Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
Sometimes, good comes from bad.
In this case came a good – make that great – career.
“I was unconscious for nine days after the accident, but apparently, somebody ran a four-way stop sign in Lewisville, Mississippi. My brother (17-year-old Buddy) lost his life. I woke up nine days later and I was completely crushed. I had all types of massive injuries to my left leg. My pelvis was crushed. I had a torn urethra. Head injuries. All of my ribs were broken. My clavicle was broken.”
So, where’s the good?
“One day I was at the building supply business my mom owned, and the salesperson for the radio station came in. My mom was a big believer in radio advertising. She told my mom, ‘Cathy, you should come cut these commercials yourself. They will sound a whole lot better coming from you.’ My mom said, ‘Get ‘ol gimpy over there to do it.’ I was at the store because I couldn’t do anything else. Well, I did it. The son of the owner of the station was there. He came to me and said, ‘Man, you sound amazing! You ever thought about radio?’
“No.”
“‘Well, if you think you would like a job in radio, come see me at six o’clock in the morning.’ I laughed and said, ‘If you’re serious, I will be here at eight o’clock in the morning.’ C’est la vie. I have spent the last 41 years showing up well before six.”
Gary McCoy, long-time Shreveport-Bossier radio personality and co-host of the “Gary and Bristol” morning show on KISS Country 93.7, told me that story, and his story, during lunch at a place of his choosing, Silver Star Smokehouse. Gary had the Steak Salad and a Coke. I went with the Brisket Salad and water.
“I’ve been blessed. I make a very comfortable living and I’ve been able to make all that happen right here in Shreveport. I get to do what I love to do, with the people I love to do it with, in my hometown.
Gary was born at the old Doctor’s Hospital in Shreveport – delivered by who Gary calls a flake, as in Dr. Flake – and spent much of his childhood in Blanchard. Growing up, Gary was not much for staying indoors. He played football and baseball and went hunting and fishing.
“My mom says my first words were, ‘I awanta go outside.’”
But as Gary grew older, he seemed destined to spend his professional life behind a microphone. For years, Gary’s grandfather was an engineer for KTBS Radio, before it became KTBS Television.
“He told me there were two things I really needed to do to make sure I made it in life. One was to take typing, and the other was to take speech. He didn’t care if I played football or if I did anything else. He said do those two things, and life is going to be nothing but roses for you. Now, I do those two things on a daily basis. God love him. He was right.”
Gary’s early career took him from Mississippi, to Coushatta, to Shreveport-Bossier. For 16 years, he was with KRMD, which he helped build to become the market’s #1 country station. After an ownership change, Gary, in 2001, moved to what is now Townsquare Media. Gary is once again part of a #1 station.
“(Legendary Alabama football coach) Bear Bryant always said that he could take his team and beat your team, then take your team and beat his team.”
Now, just because Gary has been here a long time doesn’t mean he hasn’t had opportunities to work in bigger (translation: higher paying) cities. He’s turned down offers from the likes of New Orleans, Little Rock, and even a TV gig with the old Nashville Network. But it would have been hard for Gary to give up the two things which are more important than dollar signs: his love of the area, and his love of family.
For example, there was the time a Baltimore, Maryland radio station – the #1 station in the country – wanted to hire him. Gary’s discussion with the man in charge went like this:
“He said, ‘I guess we’re at that point in the conversation where we need to talk about money’. I said, well, I gotta ask you something to help me arrive at that figure. How many months out of the year can you fish in Baltimore?’ Him not being a fisherman, he said, ‘I’m assuming when the ice has melted, you can probably fish six months out of the year.’ I told him, ‘Well, here at home, I can go fishing 12 months out of the year. I can go fishing on Christmas morning if I want. So, you tell me what that’s worth, then I will know how much to tell you that you gotta pay me. That was the end of the conversation.”
In fact, Gary’s love for the outdoors is the reason he only spent one year in college.
“They announced the date for our finals. That was the same week I was planning to go deer hunting in Alabama. I just went deer hunting. I didn’t take the finals. Within the matter of a couple of weeks, they sent me a letter saying I was on academic probation. Obviously, I didn’t get any credits for that year. I was like, you know what? This is going to happen every year, so there’s no need in me going back to school.”
But back to that family thing. It’s real. Really real.
“Family is more than blood. Family is action . . . . When you’re broken down at two o’clock in the morning and you call your uncle to come rescue you, he’s cussin’ you the whole time for being out there, but he’s putting his boots on. That’s what I strive to be for my family, and what my family gives me back.”
Gary has won so many awards he’s lost count. But Gary hasn’t forgotten his highest recognition, which came in 1995. Gary was honored by the Country Music Association as part of the best morning show in its market size. And yes, Gary has met many of country music’s biggest stars. George Strait. Alan Jackson. Eric Church. But one of his most memorable experiences was with Martina McBride – and Gary was just an embarrassed bystander.
“Martina was backstage with my wife, me, (brother) Craig, and Craig’s best friend. I’m just a huge fan to begin with, but Martina looked amazing that night. She was wearing skintight black leather pants, black boots, and this black leather jacket. Craig was maybe 10 years old . . . . Craig says, ‘I’ve just got one question.’ She says, ‘What’s that, baby?’ ‘How did you get in those pants?’”
My wife and I just fell onto the floor. ‘Oh my God, he just said that to Martina McBride!”
Even though Gary’s life has, for the most part, been the “roses” his grandfather promised, there have been tough times. In addition to losing his brother and being seriously injured in that car accident, Gary has had two heart attacks – in one day. Then, last year, without any symptoms, Gary was diagnosed with cancer – Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He had a mass the size of a football.
Gary took rounds of chemotherapy, which of course made him sick. Very sick. He lost hair. He lost eyebrows. He lost weight. But the only times Gary missed work were when he was taking eight-hour treatments. The other days – the days he was so nauseated – he dragged himself to the station.
“You learn to appreciate every little moment. You are living on borrowed time. Everything for me now is about what’s going on right now. It’s not the plans for tomorrow, or the memories of yesterday, though I appreciate both of those. It’s more about the right now.”
Gary’s cancer is in remission. If he gets two “all clear” PET Scans, the doctor will declare Gary cancer-free.
Knowing Gary had to get up at three o’clock the next morning (he always wakes up before his alarm goes off), I thought it best to ask my final question. As always, what is it about his story that can be inspirational to others. Gary’s answer came from all the blessings he’s received.
“If someone has not developed a relationship with Jesus Christ, they are missing out . . . . I’ve had some real challenging moments in my life, but at no point did I ever feel abandoned because of that relationship. If someone is looking for any reason that they would want to pick up that bible or call a local pastor and explore developing that relationship, all they have to do is look at me and say, ‘You know, if that guy counts himself as blessed, then it’s got to be Jesus that did it.”
After all, who else could bring so much good from so much bad?
Do you know someone with a story? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com.
The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers.