“She is no longer with us,” the woman answering the phone at Citadel Broadcasting’s local office says. In a surprising development at the local radio group, General Manager Mary Galyean, one of the most respected names in Lafayette radio for the past three decades, has apparently moved on.
The station would not say when Galyean departed the company; a message left for acting GM Jim Beard was not immediately returned. Citadel Broadcasting owns four local stations, 94.5 KSMB, 99.1 KXKC, 104.7 KNEK and 95.5 KRRQ, among its more than 120 across the U.S.
The INDsider was not able to reach Galyean by cell phone or at her home.
Galyean started her radio career at then 10-watt KRVS while a student at UL Lafayette. She also was part of student government and put on concerts and events that led to her decades-long career in radio. Despite numerous management changes and various waves of consolidation over the years, she remained loyal to the radio station, KSMB, that gave rise to her professional career in the 1980s. In her first job at the station, she was on the air in the mornings and sold ads in the afternoon, before going on to serve as PSA director, public affairs manager, news director and promotions director. (That loyalty also extends to her alma mater, where she remains active in alumni affairs.)
In 2003, Galyean was honored with one of our Women Who Mean Business awards in the inaugural issue of The Independent Weekly.