fire and sunk in the Atlantic carrying around 4,000 luxury cars, including Porsches, Bentleys, Audis, and Lamborghinis.  Including Gary’s!  Before I bought a Maserati, I asked him about whether it was a good move.  He said they have a lot of problems but they are fun.  It was fun and I had a lot of problems.

Gary planned for his death building a mausoleum with a hell of a view in Connecticut and yes, it had a music stanza sign worked into the architecture proving what we all know – you can take the dj out of radio but not radio out of the ex-dj’s mausoleum.  I asked him once, why the great view, you won’t need it and he said, I can sit there now and enjoy it while I’m alive.

Radio was the kind of business where friendships of meaning and long duration like ours were conceived because it was never about just the money.  We were crazy, ambitious people who had fun in a local business like no other.

And Gary Stevens was like no other.  For the rest of my life I will miss being able to pick up the phone and talk, learn and laugh. 

But the one thing I’ve learned about loss is it goes down just a bit easier when you can ease it with a healthy dose of appreciation.

This is the article I never wanted to write for a friend I never wanted to lose.

Cheryl and I send our condolences to his loving wife Frankie and their family and let’s leave on a high note.

If there is a Great Beyond I’ll bet my friend has already got the lay of the land, maybe even brokered or run a station or two (imagine the coverage up there) with our radio pals who went before and will surely live forever in our hearts.