R.I.P.: KINK-FM Portland Radio Veteran Sean Demery

Veteran Atlanta and Portland radio personality Sean Demery has died eight months after suffering a massive stroke.

Demery had been most recently program director and afternoon host at a Portland rock station KINK 101.9 FM.

According to ajc.com, Steve Craig, current morning host at Atlanta classic hits station 97.1/The River and long-time mid-day host at WNNX 99X (now WWWQ), worked with Demery at the station from 1992 to 1999 and during Demery’s brief stint as morning host in 2006-07. He reported the unfortunate news on Facebook Saturday night.

“Words cannot adequately express the love & gratitude I have for Sean Demery. For 40 years, he's been my best friend, best man, mentor, career counselor, confidant and so much more. He taught me what unconditional friendship really is.”

Craig said on Saturday that Demery “peacefully passed away this afternoon surrounded by family, and in the company of friends and colleagues.”

Along with Leslie Fram and Rick Stacy, Demery (known on air at the time as “Shotgun” Sean) were working on a struggling top 40 station called Power 99 in the fall of 1992. Management had given them permission to shift the music more rock to reflect the changing scene as Nirvana and Pearl Jam were becoming hot.

Just as the station was about the make a shift, Demery and Stacy at the last second went rogue and basically dumped the top 40 format completely without official management clearance. Demery helped turn 99X into a hugely successful station in the 1990s, a ground-breaking blend of Gen-X insouciance, goofiness, sophistication and musical diversity which cemented loyalty among its listeners.

After his brain-stem stroke January 20, Demery could not breathe on his own and was paralyzed. He could only communicate through a device using his eyes. A GoFundMe site raised nearly $80,000 to help defray medical expenses. The only good news was he was mentally okay. But despite hope that he’d improve physically, that didn’t happen.