Mary Turner (DJ) Cause of Death

American Disc Jockey, Mary Turner has died at the age of 76. She died at her home in Beverly Hills after suffering from a long battle with cancer. She died on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.

Born on February 4, 1947, she started her career in the media in San Francisco where she answered phones at Autumn Records before getting a job in the promotion department of a local TV station called KNEW.

Turner later moved to KSAN-FM and worked as an engineer and did a few fill-in air shifts before moving to join KMET in 1972 in Los Angeles. She contributed largely to the evolution of the station from a free-from underground station to a more commercial album-orientation rock format.

Turner was regarded as the most-listened-to-female voice on radio in Los Angeles in the ’70s and ’80s and was often referred to as “The Burner” and the first lady of rock radio in Los Angeles.

She was considered one of the most important figures at the station and was respected by many of her colleagues as well. The editor of the radio industry publication Talkers, Michael Harris once shared that Turner could command the audience at the time.

“She knew music. She knew the lifestyle. She knew the artists ad she spoke their language, which made her a very effective interview,” he said.

Turner retired from the radio business in the early ’90s and earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from UCLA and became a certified drug and alcohol counselor – she had suffered from alcohol and drug addiction earlier.