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R.I.P.

D

djtalker

Guest
Does anyone have any news in regard to Phil Lerza of KCBS hit by a train in San Mateo?
 
Just what's on the front page here at Radio-Info. So sad. A tremendous engineer. Created the best audio chain I'd ever heard at KFRC in the 70s/80s.
 
Why wasn't he at NAB? Was he working?
The media say that it was "likely a suicide", since he was not in a publicly-accessible area. Could there be a Field-Intensity meter laying nearby...the 1550 directional is about 5 miles SE of there?
 
Created the best audio chain I'd ever heard at KFRC. -- Michael Haggerty
Click to expand...

For those of us beyond immediate family who knew Phil, this news is the kind that stops the day and leaves an axpression of shock on our faces. (Thanks Calguy for the Contra Costa post in the Chronicle)

Some of us who have been talking back and for on the phone recently knew Phil Lerza for over 40 years, watched him raise up a family, fell in love with his always sparkling spouse, Chris, and spent plenty of time at his uniquely wired home. We all realize that words fall far too short and completely fail us now.

Lerza's achievements were many - even made the Radio Hall Of Fame locally - but these standards of his professional progress were mere peripheral decor to the man he, in fact, was. What struck everyone who met Phil afterward was his easy going attitude and unspoken optimism. When they were with him they didn't have time for these thoughts; Lerza kept their minds going. In a world of bigger-than-life DJs, Phil was a larger-than-life grounded being, no overlapping ego, lots of appreciation and support for his team mates. Very up.

He was always interested in what you were doing on the air. Always. I used to move the microphone setting on click away from the "music" notch at which he set it just to test him, mess with him. Within minutes, I would get a phone call from Phil asking if anything was wrong. He could HEAR one the difference that one click made. Astonishing!

He had a million electrical projects in the very same head that watched over his beloved family, remained married (while his DJ friends' relationships crumbled), raised his brood (now with families of their own) and, all the while, kept one radio station evolving and sounding technically better than not only everyone else in town, but across most of the nation. He was one of a kind.

He had no enemies. I can remember NO ONE saying anything disparaging about Phil. This news concerning his passing is the only thing sad I ever heard from Phil Lerza's camp.

God bless Phil and may we all feel how blessed we are for having known him.
 
Some good memories here. A YouTube video of the last KFRC broadcast in the mobile Sturgeon before it was sent off to KHJ (what the hell did KHJ need with it?). The poster labelled it fall, 1984, but it's clearly fall of '83 based on who was there (McKay and Armstrong weren't by fall '84). A very, very fun video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ9EQQNDEI4&feature=player_embedded#!

And, in searching for information about Phil, I ran across this...yes, the man loved adventure from a young age:

http://newspaperarchive.com/san-mateo-times/1960-04-07
 
I knew Phil from our ham radio activities back in the 1980-1990's. In those days I often had dinner with Phil, Chris and the girls but in recent years I had fallen out of touch, which I now sincerely regret. I don't know what could have happened to cause this tragedy, but I am devastated.
 
In 1981, I took a job at KNEW, as chief engineer. Upon arriving in the Bay Area and listening to KFRC, I was amazed at how it sounded!! Great radio station in every way!! Not long thereafter I had the pleasure of meeting Phil. He was always a tremendous person, and this encompassed everything about him. We became friends, and respected colleagues from that point on.

I am deeply saddened by this, and wish to express heartfelt sympathies to Phil's memory, and his family.

-Frank Foti
 
I heard from friends that knew him :( Just know my prayers out to his family and friends, RIP Phil!!! I heard you were a great person, I used to listen to that station in CA when I visited family!!!
 
I got to know Phil when I was CE for KFJC at Foothill College. He helped us any number of times, with stuff like use of their RPU receivers & Zephyrs to pull off otherwise-impossible remotes in SF.

The last time I saw him was when I was preparing to be the site engineer for 99.7's Triple Ho Show remote. He was always up, always ahead of the game, always making sure everything worked.

As near a saint as there is in that 3v1l business, was our Phil.
 
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