Another "Voice": Gary Gears

Awhile back, Phil North had mentioned Gary Gears in a post; we'd also heard some of his work in an intro or two of Beaker Street.  He was another "voice" contracted for talent on KAAY, as well as many other stations around the country.  After a short stint at WCFL, Gary worked for WSL from 1971 until 1973.  He is touted, by Jeff Roterman's webpage, to have been "one of the best voices of all".  Gary's voice was heard all over the country in the 1970's, doing ads, as well as on many stations (most in the Chicago, IL markets).  See more comments, and some airchecks, at the link below:

http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff/gearswls.html

Phil also sent along another link about Gary Gears:

http://www.reelradio.com/gifts/ggwls040171.html

If you can access Reelradio via your account, you can also hear an aircheck of Gary there.

Gary served in the Armed Forces and was also on AFVN; I wonder, since I listened as a kid, was he ever on shortwave?  I listened to AFRTS a lot on shortwave, growing up.  (I'll have to post a picture of my grandfather's Zenith TransOceanic here that I used back then.  I still have it!)

Sadly, Gary passed away from cancer at the age of 46, in 1991....

Phil comments: "Gary Gears…he was a great DJ in Chicago…I first heard him on WLS Chicago…I went up to visit him one weekend and he showed me the WLS studios and we hung out a little…nice guy…loved hockey and women…..he was very kind to help a 20 year old upstart…."

A big "Thank you!" to Phil North/Eric Chase for setting me in the right direction and providing links! (For some reason last year, I wasn't getting much in the way of research done on Gary Gears and this info eluded me.)

Here's a link to a couple of Gary Gears' intros, from Phil North:

http://mighty1090kaay.podomatic.com/player/web/2009-08-13T19_50_37-07_00

There's GOT to be a Radio Heaven, 'cuz fols like Gary, A.J. and others MUST be there....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)