Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame Obituaries

Larry "Moon" Thompson

Popular former KS95 afternoon DJ Larry “Moon” Thompson has died after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 65.

The station announced Thursday that Thompson, a 17-year vet of KS95’s “Moon and Staci Show,” died overnight due to complications related to MS. By that afternoon, management had billboards up around the Twin Cities honoring Thompson that read: “Love you to the Moon and back. Moon 1958-2024.”

Thompson started at the station in 2003, was diagnosed with MS two years later and left KS95 in October 2019 to focus on his health.

“Mr. Moon, oh my,” said his former co-host Staci Matthews. “He was the most unusual man I’ve ever met and funnier off the air than on. We couldn’t air the funnier stuff. He was more than just a coworker, he was like my brother. That’s the best way I can describe it, we have something special and that’s why it hit us so very hard.”

“Moon had a heart of gold,” said Greg “Hutch” Hutchinson, who took over Thompson’s spot on the afternoon show. “He was always in your corner and a genuine friend to everyone he met. He made the listeners feel like they were family.”

A Nebraska native and lifelong Huskers fan, Thompson co-hosted successful morning shows in Houston, Denver and Las Vegas before taking the job at KS95. The idea of a morning-style show in the afternoon was a new one, said Dan Seeman, vice president/market manager for KS95’s parent company Hubbard Radio.

“Until Moon and Staci, afternoon drive was mostly about music,” Seeman said. “This gave them the opportunity to be entertaining and not worry so much about playing music. Hubbard felt entertaining personalities were going to be the difference and they dominated for 17 years. It really was Moon and Staci that build that foundation.

“You know how someone can own the room? He was able to do that on a radio station. It’s hard to be personal in broadcasting, but Moon made it personal with everyone who listened. His life was an open book.”

In 2012, Thompson and Matthews won the Marconi Radio Award — which Seeman called the biggest honor in the industry — for personality of the year, large market. In 2020, he was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame. When Thompson learned about the honor he took to the former Twitter to look back at his career: “I had so much fun! If could live my life over again I would do it exactly the same. Except I would have taken the higher paying jobs first … then worked my way back to broke.”

Both his coworkers and his listeners knew Thompson for his humor, sincerity and candor, Seeman said.

“Moon loved being Moon. He was a character. And that doesn’t mean he didn’t love everything else. He loved radio, he loved his family, he loved everyone around him,” Seeman said. “He had this incredible capacity for joy and I don’t remember him ever complaining. He was never going to retire, because this is what he loved so dearly. When that was taken away, he never complained, he just moved on to the next chapter with typical Moon joy.”

Thompson shocked his listeners when he announced he was stepping down in 2019. “Sometimes in life you don’t get to choose what goes on and my health is now making my decisions for me,” he wrote in a statement on the station’s website. “For the last 14 years this thing has taken things away from me that I love. Like dancing with my wife, and playing with my kids and stuff. It’s made a mess of things. But I just kept coming back, and I got to play radio star. And I’m so damn glad I did.”

Thompson is survived by his wife Cynthia and three children. KS95’s website has a page devoted to memories of Thompson and has set up the Moon’s Miracle Fund to Fight MS, with proceeds benefiting the MS Society of Minnesota.

Originally posted by www.twincities.com

James Wychor
Date of Birth 1/11/1932 Date of Death 7/14/2023

Born in humble beginnings to Ukrainian immigrants John and Ceclia Wychor in Columbia Heights on a sustainable farm; he learned the value of hard work. While growing up he worked delivering ice, building fires in the steam engines for the Soo line railroad, worked in the linseed mill and played on a semi pro hockey team. After joining the national guard, he was called to active duty during the Korean War. He served two years as camp cook at Fort Rucker army base in Alabama. After serving his country he attended Brown Institute for broadcasting. Starting in 1953 he had done just about everything there is to do in radio, from announcer to program director to engineer to sales and management at stations in Iowa, Michigan, West Virginia and Minnesota. He found a home at KWOA in Worthington. For 26 years he was KWOA's co-owner, vice president, and general manager where he made the station part of the lives of listeners throughout the region. As president and CEO of the Minnesota broadcasters from 1989 to 1997 he revitalized that organization.

He will be remembered for his many contributions as an outstanding advocate for the broadcast industry. His biggest supporter of his work and community involvement was his wife, Carol. They married in 1958. They raised 4 children, Susan, James, Matthew and Lawrence. He was a proud, passionate, dedicated family man. He never missed a band or choir concert, football game or wrestling meet. He boasted to all about his children, 8 grandkids and 9 great grandkids. He is survived by sons Jim (Diane) Wychor of Circle Pines, Matt (Jane) Wychor of Glyndon. Grandchildren Carla (Jim) Bidwell, David Wychor, Jimmy (Amber) Wychor, Adam Wychor, John (Brittney) Wychor, Tim Wychor and Tom Wychor. Great grandchildren Rebecca, Holly and Brook Bidwell, Reese and JJ Wychor, Cooper Wychor, Elliot and Jackson Wychor. He is preceded in death by wife Carol, daughter Susan, son Larry, grandson Mark and great granddaughter Gretchen.

Originally posted by www.legacy.com

Donald P Egert
Don Egert, a familiar and engaging voice on radio & TV for over 70 years in west central Minnesota and northeast South Dakota, passed away Wednesday December 28, 2022, at the age 89 in Watertown, South Dakota. Beginning in 1949 on KWAT, Watertown, on KSOO in Sioux Falls, KYNT in Yankton, and for 41 years at KDIO, Ortonville where he was cofounder, and then sole owner of KDIO and KAHF-FM, he continued in broadcasting after selling those stations in 1997 by returning to KWAT and then KXLG, Watertown, until he semi-retired just 4 years ago. He was also the Pioneer Public Television personality for over 40 years.

His voice possessed warmth, authenticity, dignity, and friendliness combined with a hint of the ever-present twinkle in his eye. To hear the voice was to know the man. Don had a keen sense of humor and a self-deprecating style that endeared him to his family, friends, and colleagues. As he was being inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2021, he told the story of being at a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the KDIO Radio tower three miles north of Ortonville on a graveled county road. His impromptu acceptance message started with "I want to tell you why I am so important." He asked the commissioners who were present if that road could be paved one day. The very next week the road crews were there to do just that. He was humbled to find out later the paving project had been long been scheduled. Don was a humble person; making everyone around him feel as important as he thought he was that week. He immersed himself into everything he did including learning to fly and obtaining his commercial and instructor pilots licenses, serving on the Ortonville City Council, as President of the Ortonville School board, covering and delivering the local news and letter writing to the young people he got started in the media business and continued to mentor. His endeavors sometimes took time away from his family, but his wife Sally was his favorite person in the world, and he was immensely proud of their sons Steve and Jim stating "I really owe Sally and the boys as radio becomes a way of life and without their support, including delivering Christmas dinner to the studio, my career would not have been possible." Hubert Humphrey put it best when he replied to Don's interview question about how he felt not obtaining the Presidency, "I didn't exactly fail young man."

Don was born July 19, 1933 in Watertown to Dr. P. L. Egert and Fern (Mundell) Egert. He graduated from Watertown High school in 1951 and the University of South Dakota in 1956 with a communications degree. He was a Second Lieutenant in the US Army. KDIO was more than a business; it chose and created a new path in his life. In the entry of the station, the former Little Red School House was where he met the love of his life Sally. Don married Sarah "Sally" Sorenson on January 30, 1960 who passed away in 2015. Sons Steven (Megan) and James (Candy) and two grandsons, Mitchell and Jackson, survive him. Also preceding him in death were his parents and two sisters, and two brothers.

Originally posted by Crawford Osthus Funeral Chapel