They had been friends for 40 years, since a long-ago NAB convention in Denver, says Russ Withers in today’s TRI Newsletter. Withers says “It hasn’t hit me yet”, but he could very well have been on that plane with former Senator Ted Stevens and eight others when it crashed, killing five. Stevens had invited his old friend to join the trip to a fishing lodge in Alaska. Withers had other obligations, but as recently as last week, Stevens renewed the invitation. There’s another “almost” in this tragedy – Former NAB top lobbyist Jim May was on the guest list. Fortunately, he was on a different small plane. Withers, a former Chair of the NAB Radio Board, reveals that Stevens had always wanted to be in broadcasting, but felt it was inappropriate as long as he was serving in the Senate. Recently, he and some associates had been mulling the purchase of a TV station, since Stevens was no longer holding public office.