There was no mystery about what Jack Carter would be when he grew up.
He was in radio from the time he was about 12, when he set up his own “radio station” in his basement.
He got his first job at a Pueblo radio station when he was in high school and continued until a few years ago.
Carter died at his home on Nov. 17 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 61.
“For many years he was the pre-eminent radio broadcaster in Pueblo,” said Glenn Ballantyne, a friend from the second grade who worked with Carter on various civic projects.
Carter’s employers included KPUB, KDZA and KCCY, where he was general manager, and he did the weather on KOAA-TV for eight years.
Carter’s own radio station, which he called KODE, “broadcast” for a while every day and several hours on weekend days, said his sister Pam Rice of Beulah.
“He’d come upstairs every so often,” said his mother, Billie Carter, “and say, ‘Mom, you’re not listening.’ ” So she’d turn on the radio switch in the kitchen.
He did weather, news and interviews, getting the news and weather from the daily paper, Rice said.
His fascination with radio went beyond his basement. “He was always taking me to radio stations where we could look through the window and see the deejay,” said Rice. Sometimes a deejay invited them in.
During his career, he also hosted a PBS program called Matchwits, a program similar to Knowledge Bowl, said his wife, Susanne Carter.
“He had a smile in his voice,” said a colleague, Dave Moore, who worked with Carter on KCCY. “He could tell you 6 feet of snow was going to fall without scaring you.”
During the 1980s, Carter developed musical scheduling software that has been used all over the world, his wife said.
Carter’s other passions were helping families in crisis and raising money for shelters to rescue lost, abandoned and abused animals, said Ballantyne.
“He was a quiet man with a huge heart,” Ballantyne said. “He always wanted to improve the lives of people who faced immense challenges.”
Carter and Ballantyne had their own public-relations and ad agency, and they often provided jingles for companies that advertised on radio and television.
J. Ralph Carter was born in Pueblo on Nov. 4, 1948, and graduated from Central High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Colorado State University at Pueblo.
In addition to his wife, mother and sister, he is survived by another sister, Dianne Drake of Lovelock, Nev. He had no children.
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Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
