Remembering Sean Demery
• We were deeply saddened over the weekend to learn of the death of a friend and colleague to many of us — Sean Demery passed away peacefully on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 15 in Salt Lake City, surrounded by his family. Demery, whose given name was George Prochazka, was 60 years old — 42 of those years spent pursuing his passion — radio. Demery suffered a massive and debilitating brain-stem stroke on January 20 — the same day that he and his wife, Jennifer (pictured) closed on their new home. He was PD of Alpha Media Triple A KINK/Portland, OR at the time.
Demery’s other programming stints include WYMS (88Nine Radio)/Milwaukee, KITS (Live 105)/San Francisco and KXRK (X96)/Salt Lake City. Other stops on his colorful radio journey: KIOY (K104) and KYNO-FM/Fresno, KGGI/Riverside, KTFM/San Antonio, KLRZ/Salt Lake City, KMTT (103.7 The Mountain)/Seattle, two stops at WNNX (99X)/Atlanta, and Radio Central in San Francisco, to name a few. He also spent many productive years working with Mike Henry at Paragon Media Strategies. Henry commented, “For 28 years, Sean was the most creative and funniest guy I ever knew. Then, for the last nine months, he became the strongest and most courageous person I’ve ever known. He was an incredible person and like a brother to me. I’ll miss him greatly, but he’ll always guide me for the rest of my days.”
Leslie Fram (left) worked with Demery during his two tours of duty at the late WNNX (99X)/Atlanta — as a member of the original 1991 launch team, along with Rick Stacy, and again from 2006-2007 when he returned to co-host mornings with Leslie. In a poignant Facebook post, titled, “A Remarkable Life — Sean Demery,” Fram, now SVP, Music & Talent at CMT said, in part, “Dear Sean, I could spend hours talking about how you impacted my life and everyone around you… I want to thank you for your friendship, compassion for others, loyalty, support, uncompromising integrity, character and so much more. You were the essence of compassion, a true confidant and advisor… Here’s a collective toast to the one person who changed my life for the better, changed radio, a true risk-taker, creative soul and loving friend, husband and believer in ALWAYS doing the right thing. I love you, my friend.”
Former 99X midday personality Steve Craig (left) first met Demery in 1979 at KYNO-FM/Fresno, and they went on to work together over four decades in four markets. Craig said, “I’m forever grateful for the friendship and guidance that Sean showed me, beginning in those early years when we were learning our craft. He always maintained that we weren’t DJs — we were just ‘guys on the radio with a cool job and a bunch of records that we were excited to play.’ That philosophy was a success in every market and at every station we worked. That inimitable style that Sean pioneered and perfected is what we carried into 99X. Sean always told me, ‘Life is too short to do lifeless work.’ Radio was his passion, and his life was a 500,000-watt signal that reverberated in your soul. As a friend for 40 years, he taught me what unconditional love really means.”
Brian Philips, Demery’s former PD during the formative years of 99X, said, “Sean’s on-air persona, (which tracked eerily close to his true self) seemed derivative of nothing, indebted to no one. I never heard a false, borrowed or inauthentic moment from Sean on 99X. No facade. It was a wonder to behold every afternoon, a program director’s dream. Sean was an outlier in the radio/music industry — flattery and self-indulgence were foreign to him. He heaped these on no one and expected none in return. He was a major star; a powerful creative force on a big radio station but his innate humility caused him to resist all of the pitfalls to which many fall prey.”
Cliff Berkowitz, Sean’s college radio roommate, remarked, “We all know that Sean forever changed radio with his brilliance as a music director. We have all admired his inventiveness on the air and his ability to relate to listeners. But for those closest to him, we will miss his ever-present humor. We will miss the way he would call us ‘Nerds!’ and laugh about it. We will miss his abiding friendship. We have lost a part of ourselves and the person I will always love as a brother and a Godfather to my children.”
[Ed. note: I first met Sean in the fall of 1980 at the late, great KYNO-FM/Fresno, where I was privileged to work with him and a remarkably talented team that also included Kidd Kraddick, Steve Craig, Rick Stacy, Jeff Davis and Eddie Monson, to name a few. Sean was a blindingly bright light; a brilliantly funny and deeply inspiring person whose earthly presence will be sorely missed. — Kevin Carter].
