"Remembering Stefan"

At my first CHRS swap meet in 1988 or ‘89, I came across a table of radios with a pleasant looking, smiling man behind it. We talked briefly and his voice somehow sounded familiar to me. It was a comforting voice. I looked down and spotted his business cards on the table. “Are you the Stefan Ponek?” I asked with starstruck amazement.

Yes, his was the voice that I enjoyed listening to on the radio so much during those late nights of underground radio, in the late ‘60s & early ‘70s.
Stefan’s laid back style and choice and knowledge of the music that he played made him one of my favorites.


We lost Stefan in October last year. He left us many years too early at 62, due to heart failure. I got this sad news from Frank Camenish and Marc Gotleib at the November ‘01 meet. I was stunned and shocked. I had spoken to Stefan in late September and he told me he wanted to become more active in CHRS and wanted to remain on our Board of Directors. I always enjoyed talking to him.

During the 12 years I knew Stefan, I found him to be a kind and gentle man. He always had a good outlook, no matter if his current situation was good or bad. He always had a good word to say and a big smile.
I’ll miss that smile and the man who entertained me in my youth and later became my friend....

You can read about Stefan’s adventures in underground radio in a book called, “Voices in a Purple Haze”.

2002
Steve Kushman, CHRS (California Historical Radio Society) President