John Roberts Dies After Cancer Battle
• As if this year couldn’t get more tragic, we were saddened this morning to learn that legendary programmer John Roberts has lost his brave battle with cancer.
Earlier this year Roberts disclosed that on July 30, 2019 he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer of the esophagus. “At that point, the docs said I was in such bad shape they weren’t sure I’d still be alive when my daughter Brooke Thomas got married on Sept 28th,” Roberts posted to Facebook in February. But he fought like hell through hellish cycles of chemo and radiation, but the cancer had spread to his lungs and liver.
Roberts had served as Operations Manager for Townsquare Media’s company’s four-station group in Tyler-Longview, TX since October 2016, following a stint with Scripps as PD of Top 40 KHTT (106.9 K-Hits)/Tulsa, OKand former sisterWLWK (94.5 The Lake)/Milwaukee. Back in the day Roberts famously programmed KEGL/Dallas during its first run as “The Eagle,” where a young Kidd Kraddick cemented his reputation in mornings. His lengthy programming resume also contains such highly regarded stations as WMC-FM/Memphis, KIMN/Denver, WEZB & WKZN/New Orleans, KHKS/Dallas andKHFI/Austin. Roberts also served as Corporate PD for First Broadcasting and VP of Programming & Operations for Clear Channel Dallas.
In a statement, Townsquare SVP of Programming Kurt Johnson said, “John was a true pro, one of the best our business has ever seen. But more importantly he was a great friend to everyone and he made a huge impact in his family, his staff, his market, and basically with everyone he met. John’s laughter was contagious, his drive for good was tenacious, his spirit was indomitable. If you knew John you are better for it. The world has lost a great light. All of us at Townsquare will miss him dearly.”
We will share additional details as they become available.
