Radio's Duke Young dies of heart disease.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

Area radio pioneer Lytle `Duke' Young, who started the first independent FM radio station in Eugene, died Monday of heart disease. He was 86.

Young was a longtime fixture in local radio, starting with KORE, the city's first radio station, in 1938. He started KFMY-FM in 1958, and in 1962, it became the first station in Oregon and only the third on the West Coast to begin broadcasting in stereo.

He retired from the radio business in 1978, when he sold KFMY to Obie Communications, owner of KUGN.

A memorial service will be Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Eugene Friends Church, 3495 W. 18th Ave. Memorial contributions in Young's name can be made to the church.

Young was a radio jack-of-all-trades, doing everything from selling ads to working behind the mike. He came to Eugene in 1938 to attend the University of Oregon, putting himself through college by working at KORE.

He married Hazel Jeffryes in 1941 and graduated from the UO in 1942. He then served four years in the Navy during World War II, working in naval intelligence.

Young returned to Eugene after the war and later went to work for KUGN and then spent a year with television station KVAL. But he always dreamed of going into business for himself.

"During the course of his early radio days, he always thought maybe one day he'd have his own radio station," said Tim Young, one of the couple's four children. "Ultimately, he was able to pull friends and family together to put an FM station on the air."

From the start, KFMY was a family affair that gave Young a chance to run a radio station the way he wanted to run it. That meant never having more than four minutes of advertising per hour and even turning down ads that he felt were not in good taste.

The station offered a range of musical styles. He would start the day with nondenominational religious music and end it with jazz, stopping for classical, adult contemporary and several other styles along the way.

The only staff at the station for years were Young's wife and three sons, who did the books, sold ads, wrote copy and hosted programs. Through it all, Young stuck to his own radio philosophy, building a reputation for putting his listeners first.

"He was a man who had very strong feelings about what he wanted to do," Tim Young said. "He was kind of a maverick. He never would give in to the tendency, as he put it, to 'play the game.' ' In the early 1970s, Young stepped aside and allowed his sons to change to a rock music format. By the time he sold the operation in 1978, the station had developed a following among younger listeners.

Young is survived by his wife, Hazel; three sons, Jeffrye, Timothy and Michael; and a daughter, Kathryn Carter.