Radio show host L. Eric Stanley dies at age 53

Local radio-show host L. Eric "Rick" Stanley, host of the Sunday night Bebop Boogie sand Blues Revue on WJMO-FM, marched to his own jukebox.

Between 7 p.m. and midnight, "Eric E," as he was known on air, would regale listeners with a personally selected seamless string of performance pearls ranging from Muddy Waters to Jimi Hendrix to Patsy Cline to Li'l Ronnie and the Grand Dukes. His ability to understand the connections between the styles lay at the core of his own authentic style.

He also arranged for the show's underwriting and did live commercials that sounded more like endorsements. "If you advertise with me, I'm going in your business," he once said. "If I haven't been in your business, I don't accept the ad."

Mr. Stanley, a founder of the Richmond Jazz Society and a champion of local musicians, died of cancer Monday in a local hospital. He was 53.

"Listening to only one type of music is like eating the same type of food every day. You may get full, but your body will be lacking something. Add a little hot sauce sometimes," he once told an interviewer.

His favorite and prized possession was a collection of about 1,000 music albums that rant he gamut between James Brown and the Rolling Stones.

A Richmond Native, he spent many hours at an aunt's restaurant in Ashland that featured live entertainment on what was known as the "Chitlin' Circuit." He soaked up the music and the ambiance.

He learned to love performing before a crowd during his Virginia Randolph High School days, when he was a dancing drum major and played drums and harmonica.

In the late 1960s, he studied advertising for a couple of years at Virginia Commonwealth University. It was during nine years away from Richmond, mostly studying childhood education at Bowie State College and working as a day-care teacher in Washington, that he fell into broadcasting.

Helping a friend do a radio program with commentary on prison life led to a program of his own, a 2 to 6 a.m. show on WPFW-FM.

Returning to Richmond, he became involved in Color Radio, a station started by alternative music enthusiasts. His show, "The Frontline -- 360 Degrees of Ba-Lack Music," closed with what became would become his signature sign-off, "Gotta go... Gotta go."

He also did many fund-raisers as an emcee for charitable causes and took his program live to various restaurants and clubs locally.

The day before he died, he married his fiancee, Marilyn Marable.

Other survivors include a daughter, Erin Danielle Stanley of Richmond; a brother, Otis L. Stanley of Woodbridge; his stepmother, Ruby P. Stanley of Martinsville; and three stepbrothers, John Pilson of Bassett, Dana Pilson of Youngstown, OH, and Acey "Buddy" Pilson of Indianapolis.

Arrangements for a memorial are incomplete.