Gary Perkins

Who was Gary Perkins?

Born in 1937 in Abilene, Texas, USA, Gary Perkins was a radio DJ who began his radio career in 1957 at Midland Texas' KCRS where Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly used to drop their records off. After joining the army, where he served in the National Security Agency as well as in Armed Forces Radio, he moved to El Paso Texas and joined KHEY radio in the 1960s.

Publishing his own magazine for the station, Gary quickly built a rapport with the artists he interviewed. He became friends with the likes of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams Jr., Glen Campbell and Buck Owens. He was always asked to MC their shows and by the time he moved to San Diego California's KSON radio station, he was becoming more popular than some of the artists themselves as noted by an article in the June 1971 issue of TV & Radio Mirror:

Whenever Gary Perkins is emceeing a country music show, the autograph-seekers run right past Johnny Cash, Buck Owens and Glen Campbell. Pens poised in mid-air, they pass up their national singing idols and rush up to the 6'1", blue-eyed, blond-haired San Diego favorite who simply plays their music.