Radio Margaritaville DJ Carson Cooper Dies

Longtime Radio Margaritaville DJ Carson Cooper has died at the age of 58 after an illness, according to the Tampa Bay Times:

Longtime radio personality Carson Cooper, who was the honeyed voice of one of public radio’s signature shows, NPR’s Morning Edition on WUSF–FM 89.7, died Saturday after a long illness, the radio station reported Tuesday. He was 58.

Mr. Cooper, an award-winning radio fixture in the Tampa Bay area for three decades, had been WUSF’s Morning Edition host since 2000, but had been off the air since February dealing with a health issue. He also had hosted the WUSF show Florida Matters since its inception in 2006, but had stepped back from that since last summer.

When the station in June announced that Jessica Meszaros would be taking over as host of Morning Edition, JoAnn Urofsky, WUSF’s general manager, held out high hopes that Mr. Cooper would return.

“This was a surprise because we did hope he would return to the air,” Urofsky said. “He was still a staff member. He really wanted to come back to work.”

Urofsky said Mr. Cooper’s family had not yet figured out what kind of memorial services will be held, and the station will have a remembrance for him on air, “because everybody has stories they want to share. He was so terrific.”

He had a side gig that also started in 1999 as a host and programer of Jimmy Buffett’s Radio Margaritaville, now on Sirius satellite radio. The station, created by Buffett, plays a range of reggae, tropical country and a variety of world music and classic singer-songwriters from the ’70s and ’80s.

Read more about Cooper in the full article.