Longtime radio industry veteran Steve Lapa has died at the age of 72.
Lapa became a General Manager of WGRQ in Buffalo at the age of 25, before later serving as the leader of 850 WFTL and founding Lapcom Communications, among other accomplishments in the radio and television business.
Additionally, he served as a consultant for Newsmax and Newsmax Radio as it built its roster and technologies. He also recently built a sales tool featuring three-minute videos to educate sellers focused on selling local radio commercials.
“He was a brilliant general manager, he knew that his strength was sales due to his background, he did not poke into programming, he did not surround himself with yes men, and he always had time for others,” WRVA host Jeff Katz wrote in a post on Facebook. “He was a humble man. Every time he spoke it was to talk about others not himself. A true gentleman who put others first.”
In recent years, Lapa served as a columnist for Talkers, which first reported the news of his death Friday.
