GERALD LUBIN Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

FAMILY GRAVESIDE SERVICE: WEDNESDAY 2/10/2021 11:30 AM, at BETH AHM CEMETERY TO WATCH A LIVE ZOOM OF THE FUNERAL SERVICE, CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89408389150?pwd=N3A4UGVuekVVNU0vbnFVUGM5QVVsZz09 TO WATCH A RECORDING OF THE FUNERAL SERVICE, PLEASE GO TO THE PHOTO AND VIDEO PORTION OF THIS WEBPAGE AND CLICK ON THE VIDEOS. AGE 80, of La Quinta CA formally of Michigan, died February 4, 2021. Beloved husband of 45 years to the late Rosalie. Dear father of Adam (Lauren) Lubin and Ethan (Erika) Lubin. Cherished grandfather of Zachary, Sebastian, Colin and Ellie. Dear brother of Vincent Lubin and Beverley (Mark Beltzman) Lubin. REPRINTED FROM DETROIT FREEPRESS ARTICLE BY Brian McCollum Jerry Lubin, Detroit pioneer of underground radio, dead at 80 after COVID-19 battle In a rock-radio era when the great disc jockeys could become iconic local tastemakers, Jerry Lubin was a bona fide star. Lubin, a pioneer of underground radio best known for his years at Detroit’s freeform WABX-FM, died Thursday morning in Los Angeles. He was 80. Lubin had been hospitalized since Jan. 25 with COVID-19, his son Ethan Lubin told the Free Press, although a cause of death has not yet been officially declared. The Detroit native and Mumford High School graduate made his name as one of the progressive station’s “Air Aces” from 1968 through the early '70s, part of a local radio career that included stints at WRIF-FM, WWWW-FM and again at WABX, before wrapping up at WLLZ-FM in the 1980s. As part of the early 'ABX crew, Lubin was a preeminent on-air voice during a fertile, explosive chapter in Detroit rock, as music, politics and activism swirled in a hip, heady brew. “There was something gained other than a paycheck,” he told the Free Press in 2003, reflecting on that first WABX tenure. “A degree of passion was involved. (It was) being able to express oneself politically, socially, culturally, whatever on the radio either by saying things or by playing things.’’ Lubin and his colleagues struck an antiestablishment tone, taking the word-on-the-street to the airwaves while forging a sense of community on the Detroit scene. “The music, the politics, the dope: None of it is connected without the radio,” Lubin said of those days. “You don’t have the antiwar movement and otherwise without the radio. You don’t have the exposure of the music.” Like his fellow “Air Aces” at WABX — Dave Dixon, Dan Carlisle, Larry Miller and others — Lubin had plenty of freedom, making his own playlist choices and operating with just one programming rule: Listen to the guy right before you, so you’re not transitioning shifts with the same songs. While rock was the station’s core — Lubin recalled the excitement of a new Led Zeppelin or MC5 record in the day's mail — he delighted in straying far outside assumed lines. The WABX library had 8,000 records, he said, “and all of them got played on the air.” “I just wanted to play this stuff and not give it a name. Don’t niche it. If you give it a niche, it’s usually ‘I don’t like country music, I don’t like opera, I don’t like jazz, I don’t like folk,’” Lubin remembered. “I didn’t like pigeonholing. I thought it would be nice to play other music that seemed to fit. At ‘ABX, if you could somehow play Black Sabbath and then Frank Sinatra and it made sense to you, then maybe it would make sense to a couple other people.” Energized by hometown bands such as the MC5, Stooges, the Rationals, SRC and the Frost, Lubin pumped up Detroit music on the air. He was a man about town and a regular at the Grande Ballroom, which he’d later describe as a “hippie punk teenage heaven.” His scene connections went beyond radio, including work as a road manager for Mitch Ryder and, later, as manager for the band Savage Grace. Lubin left WABX by 1972 and took up with the station that would become WRIF. But he soon became disenchanted by that outlet’s evolving direction — too restrictive for his taste — and watched dismayed as the library was abruptly winnowed down to a selection of commercially acceptable records. The musical massacre, he said, was “guillotine-like in its precision.” After a short time in San Diego, Lubin returned to Detroit in 1974 for a gig at the rock station known as W4. He returned to WABX from 1977 to 1979 and worked at WLLZ in the 1980s. His time in broadcasting ended as he took a job with the U.S. Postal Service. “He loved radio, but things were changing. Having a family with young kids, he wanted stability,” Ethan Lubin said. “But radio was his true passion and calling.” Jerry Lubin moved from Oak Park in 2014 to settle in southern California, where his sons and grandchildren lived. Willy Wilson, a Detroit music buff who has worked at WDET-FM, WEMU-FM and CJAM-FM, said Lubin was crucial to shaping his musical tastes growing up. The radio elder eventually became an important source of guidance for Wilson as he forged his own broadcasting career. Long after his time in radio, Lubin remained a fixture in Detroit music, popping up around town to catch shows and working with local bands. “He dug the music and supported it as much as possible. He really was what you’d thought he'd be from hearing him on the radio,” said Wilson. “For my mentality, if I was going to be an on-air host, how would I pattern myself? Being able to pick the brains of someone who played cool music, someone who was out and about on the scene, was very important. That’s what I took away from him when I was on the air: Get involved with the community, meet the musicians, see what’s going on musically.” Lubin is survived by two sons, Ethan Lubin and Adam Lubin; daughters-in-law, Erika Lubin and Lauren Lubin, and four grandchildren, Colin, Ellie, Zachary and Sebastian. OFFICIATING: Rabbi D. Polter INTERMENT: Beth Ahm Cemetery CONTRIBUTIONS: If you would like to further honor the memory of Gerald Lubin you may do so by making a contribution to: Jewish War Veterans 248.855.5085 PO Box 725066, Berkley, MI 48072-9998

GERALD LUBIN

September 21, 1940 - February 4, 2021

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