PRINCE GEORGE — Long-time Prince George radio personality Dave Ross lost his battle with lung cancer over the weekend.
Raised in Prince George, Ross was known on air as Mike Austin, and he first started work as a DJ for CKPG in the 1970s.
Friend and colleague Doug Jones says he’ll always remember his warm, rich, velvety voice and says above all, he was good guy who touched many people.
“He was a good friend. He was a roommate of mine. I had a house, he needed a place to stay so he rented from me for a while and we were good roommates,” he says.
“He was just a fun guy. He was such a friendly guy. I heard him once on the air, he was talking to a listener. He had given away a prize and you could tell that Dave thought the listener should be more excited. So, he was kind of gently chiding the listener, kind of laughing with him at his lack of excitement for winning this prize. But he was that kind of guy. He could laugh with you, even when he was making fun of you.”
Jones says that Ross also had other interests, including gardening which prompted him to leave the industry for a while and starting his own gardening business before returning to the airwaves.
He says Ross had been fighting lung cancer and though it went into remission for a time it came back with a vengeance and ultimately claimed his life.
