Famous DJ Puts On His Wings

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Famous DJ Puts On His Wings

Postby Marsbar » Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:28 am

By Michelle Manchir Tribune reporter

10:19 p.m. CST, December 18, 2013

Larry Lujack, the legendary Chicago radio personality known as “Superjock” and “Uncle Lar,” died Wednesday in New Mexico, his wife said. He was 73.

Judith “Jude” Lujack told the Tribune her husband had been in hospice care for three days and died of esophageal cancer.

Lujack was known for his gravelly voice, sometimes surly disposition and larger-than-life personality.

He worked for rock ‘n’ roll stations in Chicago from the 1960s until 1987.

Jude Lujack recalled how much her husband enjoyed his retirement in New Mexico, where he’d lived the last 15 years, teaching his grandchildren how to golf and enjoying the mountainous views.

“He was passionate … about everything that he did, whether it was helping neighbors or taking care of charities,” said Lujack.

Jude Lujack said he leaves behind a daughter, a son, a stepson and two grandchildren. Another son preceded him in death.

“We’re really hurting right now,” she said Wednesday night from their New Mexico home.

Lujack said he requested that his body be donated to the New Mexico Medical Center for research, which she called a demonstration of his compassion.

“He wasn’t defined by being a Hall of Famer or a superjock, he was defined by being the man that he was, and he was an amazing human being,” Jude Lujack said.

In 1987, WLS-AM management bought out his contract amid sliding ratings. The purveyor of the “Animal Stories” and “Cheap, Trashy Showbiz Reports” features then retired.

Lujack was recognized for his decades of achievement with his induction in 2002 into the Illinois Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. The honor came at the IBA’s annual convention in Peoria, just as Lujack was turning 62.

“Although I am somewhat humbled by that thing, it's the Illinois Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame,” Lujack said in a phone interview at the time. “It's not Mount Rushmore. But hey, it ain't bad.”

A year and a half ago, Lujack and fellow Chicago radio personality Tommy Edwards reprised their “Animal Stories” bit from the 1970s and '80s, in the form of public service announcements for pet emergency preparedness.

Seven spots featuring “Uncle Lar” and “Lil' Tommy” aired on more than 200 radio stations statewide, according to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, which partnered with the Illinois Broadcasters Association to produce the spots.

“Animal Stories,” a quirky look at animal-related news, grew out of Lujack's reading of WLS-AM 890's farm report and became a staple on his show.

In a famous moment in Chicago radio, Lujack, tired of the taunting from Steve Dahl, entered Dahl’s studio on Thanksgiving Day 1985 and began threatening Steve and partner Garry Meier. They left the studio, and Lujack had to do the last couple of hours of their show.

Lujack and his wife sold their Palatine home in 1998 for $170,000. The inexpensiveness of Lujack’s home at the time was noteworthy beacuse Lujack signed a 12-year, $6 million contract with WLS in 1984. At the time it was considered the most lucrative in radio history.
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