LAS VEGAS, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Art Kevin, a former United Press International radio newsman, has died in Las Vegas at the age of 67.
Kevin started his a career as a disc jockey in New Haven, Conn., doing "rip and read" news hourly while playing records.
He got hooked on radio news when he was sent to cover the sinking of the Andrea Doria after its collision July 26, 1956, with the Stockholm off Nantucket, Mass.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1959 to help develop the radio division of United Press International, serving as its first West Coast bureau chief. He stayed with UPI until the mid-1960s, when he left to become news director at radio station KEZY-FM.
He worked for several other Los Angeles area stations after that and was on site at the fatal shooting of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel by Sirhan Sirhan June 5, 1968, and broadcast live to RKO stations.
He also covered the campaigns of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, among others, and the farm workers campaign conducted by Cesar Chavez, and as well as campus demonstrations against the war in Vietnam. He continued to file occasional stories to UPI's audio division.
In 1982 he moved to Boulder City, Nev., to start his own station, KRRI-FM, which he ran until 1995. In recent years Kevin operated a consulting business with his wife, Jodi Lawrence.
His family said he had been a heavy smoker and the cause of death was lung cancer.
In addition to his wife he is survived by two sons and a daughter.
Contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society.
No public funeral services are planned.
