Veteran Broadcaster Passes
Harley Youngblood has been the Golden voice for Coast Radio for the past 19 years. He passed away yesterday at the age of 89. Harley had been a member of Coast Radio in Florence for 19 years and had been a broadcaster in Oregon throughout his career. In the late 40’s and early 50’s he broadcasted for KPOJ using the name Scappoose Joe a name which was later used by another veteran broadcaster Chuck Bernard. KPOJ at the time was part of the Oregonian media family. In 1959 He was the morning DJ for KXL in Portland under the name Bob Stevens. In April, 1960, he became the Music Director for KISN in Portland. And in 1962 he moved over to KGON where he hosted mid-days. In the 60’s he was the booth announcer for KOIN-TV and Radio. And later he found success in radio in other Oregon markets. He worked in Eugene for KPNW, and also worked in Salem, Vancouver, WA and Coos Bay. Coast Radio owner and General Manager, Jon Thompson said he met the retired Harley Youngblood in the barber shop here in Florence in the late 90’s and coaxed him out of retirement at the age of 71. For the last 18 years Harley has been an active member of Coast Radio adding his voice to many of the programming features over the years. Thompson says that Harley was an integral member of the Coast Radio family:
“He was kind of a patriarch, and definitely a mentor, and definitely an inspiration to all of us who are in broadcasting. He had a wonderful voice that boomed across the radio…and we’ll all miss him.”
Harley Youngblood, veteran radio broadcaster, was 89 years old
Florence Woman Dies in ATV Crash
An ATV crash in the Deadwood area Sunday resulted in the death of a Florence woman. Western Lane Ambulance District responded to a call at the Mapleton Fire Department. Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue Chief Jim Langborg:
“Upon arrival they found a 26 year old female who had been transported by personal vehicle from the incident location to the fire station in critical condition from multi-system trauma. She was transported to Peace Harbor hospital, again in critical condition, and was later pronounced dead.”
The name of the victim has not yet been released, nor the details regarding the accident itself. The incident happened around 4:19 yesterday afternoon. Coast Radio News will be following this story with updates as they become available.
Lane County Commissioners Favor Revision Florence
Lane county board of commissioners came to town last week to discuss revision Florence among other items on their agenda. After hearing the presentation from the Florence City Council, the overall sense from the County was that they were indeed on board with the revision project, and did not rule out financial help. Commissioner Jay Bosevich was mindful of the resources at hand:
“Unfortunately we don’t have that road fund reserve we had from all the timber, federal timber money.”
What Bosevich did say was that they were committed to finding a way to help
“Maybe there’s some creative ways we can help out, maybe there are ways we can leverage some of our money. I look forward to those conversations, I look for to hearing from staff on those details.”
City manager Erin Reynolds said overall it was a good meeting and the City Council was encouraged by the support of the county commissioners.
