A member of the air staff at KBDZ-FM 93.1, licensed to Perryville, Mo., and serving a swath of downstate Illinois and southeastern Missouri between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, has died after contracting West Nile Virus some five weeks ago.
Kevin “Kevy Kev” Russell was the General Manager and also could be heard in morning drive on the Donze Communications Classic Rock station. On the station’s Facebook page, Russell’s diagnosis was detailed. “He had a fever he couldn’t get rid of, so, when his temperature spiked and stayed there, he was admitted to the hospital. His condition deteriorated and it became obvious after a while, he was not going to get better again. Despite the hard work put in by the doctors and nurses, he didn’t wake up. And today, they will disconnect all of the things keeping him alive.”
For the small staff at KBDZ, “this has been one of the most brutal things we have ever been through,” the Facebook post continued. “Kevin basically built this station in the basement of his house and is responsible for all of the technical aspects of the station.”
This, KBDZ explained, is why “we’ve had so much trouble lately.”
Russell has already left a large void at the Classic Rocker. “Kevin is pretty much responsible for the great collection of jocks on the station, how good sonically the station sounded and it was his baby. He would get up every morning trying to figure out how to make the station better. When talking to Kevin, you knew you would be on the phone awhile because if you asked Kevin the time, he would tell you how to build a watch. We all miss those conversations deeply. And wish we could have more. This seems like a bad movie, the theatre doors are locked and we can’t get out.”
