R.I.P: WRCQ Fayetteville Radio Personality Ann Thomas

Ann Thomas, a longtime on-air personality in the Fayetteville radio market who made her mark in the rock format with her distinctive husky voice, died Saturday.

Thomas was 63, according to fayobserver.com.

She died before going on the air at noon on Fayetteville's WRCQ 103.5 FM, which would have marked her return to radio following a year-long absence, according to station program director Kelvin Culbreth.

Thomas spent much of her career with WRCQ, which is perhaps better known to listeners as "Rock 103." The station's former general manager Howard Johnson once dubbed her "the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll."

Over the airwaves, Ms. Thomas was capable of engaging listeners with a friendly voice that was equally raspy and husky. With a laugh, she once credited bourbon with giving her that distinctive raspiness, although she also agreed that cigarettes may have also taken their toll on her vocal chords.

Ms. Thomas, who once described herself as "an Army brat," launched her radio career in 1974 while attending what was then Methodist College. She started out like many in those days in radio, doing Sunday morning shift duty. That was when she worked at the former WFBS in Spring Lake, at the time a Top 40 station.

From 1977 to 1980, Ms. Thomas was on the airwaves at Baltimore's WCAO, an AM Top 40 station. There she learned from one of the best in the business - Ron Riley, the station's operations manager.