Art Kevin, 67; Veteran Radio Newsman

Art Kevin, disc jockey turned radio newsman who broadcast live to RKO network stations the fatal shooting of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in June 1968 as he celebrated victory in the California Democratic primary, has died. He was 67.

Kevin, a leading news figure at Los Angeles stations, primarily KHJ-AM and KMPC-AM, in the 1960s and ‘70s, died Thursday of lung cancer at his home in suburban Las Vegas, his family said. Like many newsmen of his generation, he had been a heavy smoker.

In addition to reporting Kennedy’s assassination by Sirhan Sirhan, Kevin covered the campaigns of Ronald Reagan, Richard M. Nixon, Eugene McCarthy, Nelson Rockefeller and Hubert H. Humphrey.

He covered Cesar Chavez and his campaign for farm workers’ rights, civil rights marches in the South as well as the Vietnam War debates and demonstrations.

Born Art Ferraro in New York’s Bronx, he started out as a disc jockey on the night shift at WAVZ-AM in New Haven, Conn.

With no newsmen on duty, Kevin “ripped and read” news stories coming out of wire service ticker machines at hourly intervals in addition to his record spinning. And when the ocean liner Andrea Doria sank in New York Harbor on his watch, he was sent to cover it.

“I got so turned on by that story ... that the bell rang and ... I decided to become a newsman,” Kevin told Drama-Logue.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1959 to help develop the radio division of United Press International, serving as its first West Coast bureau chief. He became the first news director at radio station KEZY-FM, then moved to KFAC-AM and KFI-AM.

Kevin worked for KHJ from 1963 to 1972, first covering major news stories and then serving as news director, public affairs director and national news correspondent for RKO General Broadcasting. He moved to KMPC in 1972 where he remained through 1978.

In 1982, he moved to Nevada and started his own radio station, which he ran until 1995. That was KRRI-FM in Boulder City, south of Las Vegas, a station he designed with an oldies format.

Kevin spent his final years operating a consulting business and radio and television Web site with his wife, Jodi Lawrence, an author and broadcaster he met when he interviewed her for KHJ.

Kevin is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

Condolences can be sent to the e-mail address artkevintribute @aol.com, and memorial donations can be made to the American Cancer Society. No public service is planned.