William “Cadillac Jack” Choate, a veteran country radio host in Atlanta, has died of a heart attack. He was 51.
His wife Donna confirmed with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tuesday that her husband died April 17.
He previously had a heart attack in 2017 and had three stents placed in a key artery.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Donna, in a Facebook post, cited Choate’s “long and difficult struggle with mental illness and addiction” and said he “battled demons we couldn’t always understand … I hope and pray he has found the peace he was searching for all this time.”
Choate, who went by Caddy to his listeners, worked at Atlanta country station Kicks 101.5 for 26 years and 92.5/The Bear in Fayetteville for four years.
Choate, who grew up in Hickory, North Carolina, said his on-air name was bestowed upon him by a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina radio programmer when he was a teenager and he had no qualms about it.
“Call me anything you want,” Choate said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2013. “Just give me a job!”
He joined Kicks (now New Country) at age 19 in 1993 and quickly became known as a team player.
Over the years, he survived multiple owners and time slots including a stint on sister station Y106 in the late 1990s. He started his 13-year tenure as Kicks’ morning host in 2006.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
His secret of survival in the cutthroat world of radio? “Take direction,” Choate said in 2013. “There are so many people who are smarter than I am. I don’t have all the answers. I never will be the smartest guy in the room. I need coaching. I need good direction.”
As a personality, Caddy was never the loudest guy on the airwaves. He didn’t expound schtick-filled aphorisms. Rather, he emoted a comfortable, easygoing relatability. He was the type of person who was happy to exchange phone numbers with fans so they could stay in touch with him.
Choate lost his job at Kicks in 2019.
In early 2020, he sued his former employer, Atlanta-based parent company Cumulus Media, for wrongful termination, citing a boss who regularly harassed and bullied him over his sexual orientation. In the lawsuit, he identified himself as a “bisexual male” and accused market manager Sean Shannon of mocking him and wanting him fired for years in part because of his high salary.
Credit: Robb D. Cohen/ www.robbsphotos.com
Credit: Robb D. Cohen/ www.robbsphotos.com
Choate, in the lawsuit, said he didn’t report Shannon to higher-ups because he felt “intimidated” and ‘fearful” for his job.
After Choate was escorted out of a Luke Combs concert for “highly unprofessional conduct,” he was fired by Cumulus with cause, according to paperwork provided in the lawsuit.
“Losing that job devastated him,” said Steve Mitchell, a longtime friend and former radio DJ at 96rock and Y106. “That crumbled his dream. He absolutely loved that job.”
The two parties settled the lawsuit in 2024. Choate, on his public Facebook page, posted a statement, noting that the litigation was “resolved on an amicable basis.”
Shannon, who left Cumulus in 2023, in a text Tuesday said “the case had no basis in fact and in fact I supported him in any decision he made about his private life. Caddy was an enormously talented morning host who battled demons for many years. My heart goes out to Donna and his children.”
After Choate lost his Kicks job, he did 400 episodes of a podcast with his wife called “My Second Act.” He then joined The Bear in Fayetteville, bringing Donna in for a time as a co-host in the mornings.
Kevin Steele, who worked with Choate both at Kicks and at The Bear, called him “the most empathetic man I’ve ever met. He did so many community things, giving money to causes and people out of his own pocket.”
Chris Murray, who runs The Bear, recalled Caddy doing a remote appearance for the station at Shane’s Rib Shack in Fayetteville and spontaneously getting behind the register and paying for everyone’s lunch.
Murray said Choate took a leave of absence a year ago.
“He had his struggles,” Murray said. “He was doing his best and fighting hard.”
In August 2024, Choate posted on his public Facebook page an essay about his issues, noting that he had completed a “very intensive inpatient mental health assessment at two local wellness centers.”
He wrote: “If I owe you a phone call or return text (or a dozen) from the last six months, please accept my apology. I will be back around soon. I had to put myself first for a while (some could argue I did that every day of my life).”
And he honored his wife: “She has never wavered in 28 years and I have given her many reasons to do so. She would take a bullet for me and I for her.”
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Mitchell said Choate called him out of the blue six weeks ago and sounded like he was in a better place. “He talked like he had a fresh relationship with God,” he said.
Bill Rawlings, a real estate agent and one of Choate’s closest friends, said he went out of his way to stay in touch with Choate in recent years. They’d meet regularly at the Avalon in Alpharetta.
“He had such a great sense of humor,” Rawlings said. “We would banter back and forth and laugh. I just loved the energy he brought. He was always going a million miles an hour.”
Donna said the family will hold a small private service in his honor.
He is survived by his wife and three children Wil, Olivia and Charlotte.
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