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“Hey Buddy” echoed down the hall. The voice was the drawl of Ralls, Texas Ron, one of many voices that Ron Grant would call upon as director of production. Smooth Ron, Hollywood Ron, New York Ron, Surfer Ron. It did not matter the style of voice needed for a commercial, Ron had the vocal style in his repertoire.

I want to add a little known story about one of Ron Grant’s clients to the stories we are collecting. A few years ago a local promoter was bringing to Lubbock, Anthony Kearns, one of the Irish Tenors. The script called for “Sophisticated Ron”.   The promoter was sent the finished product and soon after I got an excited call. He had passed on the commercial for approval to the artist and artist’s management.  The promoter had to meet Ron. We soon found out that the artist had fallen in love with the voice of Ron Grant. Here was one of the greatest voices in the world. A singer that has been on recordings and DVDs that sold millions. A voice celebrated the world over wanted Ron Grant’s velvet voice to be the voice that represented him on the commercials for his solo concerts. Ron Grant soon added the promoter and singer to his list of clients and fans.

Ken Corbin

Our boss & friend Wes Nessman wrote this about Ron:

Ron Grant has been the “Voice Of Lubbock” forever.  He is the voice of KCBD-TV, he worked afternoons on KOOL 98 and is on most of the commercials you hear on our radio stations and around town. He was also a syndicate voice talent across the nation, but chose to stay in Lubbock (despite numerous offers to go elsewhere). He had many other radio jobs through the course of his career.

Ron was one of our original “Band of Bellies” that hit every restaurant in town. Ron was a regular at the Fox and Hound and loved hosting and singing Karaoke (but we didn’t hold that against him). Ron loved Two and a Half men and even stole Charlie Sheen’s fashion style from the show. Ron had a wicked sense of humor and was one of the most consistently “cool” guys I’ve every known. It was near impossible to get him steamed. Ron loved radio and collected radio memorabilia.

Ron suffered from diabetes which may or may not have contributed to his death. At this point all we know is that Ron died in his sleep sometime after 1:00 a.m.

This following is a pilot segment for the entertainment segment of the “This is Texas” Television program in development. A show about everything unique and good in Texas including Texas Music. It Was a dream and vision shared by JL Rodriguez, Jay Burns and Ron Grant now deceased.

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Read some of Ron's thoughts on just about everything when you click this link.

Here are few clips of Ron doing his last couple of shows on Kool 98:

This was one of Ron's prized possessions..his Neumann mic:

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Ron in his home-studio:

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Ron sporting his favorite shirt. Seriously this terrible shirt was his favorite piece of clothing. He had an incredible voice, but a terrible sense of fashion:

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Another item from Ron's closet:

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Words cannot express how saddened all of us at Kool 98 and TownSquare Media are over the loss of our friend. Ron was an exceptional person, a great talent and a true friend to all of us.

Godspeed, Ronnie G.

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