Former KOWL/KRLT on-air personality dies
By Robert D. Dávila, Sacramento Bee
Dean Adraktas, a broadcast journalist who was a news reporter at KFBK until his voice on the air was silenced by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, died Aug. 28, his wife said. He was 49.
Dean Adraktas
With a booming voice, outgoing personality and enthusiasm for covering breaking stories, Mr. Adraktas advanced steadily in radio news. He began working at KVNA in Flagstaff, Ariz., and KFYI in Phoenix after earning a broadcast communications degree from Arizona State University in 1987. He moved to South Lake Tahoe in 1992 and was a reporter, talk show host and news director for KOWL/KRLT.
His thorough reporting, meticulous writing and fun sense of humor impressed colleagues at KQMS radio in Redding, where he was a news director and morning news anchor from 1995 to 1998. He moved to Sacramento to work at KFBK and covered a variety of stories as a morning reporter, including social issues and politics.
“He was very professional but very gregarious,” KFBK news anchor Kitty O’Neal said. “He took his work very seriously, but he interacted with people very easily. He had a great sense of humor and was very vital.”
Dean and I co-hosted “Talk of Tahoe” weekday mornings on KOWL 1490 during his 1990s years in Tahoe. His mind was an incredible steel trap of history and I bet today he’d beat Google for facts and figures. A listener could call in and mention something and Dean would reply: “Oh, yeah, that was XYZ in 19xx, and the details are…” on any topic. Almost scary! Dean was funny, positive, upbeat, and a true friend. We bicycled, brewed and broadcast together. That was yesterday, just twenty years ago. I’ll not forget Dean. Impossible.
I echo what Bill said. Whenever I had a question on anything, I could go to Dean or Bill and they would have the answer. Bill has stayed in touch with Dean over the years and kept us all informed as tho how he was doing. A true loss. He could walk into a room and light it up! He will be missed by all whose lives he touched.
Kae….thanks for finding this story and bringing it to us. Many here in town will appreciate hearing the news about Dean and hopefully will throw in some coins for ALS.
I remember how it saddened me to hear he was leaving Tahoe. I always enjoyed listening to him, and have special memories of his ST basketball reports during their epic 92′ run to a national ranking.