David “Kidd” Kraddick, the high-octane radio and TV hostof the Kidd Kraddick in the Morning show heard on dozens of U.S. radio stations, died at a charity golf event near New Orleans, a publicist said. Kraddickwas 53.
The Texas-based radio and television personality, whose program is syndicated by YEA Networks, died at his Kidd’s Kids charity function in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna on Saturday, said publicist Ladd Biro.
“He died doing what he loved,” said Biro, of the public relations firm Champion Management. Biro said he had no further details on the death.
The Kidd Kraddick in the Morning show is heard on more than 75 Top 40 and Hot AC radio stations and is a leaderamong most-listened-to contemporary morning programs, Biro said. The radio program also is transmitted globally on American Forces Radio Network, while the show’s cast is also seen weeknights on the nationally syndicated TV show Dish Nation.
“He died doing what he loved, and his final day was spent selflessly focused on those special children that meant the world to him,” a YEA Networks statement said.
The Dallas Morning News reported Kraddick had been a staple in the Dallas market since 1984, starting in a latenight debut. The newspaper said he moved into morning-show work by the early 1990s in that market and his show began to gain wider acclaim and entered into syndication by 2001 as he gained a following in cities nationwide.
Kraddick would have turned 54 on Aug. 22.
The network statement said the cause of death would be released “at the appropriate time.”Wrote Eric Clapton hit ‘After Midnight’
J.J. Cale, a quietly influential singer-songwriter who stayedin the background while better-known musicians had hits with his songs, including “After Midnight,” “Cocaine” and “Call Me the Breeze,” died Friday ata hospital in La Jolla, Calif. He was 74.
He had a heart attack, his manager, Mike Kappus, told The Associated Press.
Cale had been a working musician since the mid-1950s but was struggling - “dirt poor,” as he put it - and about to quit when he was driving through Tulsa in 1970 and heard Eric Clapton singing “After Midnight” on the radio.
The song, which Cale had written in about 1966, made the Billboard Top 20 and was Clapton’s first major hit as a solo artist. It also securedCale’s musical and financial future.
John Weldon Cale was born on Dec. 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City and grew up in Tulsa. He was playing guitar in Western swing and rock-and-roll bands by the mid-1950s.
By 1964, Cale had moved to California and began to master studio work, as well as the guitar and other instruments. He changed his stage name from Johnny Cale to J.J. Cale, to distinguish himself from John Cale, who played in the Velvet Underground with Lou Reed.
Cale recorded his first album, Naturally, in 1971, and his only significant hit as a performer, “Crazy Mama,” came out in 1972.
Cale was considered a reclusive enigma because his records seldom had his picture on them and because he rarely went on extensive tours. He lived for years in a rural area outside San Diego without a telephone. Survivors include his wife of 16 years, Christine Lakeland, a musician who often played in his bands.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 07/29/2013