Larry ShannonThe broadcast world and the trucking community lost a pioneer and innovator Thursday, Aug. 9, with the passing of Larry Shannon. He was 63.
Many truckers will remember Shannon for his voice. For many years, he was the radio voice of Overdrive Trucking News.
Radio legend Bill Mack paid tribute to Shannon in a Facebook post upon learning the news his colleague and friend had died. “Larry was the announcer who introduced my daily radio program on Sirius-XM Radio for 10 years – dating back to when it was XM Radio and I was presenting my shows on Channel 171,” Mack wrote. “He was a great radio personality … and a very good friend to all of my family.” In 2007, Overdrive sister publication Truckers News profiled Shannon and other radio greats including Mack in a cover story. Shannon was then living in Missouri and running several of his business enterprises from a family farm in the middle of a cornfield – a humble setting for a man who had achieved so much.
Shannon started his broadcast career at 16 and, according to Radio-Info.com, “worked at such stations as Fort Worth’s KFJZ-AM (1270) as a No. 1-rated night jock; KXOL; and Dallas KVIL-FM (103.7). Shannon also served as a personal assistant to former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Jim Wright from 1986 until 1998. He started numerous industry-related websites, including Radio Daily News and Talk Radio Daily News. In 2002, Shannon founded the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.”
Shannon continually refused, including this year when the 2012 class was announced, induction into the Hall, always saying he was stepping aside to allow others to be enshrined. According to DFW.com, Josh Holstead, operations manager of the TRHoF, announced that since the induction ceremony isn’t until this fall, Shannon will be inducted posthumously with the 2012 class.
Finally, Shannon won’t be able to refuse the honor that is long overdue.
