37-year Rogue Valley Broadcast Veteran Larry Neal Dies

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, January 4, 2021

Larry Neal

Longtime KRWQ-FM (Q100.3)/Medford-Ashland, OR Program Director and morning personality Larry Neal has died after a four-year bout with glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive form of neurological cancer. A native of Wisconsin, Neal left the Midwest in 1980 to help Duane & Sherry Hill put a new Country station on the air in Gold Hill, OR, to serve Medford, Ashland and Grants Pass.

Along with News Director Brian Bishop, Neal played the unflappable straight man in the Breakfast Flakes Morning Show that ran from 1988 until 2008. He also shared the mic with Krista Lee for a year before being paired with another longtime KRWQ personality, Judi Austin, until her retirement in 2012. Neal moved to afternoons, where he remained for the final five years of his broadcast career.

"Definitely one of the good guys," said Q100.3 programmer Bryce Burtner, who spent more time with Neal than anyone else at Bicoastal Media. "Everyone he came into contact with was treated as if they were family. I was a part of his and he was a part of mine for 27 years. An incredible loss for sure. I will miss him dearly."

"His institutional knowledge of country music coupled with his passion for our clients and listeners was truly incredible", noted Operations Manager Don Hurley. "Larry was a very passionate and emotional man which was evident when he was with his wife, Linda, or their daughters and grandkids. He was loyal, honest, and dependable and lived every second with pride and integrity."

Neal remained with the station for 37 years, until his diagnosis in February 2017. He had just celebrated his 66th birthday prior to the New Year.