Longtime Radio Personality Doug Banks Dies

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Syndicated radio personality Doug Banks has died.

He was 57.

Banks' syndicated show originated at WVAZ (V-103) in Chicago. The cause of his death was not immediately known.

He had been diagnosed with diabetes and reportedly suffered from kidney problems.

"With a heavy heart our V-103 family would like to send our thoughts and prayers to Doug Banks' family and friends," the station said in a statement. "Doug, a true radio legend, has passed away today. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him."

Banks was born in Philadelphia and started his career in Detroit and then Los Angeles before arriving in Chicago at V-103.

The Doug Banks Morning Show, hosted by Banks along with DeDe McGuire, rose to become one of the top-rated syndicated urban programs in America, according to his bio on the station website.

In 2008, Banks re-launched his nationally syndicated morning show in afternoon drive.

Banks had been off the air in December and January, the result of diabetes-related kidney problems, before returning in February.

He'd been undergoing kidney dialysis three days a week. Often, he was flying back and forth during the week between his Miami home and Dallas radio base.

Retired radio executive Marv Dyson worked with Banks early in his career. He says listeners have a void now that Banks is gone.

"They're going to miss the laughter that he used to do on the air, they're going to miss the warmth he brought every afternoon when you turned him on. And they're going to miss the spontaneity of Doug Banks that everybody knew," Dyson tells CBS 2's Derrick Blakley.