I recently heard of his passing last March. I didn't check the story but it had the ring of truth to it. Don was a long time Oregon broadcaster and Craig probably has the details.

Semoochie: Thanks for the tip. I missed it.
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The Oregonian, obits, March 9, 2007

Donald J. Lane

A gathering will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 10, 2007, in Lents Village for Donald J. Lane, who died March 5 at age 68.

Mr. Lane was born May 10, 1938, in McMinnville, Tenn., and moved to Portland at age 13. He graduated from Washington High School and served in the Oregon National Guard. He was a disc jockey and manager for several radio stations and ran a concession stand in the main post office. In 1959, he married Joy McCraight; she died in 1997. He married Kathy Whitaker in 2002.

Survivors include his wife; daughter, Kelly L. Rathke; stepsons, Russell Whitaker and Justin Whitaker; and one grandchild.

Remembrances to the American Diabetes Association. Arrangements by Autumn.
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The obit doesn't mention stations by call letters. Can anyone add to this?

My source was wrong about the date(since corrected)but mentioned KRDR. I thought Don once said he worked in Eugene. I used to talk to him at the post office, which is where he worked after losing his sight.

By the way, the reason I missed Don Lane's obit was because there were no call letters listed. Calls stick out, so I scan for them without reading every obit. If any of You reading this have any input to a broadcaster obit, make sure you get the Calls in.

From the "Broadcasting Yearbook" listings I have, which are sporadic, Don Lane was KRDR News Director by 1965, becoming Program Director by 1968. This might have continued without interruption through 1984, where he was listed as P.D. & M.D. Don must have been a very good P.D. to last as long as he did.

I was just a teenager working at KRDR when the station was (ready for this?) C&W days...top 40 eves....Don was in the western stable of jocks and was a very nice guy & a terrific jock for the C&W format...and back then it was REAL country! A few years ago Don & his wife dropped by the Kisn studios when we were doing the show.
It was great seeing him again.

I just heard about this. Sad news for me.

Don was the first person to put me on the air; KRDR in 1979. It was full-time C&W by then(we play both kinds of music here, Country AND Western). A stack of current and re-current carts, then a wall of albums in the back. A interesting smell throughout the building of overcooked coffee and stale cigarette smoke. Being a Rock and KINK guy, I had to do some quick learning as I had only heard country on my grandfather's AM radio when it was tuned to KWJJ. Don was extremely patient with a greenhorn like me and I'll always be grateful for that. He only chewed me out one time, that's when I found the "old-timey" records on the top shelf of the LP library and played a Hank Sr. song. "Please don't play anything off that top shelf Brad". (I was really looking forward to spinning that Tex Ritter album that was up there.)

I often tell the story that when I filled in for the evening jock Bob Zane, I was the busiest I've ever been on the air. We had no seques so I had to talk at the beginning and the end of each song, back-time to the top of the hour for the Mutual news, come out of that with 2 1/2 minutes of local news, weather and sports. We were running 18 minutes of commercials as it was during a election period, AND we we're doing a BMI/ASCAP survey so there was a typewriter next to the console where I had to log in each song title, artist and composer. It was a busy time, I was going to school full-time, driving a truck for Tektronix, interning at KQFM and doing weekends for Don at KRDR. Don Coss worked there at that time too. The station was owned by David Benjamin and Charlie Banta.

I ran in to him about 10 years back when he and his wife had a little concession stand at the main Post Office downtown. He was impressed that I'd continued in radio and was working in Seattle at that time.

One of the good guys. He will be missed.

I used to listen to KRDR for the Top 40 at night...It was the only alternative to KISN for awhile, along with KGAR in the daytime.

I never met Don, but I occasionally heard him on air. At the time, I never appreciated the format, but after joining KWJJ in 1981 or so, and working in country music radio until I left the air in 2000, I look back and sit here amazed at how Don Lane pulled it all off. He was a true pro and did "radio" exceedingly well. (That WAS real radio, wasn't it Dolby?)

Kinda makes me wish I could hear a station like KRDR again, believe it or not...

Here's a partial list of Don Lane's employers:
KRDR, Gresham, KTOH, Lihue, Hawaii, KRDR again, KAYO, Seattle, KSEM, Moses Lake, KRDR again (I think) Don worked at several other stations in Oregon and Washington. We worked together at KRDR from its start in 1963 through 1967. Aside from his broadcast talents, Don was a really great guy.

In between radio jobs I had the good fortune to do some fill in work at KRDR. Don Lane was one of the kindest radio people this old dj has ever met. Radio has lost a classy guy. How is Don Coss doing nowadays?