Duey “Duke” Wright, a radio mogul who built Midwest Communications into a multistate operation, has died. He was 83.

Wright passed away on Dec. 21, according to an obituary from Lyndahl Funeral Home and Cremation Services.

As a child, Wright would take apart radios and put them back together, and later constructed a radio station that could be heard a few miles away, Midwest Communications’ website says.

His parents owned a music store, and Wright played several instruments, including piano, bass, and accordion. At age 15, he hosted a weekly music show on WSAU-TV in Wausau, Wisconsin, according to the obituary.

His parents bought a local Wausau radio station in 1958 for $54,000, renaming it WRIG. Wright worked as the station’s general manager, after serving in the National Guard and earning a business degree from the University of Wisconsin.

In the decades that followed, Wright took over Midwest Communications and expanded its operations across nine states – from North Dakota to Tennessee – and more than 80 radio stations.