Veteran Air Personality ‘Kane,’ Known Across D.C., Dies

[RBR-TVBR Buzz Stream]

Until eleven months ago, his voice could be heard in morning drive at WIHT-FM “Hot 99.5” in Washington, D.C., and WFLZ-FM in Tampa, in addition to stations in Baltimore, Louisville, Memphis and Harrisburg via Premiere Networks syndication.

He also hosted a Sunday night program, also syndicated, that aired on some 100 stations.

In April 2020, iHeartMedia canceled the programs, hosted by a Syracuse University alum legally named Peter Deibler.

Now, legions of former listeners are joining members of the radio industry across the U.S. in remembering the life of the man known as “Kane,” as he has died “after a long illness” at the age of 43.

Lawyers for Deibler’s family at Joseph, Greenwald & Laake P.A. released the news to local Washington, D.C., media Monday morning (3/8). He passed away on Friday, March 5, at Shady Grove Adventist Medical Center.

As an anchor for Hot 99.5 from 2006 until his surprising dismissal amid a major reduction-in-force initiative at iHeartMedia, “Kane” also served as a contributor to NBC O&O WRC-4 in Washington.

“Although co-hosts came and went, Kane remained a constant, comforting voice for thousands of people driving to work, dropping the kids off at school and running errands,” lawyers for Deibler’s family said in a statement.

In another statement sent to WRC-4 by the former employer of “Kane” and those associated with The Kane Show, iHeartMedia said, “We are deeply saddened to share the news that Kane has passed away. Kane has been an important part of our iHeart family for many years, from his early days at WFLZ in Tampa, to his network of stations and success at HOT 99.5 in D.C. and ‘Club Kane.’ Please keep Kane’s family and his girls in your thoughts and prayers.”

Deibler was father to two daughters, Sam and Sophie.

“The family is requesting that their privacy be honored during this difficult time,” his representatives said.

A memorial service will also be planned at a future date.

Deibler made headlines in June 2016 after being arrested for assault after his soon-to-be ex-wife accused him of second-degree assault, The Washington Post reported at the time.

It was a blemish on a storied career that began at WKCI-FM “KC101” in New Haven, where he was an intern while still in high school, Lance Venta of RadioInsight.com reports. He’d later hold nights at WWHT-FM “Hot 107.9” in Syracuse and joined WFLZ in 1998 for evenings.

Two years later, he moved to Washington, to join the former XM Satellite Radio.

In 2004, Deibler would return to Tampa, as PD/afternoon host of WFLZ. Then, in October 2006, “The Kane Show” would debut at Hot 99.5; he’d continue to host afternoons on 93.3 FLZ in Tampa.

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[Syfy]

What kind of illness?

 

[CTListener]

What kind of illness?

"After a long illness" is in quotation marks, meaning that was the wording in the obituary, so obviously the family doesn't want any more to be known and, frankly, it's none of your, my or anyone here's business.

 

[CTListener]

Incidentally, I was the backup obit writer at one of my newspapers for several years and got to know the "code" used by the funeral directors in describing causes of death. "Long illness" was usually cancer. "Suddenly" was a heart attack, embolism or stroke. "Unexpectedly" meant an auto accident or, sadly, suicide. I knew this because our paper's news policy was to bring obits for people under 40 to the attention of our city editor and suburban bureau chiefs so reporters could check them out for possible crime connections. If nothing turned up in police records, the funeral directors, who had the reporters' confidence, usually would tell the reporters how the person had died and there was no story.

Also, suicides were never reported unless they had taken place in full public view -- someone hanging himself or herself from a tree in a city park, for instance -- or the victim was well known in the community. One exception I recall well was the death of a 12-year-old boy who, as it turned out, had killed himself at home because he had been bullied in school for years. His mother wanted his story to be known, and it was the subject of several articles.

 

[Syfy]

A long illness can mean many things though. But thanks for that answer.

 

[CTListener]

A long illness can mean many things though. But thanks for that answer.

Yes, I said "usually" cancer. Obviously you have Parkinson's, emphysema, MS, ALS, and several other long-term conditions that accelerate death in people who have them, but cancers are the most common of those conditions.

 

[Syfy]

Yes, I said "usually" cancer. Obviously you have Parkinson's, emphysema, MS, ALS, and several other long-term conditions that accelerate death in people who have them, but cancers are the most common of those conditions.

Yes, I said "usually" cancer. Obviously you have Parkinson's, emphysema, MS, ALS, and several other long-term conditions that accelerate death in people who have them, but cancers are the most common of those conditions.

I understand I was wondering when you wrote the obituaries was all the information about the person provided to you or was part of the job interviewing family member to come up with the obituary column?

 

[seatownmedia]

None of our business unless family releases details. Period.

 

[CTListener]

I understand I was wondering when you wrote the obituaries was all the information about the person provided to you or was part of the job interviewing family member to come up with the obituary column?

Family members gave the info they wanted in the paper to the funeral director, All I did was take dictation from the funeral director, basically, or read a fax, and I didn't ask for details on the cause of death. (This was very early in the internet era; we had computers at the paper, but most of our city's funeral homes didn't.)

If a name or city or some other detail looked wrong, I'd ask the funeral director to verify that -- sometimes using reference material to come up with what probably was the right word or name before calling. For instance, I once got an obituary via fax that said the deceased had "played football at Fordham with Vince Lombardo." I called the funeral director and asked whether that should be Vince Lombardi. I knew it should be, but we always followed procedure. It was Lombardi and he was grateful that I'd caught the error. Another time, I was taking an obit by phone and the assistant funeral director pronounced the last name of one of the survivors as something that sounded like "Cirrhosis." I immediately asked her to spell that, and she did: "S-I-R-O-I-S." Sirois, a fairly common French surname, not Cirrhosis, the liver disease. She just had no idea how it was pronounced. Again, an embarrassing error saved, but I hadn't asked for anything like the cause of death.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

ARDS is commonly associated with COVID-19. So, that acute.

 

[Syfy]

Family members gave the info they wanted in the paper to the funeral director, All I did was take dictation from the funeral director, basically, or read a fax, and I didn't ask for details on the cause of death. (This was very early in the internet era; we had computers at the paper, but most of our city's funeral homes didn't.)

If a name or city or some other detail looked wrong, I'd ask the funeral director to verify that -- sometimes using reference material to come up with what probably was the right word or name before calling. For instance, I once got an obituary via fax that said the deceased had "played football at Fordham with Vince Lombardo." I called the funeral director and asked whether that should be Vince Lombardi. I knew it should be, but we always followed procedure. It was Lombardi and he was grateful that I'd caught the error. Another time, I was taking an obit by phone and the assistant funeral director pronounced the last name of one of the survivors as something that sounded like "Cirrhosis." I immediately asked her to spell that, and she did: "S-I-R-O-I-S." Sirois, a fairly common French surname, not Cirrhosis, the liver disease. She just had no idea how it was pronounced. Again, an embarrassing error saved, but I hadn't asked for anything like the cause of death.

Again thanks for that explanation. Its an interesting subject. Im sure it would be a somewhat challenging assignment both personally and professionally. Just out of curiosity is the paper you worked for still around today? Its sad what is happening to the newspaper industry the past five years or so.

 

[CTListener]

Again thanks for that explanation. Its an interesting subject. Im sure it would be a somewhat challenging assignment both personally and professionally. Just out of curiosity is the paper you worked for still around today? Its sad what is happening to the newspaper industry the past five years or so.

I worked for three. Two are still around. The third -- my first -- was shut down in 2019 but brought back under new ownership as an online-only paper last summer.

And doing obits wasn't really a challenge. I was a copy editor full-time, and only took obits when our regular obit clerk was sick or on vacation. The obituaries were really paid advertising, not news, so there was no sense of selling out my personal ethics. In fact, the families, through the funeral homes, were paying for every line of those obits, so there was no reason for me to do with them what I'd do with a news story from a reporter -- trim excess words to make it read better. Doing that would cost us money. I just transcribed what was given to me, entered the obits into the system and laid them out on the page (electronically). The questioning of names was a courtesy; the woman who regularly did the obits would do the same thing, The people who worked in our advertising department made sure everything in the ads they handled was spelled correctly, too.