Radio Giant and Veteran Talent Tom Kent Dead at Age 69

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Tom Kent

The family of TKRN and United Stations Radio Network is very sad to announce the passing of radio icon Tom Kent. He had been in a fight with cancer for the past two years and died at his home in suburban Cleveland on Monday morning. He was 69.

Kent was born in Winston-Salem, NC in August of 1954 and got the radio bug early in high school. In the '70s & '80s Tom Kent ("TK Truckin' Tom Kent") entertained radio audiences all over America in markets as large as Chicago where he worked at the legendary WLS. Kent also worked on-air at KLIF in Dallas, WIBG in Philadelphia, WGCL and WIXY in Cleveland, WMXJ in Miami, WAVA in Washington DC and was also Program Director of WBZZ in Pittsburgh.

Kent got off the "radio-go-round" in the late 1980s and worked on the records/music side of things with Elektra bringing the latest hits from Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt to radios near you until the early part of this decade when he decided to go back to what he loved most: Radio.

On June 29, 2002, Kent launched the Tom Kent Organization and its radio network, the TKO Radio Network. It was here that Kent launched what was then oldies programming, centered around the decades of 1964 to 1973. Exactly five years after Kent launched the network, on June 29, 2007, he resigned as host and sold the company launching a new network, the Tom Kent Radio Network.

Programs included a five-hour totally live daily show called, "The Music Magazine" as well as weekend shows: "The Ultimate Party" (a live five-hour Saturday evening party show) and "My 70s Show" (a five-hour 70s show) and many, many others including a 24/7 Network.

Kent is survived by his wife Karen, daughters Jackie and Katie, son Steven and their spouses. For the foreseeable future, the network plans to keep operating and providing affiliates with awesome, entertaining programming. TKRN is comprised of hundreds of affiliates with 23 different products in seven different formats. The network also includes two fulltime 24/7 networks.