About Gary Russell

Waco — Radio personality, Gary Quinn, has disappeared from the air waves of Central Texas. ‘GQ’, as he was nick­named by colleagues, was last heard on Temple radio station KUSJ on the after­noon of Friday, October 15, 2004.

Although the name ‘Gary Quinn’ seems not to have existed prior to October 1995, it appears that
the same man has been on the radio air waves since June 1993. Using the name ‘Jim Daniels’,
Quinn’s radio career can be traced back to Greenville, Texas, where Program Director Ross Johnson offered Quinn’s first on-air opportunity. After reading the news on one Saturday morning, ‘Daniels’ was promoted to midday DJ. When asked why he would hire someone with so little experience, Johnson explained,
“Well, we had to replace the previous midday guy after he was caught stealing.”

Four months later, using the name ‘Carrington’, Quinn began work at WJJL, an Oldies station in Niagara Falls, New York. For this Texan, New York was completely alien. In spring 1995, after 18 months in Yankee-land, Quinn left New York and came home to Texas.

Approximately three months after moving back to the Dallas area, Quinn met his future wife. He soon moved to be near her and took a part-time gig at Country station KCKR in Waco. Quinn was later promoted to the full-time midday shift. During his time at ‘KiCKeR’, Quinn be­came well-known in the Waco market. Though he did take a short break from radio in 1997, he left the station permanently in April 2000. In search of a change of scenery, Quinn took a position at KUSJ in Temple, Texas. Continuing in the Country format, he could be heard in the afternoon timeslot for most of his four and a half years in the Temple/ Killeen market.

Investigations into Quinn’s disappearance have produced more intrigue than information. When his picture was circulated by authorities, Carrie Williams, a resident of Hewitt, Texas, first identified the man in the photo as her Realtor, Gary Russell, who assisted her in the February 2004 purchase of her home.