ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The broadcast community in New Mexico on Monday was mourning the death of a radio personality and a station co-owner who was known for his community advocacy and his work to improve the state’s emergency alert system.
Steve Rooney, 45, was killed Sunday when his vehicle hit a patch of ice and slid off the road near his home south of Portales, authorities said. A preliminary investigation shows the vehicle collided with a tree.
Rooney leaves behind a wife and four children.
A self-described radio junkie and a native of Ireland, Rooney started in the business more than two decades ago in California. He eventually found his way to the plains of eastern New Mexico after he and radio partner and best friend Duffy Moon took out a map and started the search for a community where they could own their own station and lead a small market.
Rooney and Moon own two stations in Clovis and two in Portales, and they were known for years for their morning program on KSMX-FM. More recently, Rooney headlined an afternoon show on KRMQ.
Rooney is a past president of the New Mexico Broadcasters Association and was tapped by a national broadcasters group to serve on a committee focused on small radio stations.
Paula Maes, president and chief executive of the New Mexico Broadcasters Association, described Rooney as a wonderful man who loved his family and was the consummate broadcaster - one who cared about what was going on in his community.
“He was really part of the fabric of broadcasting in New Mexico,” Maes said, adding that his reach extended beyond the state and she was receiving calls from fellow broadcasters from Wisconsin to Alabama.
As president of the New Mexico association, Rooney set out to improve the way radio stations relayed word of an Amber Alert, a flood or fire or any other emergency to citizens around the state. Instead of waiting for messages to pass from station to station, he worked with broadcasting engineers and the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to ensure each station could access the alert immediately.
“Now we have a very operational system,” Maes said. “He has lots of legacies. But that was one of his goals, to have a system that really worked.”
Maes said the association’s board was devastated about Rooney’s death, as were others in eastern New Mexico, where radio listeners expressed shock and friends shared memories in social media posts.
With a heavy heart, Moon in one post asked for the community to pray for Rooney’s family and to remember his friend with a smile.
Funeral services were pending.
Maes said there are no plans for a moment of silence at the association’s next convention. Rooney, who loved being on the radio, wouldn’t have something like that.
“We’re going to have a moment of hugging and cheering. We’re going to make noise,” she said.
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