VIDEO: Friends and colleagues mourn death of Chicago radio legend Doug Banks

CHICAGO (WLS) -- "We lost our radio brother today, a friend of all of ours, not just a great radio man but a great man, Doug Banks," V103 radio host Joe Soto told his listeners Monday.

As news of Banks' death spread, his friends rallied and took to the airwaves to share their memories of a radio legend who, for more than three decades, inspired so many others to follow in his footsteps.

"Doug Banks was definitely one of my mentors, one of the guys who showed me how radio should be done. He did it right," Soto said.

In the 1980s, Banks hosted the morning show "Banks and Company" on WGCI with Harold Lee Rush.

"A few weeks back, a bunch of us and Doug called in. We were on the radio for about an hour and it was really fabulous. We got to talk about some of the radio history we made here in Chicago," Rush said.

Radio personality Ramonsky Luv is also one of Banks' WGCI alums. Monday, as he took calls from friends and perfect strangers, Luv looked back on what he believes was Banks' greatest asset.

"His legacy was always inclusive to the listeners. He loved the listeners," he said.

Banks was funny and talented, but also caring. Bionce Foxx remembers meeting him as a teenager when she was invited to perform a song on his morning show.

"After the performance, what I really love and remember about Doug is he looked me dead in the eye and he said, 'You have a voice for radio.' Years later I'm on a radio station right before the Doug Banks Show. How cool is that?" she said.

Stories like that are being repeated all over Chicago today from all of Banks' radio friends, along with a lot of laughs interspersed with the sadness.