Detroit Radio: RIP..Personality John O'Leary Murdered

John O'Leary

A man is in police custody awaiting arraignment on murder charges in connection with the stabbing death of a longtime Detroit disc jockey, the city's police chief said.

The Detroit News reports the body of John O’Leary, 68, who spent nearly 40 years at rock radio stations WWWW, WLLZ, WCSX and WABX, was found Sunday by police in his Highland Park home Sunday after friends reported him missing, Highland Park Police Chief Johnny Thomas said.

O'Leary had been stabbed to death, Thomas said, although it was unclear when he was killed. A roommate has been arrested.

"We have a suspect in custody, and he's awaiting arraignment," Thomas said. The chief declined to release further details about the ongoing investigation.

O'Leary graduated graduated from the Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts in 1974, according to his LinkedIn profile. The following year, he began his radio career at WWWW FM.

"He was very passionate about radio," said Doug Podell, who was O'Leary's co-worker and boss at four Detroit radio stations. "He was almost a historian when it came to Detroit radio, and he was just about to launch a podcast with some friends looking at the early days of Detroit rock radio."

O'Leary's most recent radio gig was at WCSX in 2013. Since then, he had done voiceover work.

Friends said O'Leary, who lived with a roommate, had no known relatives.

Jamie Hughes, a friend of O'Leary's who worked with him at WCSX, said they regularly got together with other friends in the radio industry around Thanksgiving each year.

He described O'Leary as a fixture of the Detroit market and as the kind of person who was respected by many in music and radio.

"He meant a lot to people in this town," Hughes said. "To say he is going to be missed is an understatement."

Longtime Detroit radio DJ John O'Leary stabbed to death; roommate arrested https://t.co/yX6qUyKtRg

— Tom Benson (@Tombenson1) November 23, 2021

“He’s a radio icon in Detroit,” said friend Ron Robinson. “He was one of the good guys. John was a radio jock who people in Detroit grew up hearing.”

Robinson, a Troy filmmaker, said he came to know O’Leary well during the past 18 months while producing a documentary about radio history.

Robinson called O’Leary “the Johnny Fever of Detroit,” a nod to the likable hippie DJ from the television show “WKRP in Cincinnati.”

“His love was WABX — the vibe of it, the early history of rock radio and being part of that,” said Podell. “He was still involved in the community, still out there and active.”

Those close to O’Leary said he was financially struggling and relied on friends for transportation in recent years.

"John had fallen on real hard times," said Art Voulo, a Detroit radio archivist and historian who hailed O'Leary as a well-known, well-versed rock specialist.