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Remembering Dr. Don

Nope. It was 990 AM and 92.1 FM. Jay never bought it. It was owned by Jim Chabin. Jay did the engineering work for the studio DDR worked out of. Chabin sold it to Tom Gammon, Diamond Broadcasting, et. al. It went into BK after that, and the two stations were sold off separately.
 
DavidKaye said:
beachguy3b said:
Definitely one of the greats of the business. What was his last on the air job?
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Wasn't that 990 in Pittsburg, the old KKIS? I believe he and his son, Jay, bought it.
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Nope. Jay and DDR planned to buy into KKIS (Jay was already Chief Engineer there).

Dr. Don went on the air at KKIS the day after his KFRC contract would have expired, January 5, 1987. But the KKIS thing didn't last long (apparently the partnership had issues and the Rose's buy-in was never consummated).

DDR was off the air for a while and then landed mornings on K-101. It was there, four months after beginning, that he had a heart attack while on the air....his doctor told him that continuing with the stresses of morning radio would eventually kill him and he never did another show.
 
AH! Yes, now I remember. It seemed that K-101 was trying to build a KFRC sound. DDR mornings, followed by Rick Shaw. I believe they were adding more former BIG 610 on-air personality.
 
He was a master of the theater of the mind.

He always made things bigger than life and a great person to boot.
 
Dr. Don had major heart issues for years..he had a major heart attack when he worked in Philly years earlier.

Nice guy. When I met him he was on crutches....I don't know if that was heart related or something else.


On the video,( linked above), in Pt. 2 he talked about staying with the station after it became Magic 61, I don't remember that does anyone know how long that lasted? It seems to me they were just keeping him until his contract was up.

I really thought he was the only funny guy on SF radio. Others thought they were funny but they weren't, I won't mention any names.

Jerry Gordon
 
JEREMIAH said:
Dr. Don had major heart issues for years..he had a major heart attack when he worked in Philly years earlier.

Nice guy. When I met him he was on crutches....I don't know if that was heart related or something else.


On the video,( linked above), in Pt. 2 he talked about staying with the station after it became Magic 61, I don't remember that does anyone know how long that lasted? It seems to me they were just keeping him until his contract was up.

I really thought he was the only funny guy on SF radio. Others thought they were funny but they weren't, I won't mention any names.

Jerry Gordon
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Jerry: If I recall correctly, Don broke his leg while skiing. Doctors screwed up the repair, and a couple of years later the bone shattered from what would have been a minor impact. The leg had to be amputated.

As for Magic 61, the format flip happened August 11, 1986 and Don's contract ran until December 31. KFRC initially said they'd keep Don until then, but back issues of Billboard on Google Books show they dumped him unceremoniously six week early, in mid-November. That usually is what happens when a station doesn't want to pay off several months remaining on a contract. When the amount of money remaining gets down to a level they can get corporate to approve, they pull the trigger, doing an end run around any long-term farewell they can't control.

It's a lousy way to treat anyone, but especially DDR, without whom KFRC would have been a much smaller success. And I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion about Don being the only truly funny SF morning man.
 
stewie said:
He always made things bigger than life and a great person to boot.
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Although I never met him, I had a few friends who knew him, and all spoke glowingly of him, and this was while he was still alive.

I became a fan when I heard an aircheck of him on WFIL. I usually didn't like morning shows, but DDR was simply a riot. I think part of what was great about him was that he played a good bit of music and still threw a lot of personality in. He threw so much stuff out that you never noticed what didn't work and busted a gut when he tossed out a gem.

He was a unique, funny, and fun performer.
 
We lived in the same city (Phoenix, where he and Kay moved after the K-101 heart attack) for about a decade, and never crossed paths.

I finally met him at the 1998 book signing for Ben Fong-Torres' "And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'"(he and Kay had just moved back to the Bay Area to be closer to grandkids)...and he was gracious, warm and funny.

If DDR were just a joke and sound effects guy, he wouldn't have been as big a deal, but the man just had so much warmth, empathy and heart to go along with the humor. You could tell by listening that (unlike a lot of radio talent) he genuinely loved people, and life.
 
Great to see you here, Michael. You remain one of the most knowledgable and accurate among radio enthusiasts, as well as being an approachable "nice guy."
I attended the Dr. Don's "memorial service," held in lieu of a funeral. I was one of the most uplifting, happy events of its kind I have ever experienced, truly a celebration of the man's life, smiling family, many jokes, much heartfelt laughter. Fitting and joyous wrap to a remarkable life and career.
His last years - off the air -- were not wasted. He was a devoted grandfather and family man and I could see whenever I saw him in those last years that he was happier than I had ever seen him.
As for his attitude before retirement, my recollections have him as always being pretty damned delighted. He loved life. Wonderful guy and another reason we had so much fun working in broadcastings magic domain before the media's soul was sold to the highest bidder.
 
beachguy3b said:
stewie said:
He always made things bigger than life and a great person to boot.
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Although I never met him, I had a few friends who knew him, and all spoke glowingly of him, and this was while he was still alive.

I became a fan when I heard an aircheck of him on WFIL. I usually didn't like morning shows, but DDR was simply a riot. I think part of what was great about him was that he played a good bit of music and threw a lot of personality in. He threw so much stuff out that you never noticed what didn't work and busted a gut when they did.
He was a unique, funny, and fun performer.
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Actually, what "didn't work" usually DID work because the guy was just so much fun. I can't even estimate how many times after some groaner of a Dr. Don joke, I'd think to myself - 'No - he couldn't have just said that- it's the dumbest joke I've ever heard' - then I'd laugh my a** off. Johnny Carson had that same ability, though his humor was much less frenetic.
 
MarioMania said:
Anyone have AirChecks when he was at K-101??
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Dr. Don wasn't at KIOI all that long before he retired...there are two Dr. Don KIOI airchecks available from California Aircheck....Current Issue #94 and Personality Plus #PP-3..
 
LKELLER- you are absolutely right. Even DDR's "bad" jokes were funny because he knew how to deliver them. A lot of humor works because the mirth in the perfomer transfers. DDR was one of those talents that when you listened, you just KNEW he was having such a great time that you couldn't help joining in and having a great time, too. A wonderful, lovable personality. And yes, Carson had that skill as well, all the more remarkable because Carson himself was nothing like that, yet he could mirror Everyman so very well. I used to love watching him with the animal guests because his reactions were so wonderfully done.
 
beachguy3b said:
LKELLER- you are absolutely right. Even DDR's "bad" jokes were funny because he knew how to deliver them. A lot of humor works because the mirth in the performer transfers. DDR was one of those talents that when you listened, you just KNEW he was having such a great time that you couldn't help joining in and having a great time, too. A wonderful, lovable personality. And yes, Carson had that skill as well, all the more remarkable because Carson himself was nothing like that, yet he could mirror Everyman so very well. I used to love watching him with the animal guests because his reactions were so wonderfully done.
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There was an on-air personality who was ubiquitous on television until he passed away in the mid-'80s but you likely never saw his "comedy act". Part of his job was to warm up studio audiences with corny jokes that he told with such verve that they always coaxed a laugh out of the audience, as described above. Jackie Gleason used to fly him to Miami Beach to announce and warm up the audiences of his show. His name was Johnny Olson.
 
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