A Crossville native and hall-of-fame disc jockey passed away this morning after a courageous battle with cancer.

James “Moby” Carney had stage 4 stomach cancer.

The 69-year-old disc jockey spent over four decades on the air.

He retired in December 2016.

Moby started his radio career at the age of 15 in Crossville, Tennessee at WAEW AM/FM then WCSV AM. He went on to work in Nashville, Tampa Bay, Houston, and Dallas before heading to Atlanta. During his time as a disc jockey, Moby would return to Crossville to be on the air on South 105.7 (now known as 105.7 The Hog).

After high school, Moby enrolled at Belmont University planning to major in music education. He wanted to be a high school band director but decided to get into radio.

Moby had a successful run as morning host at country “Kicks 101.5” WKHX Atlanta in the 1990s but was let go in 2002 after station management reportedly said he was “too country sounding” for their suburban audience. He then worked at the former classic rock “Z-93” WZGC before he started syndicating his own morning show “Moby in the Morning” which carried over numerous radio stations. His show was based in an office in the northern Atlanta area.

Moby is a member of the Country Radio Hall of Fame. He is a five-time winner of Billboard’s “Major Market Country Morning Show of the Year” and a two-time nominee for the “Major Markey Morning Show of the Year” by the CMA. Moby was also honored as the “Major Market DJ of the Year”.

Funeral arrangements will be announced soon.