Deborah Richards, a prominent voice on Atlanta country radio during the 1990s, has died at 62. Her son Jarrett Smith confirmed she passed away last week following medical complications likely connected to lupus, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Known legally as Julie Longcore, Richards began her broadcasting career as a news reporter at Kicks 101.5 (now New Country 101.5) in 1984. Her most notable role came alongside James “Moby” Carner when he joined the morning show in 1991, creating a successful program that was later syndicated in multiple markets.
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The program earned an Academy of Country Music award for morning show of the year and was known for its natural chemistry between Richards, Carner, and traffic reporter Jim Vann. “Listeners would tell me that it sounded like we were just hanging out at a Waffle House having breakfast,” Richards told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2023 following Carner’s death.
Carner once described her role as “the calming feminine perspective,” noting to the outlet in 2001, “I can always tell when I go over the line because she gives me this look.” Her colleague Jim Vann remembered her as “one of the most delightful people I’ve ever known. She loved meeting people at remotes.”
Richards’ radio journey began at age 17 at a Tennessee AM station that her son described as “sandwiched between a cemetery and a pig farm.” Before joining Kicks, she worked at a Buford station. During her tenure, she championed emerging local talents, including Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt, before their rise to stardom.
After leaving radio in 2001, Richards established a successful voice-over business, creating radio commercials and narrations for industrial and corporate videos while teaching at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. Former Kicks afternoon host Bill Celler credited her influence: “She really set me up for where I am now. She was a tremendous mentor and teacher to whole lot of actors in town who got into voice-over.”
Smith praised his mother’s professionalism, noting she believed “the radio audience was there to be entertained no matter how good or bad she felt any given day.”
He added, per The AJC, “She was always professional,” and while maintaining perfectionist standards, “she was a great mom. She was always there. When she retired from radio, she would be up making breakfast in the morning and snacks in the afternoon. She finally got that freedom to just be a normal schedule parent and made me feel like the luckiest kid growing up.” She is survived by her son, sister Karen Tucker, and brother Greg Richards.
