Friends and colleagues pay rich tributes to Mr Voice

Dubai: Friends, colleagues and listeners have paid rich tributes to veteran Dubai radio presenter Jason Lumber who passed away on Monday after a brief fight with cancer.

Arabian Radio Network (ARN) and Dubai Eye, where he enjoyed more than a decade-long partnership with friend Mark Lloyd on the hugely popular Entertainment Today with Lloyd and Lumber, announced his death on their website Tuesday morning. Fondly known as Mr. Voice and often dubbed ‘Dubai’s answer to all things entertainment’, Lumber graced the country’s airwaves for over 20 years, starting with a stint at Dubai 92 alongside Lloyd.

“He was truly made for the radio. A man with a great sense of humour and a wonderful voice, he could perfectly imitate anyone from Mick Jagger to Marlon Brando in their trademark style. I will miss him immensely as a friend and a co-presenter,” said Lloyd who considers covering the 79th Academy Awards in 2007 with Lumber as one of his career highlights.

Life and soul

Dubai Eye content director Susan Parry described Lumber as a ‘superb man in every way’. “He was always the life and soul of the radio station,” she said.

Social media was flooded with tributes from listeners too. “With deepest sympathy on the loss of a very special talent. Your voice, your talent, your personality, your power and your love will go forever (sic),” said Roxana in a post on Facebook.

“A storyteller like no other, a lover of truly great films and a friend to all, Jason you will be so missed in Dubai and all over the world,” noted listener Hayley while a certain Sharon tweeted: “Dubai airwaves will not be the same.”

Greg Burnes, who worked with Lumber for years, reminisced how the two laughed ‘every single time’ they met.

“We argued but we always laughed. That was my friend Jason, he loved to laugh, and I loved to laugh with him,” he told XPRESS from California.

A big TV fan and a keen reader, Lumber, from Bristol in the UK, is survived by his wife and two children. He was 68.