SatelliteGuys Remembers

[Scott Greczkowski]

SatelliteGuys Remembers...
Gary Bourgois - A True Satellite Pioneer


SatelliteGuys.US is saddened to learn that one of the true pioneers and voices of the satellite industry has passed away.

Gary Bourgois the host of the popular "Friday Night Live" radio show has died after a long illness. Many longtime C Band Dish owners may remember Gary's quick wit and extensive knowledge of the Satellite Industry. Gary's Friday Night Live "News and Views" was considered the best satellite news coverage anywhere.

Gary's vision was to help people get the most out of their satellite systems, a vision which we have adopted here at SatelliteGuys.US.

Tonight we promise to Gary that we will work to keep his vision alive.

Thank you Gary, you will be missed.

[Jumbo Dumbo]

Gary along with the late Shawn Kenny were the "satellite gurus"; I watched when I first got C Band in the 80's.

My condolences to his family.

[MikeI]

I listened to Gary's show for years on G3 on the Home Shopping channel. Marathon's would last forever into the night. Gary will definitely be missed.

[anik]

Gary was probably the guy most instrumental in getting me to realize that I really could get a satellite dish, that it wasn't just a hobby for the rich. I think his show was at its peak when he and "The Captain" (never did hear him mentioned by name) worked together on the show, but I first heard him on Shortwave Radio back in the 80's when he had a segment on a show called "Signals." So I started listening to him on shortwave, and the last shows I heard were via streaming audio on the Internet, although he was doing that long before it "caught on" with the major broadcasters. If he were still doing the show today, I'm sure he'd be podcasting.

I remember hearing the very first demonstration of audio via the Internet (I think it was the very first RealAudio) on Friday Night Live, and thinking that was going to be big, and wondering if it was possible to do it in two directions simultaneously so one could hold a conversation over the Internet!

I think Gary's health probably really started to deteriorate after his beloved Elaine passed away. They hadn't been together all that long but you could tell he loved her deeply and that the loss affected him profoundly.

The only people who may briefly take some pleasure in his passing are the people in the city of Marquette who fought him over his satellite dishes. He always won, and then helped others to preserve their rights and avoid being rolled over by the city.

Gary was very opinionated, and he had his supporters and his detractors. One thing he seemed to have in common with some talk show hosts with much larger audiences was that he seemed to attract a few nutcase callers. I think he probably held a celebration the day that Michigan Bell implemented Caller ID in Marquette, because then he could screen out some of the worst offenders.

I had always hoped that someday I could travel to Marquette and meet him personally, and see what kind of setup he actually had. Unfortunately, circumstances just never permitted that, even though at one time I lived in another part of the Upper Peninsula. Also I think he was pretty reclusive in his private life during his latter years.

The one good thing you can say is that in all likelihood he and Elaine are now together again. We will miss you Gary, and thanks for everything you did for us while you inhabited this realm!

[mnassour]

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It was a privilege to be one of your (many) writers, Gary. Say hello to Elaine for everyone down here.

And thanks for the memories....

Mike Nassour

[Scott Greczkowski]

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Thanks Anik for the kind words.

Yes Friday Night Live was one of the first shows on the Internet in RealAudio, I was proud to be able to do that for Gary, if you did not know it was me who did all the audio encoding for Gary at that time. In fact I ran the Tech Talk Network cybergeek gateway. As far as I know it was the first use of RealAudio anywhere. At that time it took 4 hours of time to encode one hour of audio!

Please read my tribute to Gary in out Chit Chat area.