Don Cox

Radio legend DON COX died in his sleep September 14, 2003 at the age of 55. He was in Georgia, visiting with his mother at the time. Don was at 13Q between 1975 and 1977. Don came to Pittsburgh from the legendary Y-100 in Miami. He went on to KHJ in Los Angeles after leaving 13Q. He also spent a number of years in Miami. Most recently Don did mornings at WKIS-FM 99.9 Kiss Country.

"Don Cox, a veteran disc jockey of the South Florida airwaves, died in his sleep Monday morning in Atlanta, said friend and former colleague Kid Curry, program director of WPOW-FM 96.5 (Power 96).
Cox on the Radio, as he was known, had been living with his mother. He was 55.
''He didn't wake up,'' Curry said.
Cox's gravelly voice and sometimes bawdy on-air persona made him a star DJ for three decades in South Florida.
Cox came to prominence in South Florida on WHYI-FM (100.7) -- generally called Y-100 -- in 1973 when the 'Johns' dominated the pop station's playlist: Elton John, John Denver and Olivia Newton-John. He briefly worked in Los Angeles at the height of disco in 1977.
When disco died and urban rhythms arrived, Cox followed the beat back to South Florida. He returned to Y-100 and then to contemporary hit radio, Power 96, in 1986.
In 2001, he ended his South Florida tenure with a brief, four-month stint at WKIS-FM (99.9) -- Kiss Country. After throat surgery, WKIS chose not to renew his contract, and he moved to Georgia to care for his mother.
''It's always sad when a friend who has so much talent and who was such a loving father and a nice guy dies,'' Curry said in a phone interview from Power 96. The two had recently spoken, Curry said, and Cox sounded fine.
''I feel for his kids. It's just a shock,'' Curry said. Cox had two children and a stepdaughter with his fourth wife, March Cox.
Cox was known for his on- and off-air antics.
''He was the quintessential rock-'n'-roll DJ,'' said Bill Tanner, who, as previous program director for Y-100 in the '70s and Power 96 in the '80s, hired Cox at both stations.
Perhaps inspired by TV's wacky sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, Tanner and Cox came up with a novel idea. The DJ would broadcast his first Power 96 show live from atop the former Coppertone billboard in North Miami Beach.
Except that the mechanical arm that made the dog pull the little girl's blue bathing suit down conked Cox on the head, forcing the DJ off the air and to the hospital.
''He was always having things like that happening to him; he was such a character,'' Tanner said. Personal problems threatened to derail his career, however. In 1991, he was arrested for drunken driving and had his license suspended for six months. In 1986, he claimed he was beaten by four men who abducted him after his air shift on the former WINZ-FM (94.9) -- now Zeta 4. He didn't file a police report. In 1980, he was charged with cocaine trafficking and served four months.
Despite those setbacks, ''If you look back at the history of radio in South Florida, I think Don's name will always be remembered,'' said Adam Jacobson, an editor with the Los Angeles trade magazine Radio & Records.
``He spoke to two generations of South Floridians.''