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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