Where To Watch
8 boss radio DJs who rocked the airwaves in the '60s and '70s
Did you listen to Don Steele, Dave Diamond and Don Rose?
Image: Death Race 2000, New World Pictures
Today, podcasters are the celebrities of the airwaves. Music hardly has anything to do with it. But back in the era of AM radio, deejays were gods. Planet-sized personalities like Murray the K and Wolfman Jack helped make rock 'n' roll a part of American pop culture.
We've written about some of our favorite DJs before, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. It's a big country, the day is long, and there are dozens of stops along the AM dial. There were loads of DJs. That being said, these celebrities helped make "Boss Radio" — a format that blended the top, hip hits of the day with boisterous talk — an essential part of Boomer youth.
Let's turn back the dial…
1. The Real Don Steele
Don Steele was massive enough to vault from radio to film. Here you can see him in Death Race 2000, the dystopian sci-fi action flick produced by Roger Corman in 1975. Steele — billed as "The Real Don Steele" — played Junior Bruce, the emcee of the deadly Transcontinental Road Race. His fame was such that he also popped up in Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, Bewitched, Rock 'n' Roll High School and Gremlin. Steele blew up in the mid-'60s as the superstar of KHJ in Los Angeles, the pioneer of "Boss Radio." His afterschool slot in the schedule likely helped. KHJ made stars of much of its roster (there are more DJs below) but Steele was the one who got his own local L.A. television show, Boss City and later The Real Don Steele TV Show.
Image: Death Race 2000, New World Pictures
2. Sam Riddle
Coming to Los Angeles from Texas, Riddle joined the stable of hot jocks at KHJ-93. Riddle was also a celebrity on the small screen, hosting the music showcases Hollywood a Go-Go and 9th Street West. A few years later, he would team with "Mama" Cass Elliot to co-host 1970's Get It Together, another American Bandstand-like performance show that welcomed the likes of the Beach Boys and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Like his colleague Steele, Riddle also played a race announcer in a popcorn movie, in the Elvis flick Clambake (1967). His pop influence carried over into the '80s and '90s, as he produced Star Search, the talent competition hosted by Ed McMahon.
Image: The Everett Collection
3. Art Roberts
Art helped bring rock to Chicago. The big fish at WLS-AM 890, Roberts took over the 9PM to midnight shift from Dick Biondi at the peak of the British Invasion and embraced the time slot with his bedtime stories. A collection of them was released on vinyl called Hip Fables. The creative storyteller came up with kooky characters such as Hooty Saperticker, a sort of lazy ne'er-do-well.
Image: Quill Records
4. Johnny Rabbitt
Moving across the Midwest a bit, we come to St. Louis, home of Johnny Rabbitt. Ron Elz found his real name a little hard to understand over the radio, so he whipped up the persona Johnny Rabbitt, a monicker reportedly inspired by an actual guy he knew in the city named Easter Rabbitt. Well, that's one origin story. It's more complicated. Another jock named Bud Connell claimed to have created the Johnny Rabbitt personality, a blend of Johnny Carson and a Playboy Bunny, in 1960. Whatever the case, KXOK-AM 630 quickly replaced Elz with Don Pietromonaco, a former child actor, as Rabbitt. "Don Pietro" turned Rabbitt into a sensation, also voicing another beloved character, the lazy teenager Bruno J. Grunion. Asking young callers to "Blab it to the Rabbitt," Pietromonaco made KXOK a ratings giant.
Image: KXOK / STLMediaHistory
5. Dr. Don Rose
A coast-to-coast sensation, Rose won "Disc Jockey of the Year" working both in Philly and San Francisco. His contribution to radio lies in the morning show, as he pioneered the concept of "morning zoo," bouncing around markets in Iowa and Georgia early in his career. Working in Atlanta, he was heard on the popular Cruisin' series of rock compilation albums. Rose relied on comedy and sound effects (barnyard animals, cowbells) to liven up his broadcasts. He was "shock jock" before that term was coined.
Image: Increase Records
6. Roger Christian
Roger Christian, another KHJ superstar who came to L.A. after honing his craft in Upstate New York, did not just play rock 'n' roll — he helped make it. A lover of hot rods and poetry, Christian co-wrote several Beach Boys tunes, including "Don't Worry Baby" and "Little Deuce Coupe." He also penned loads of classics for Jan and Dean that celebrated California youth culture — especially motors — like "Dead Man's Curve" and "Drag City." Murry Wilson, the domineering dad of the Beach Boys, sent his brilliant son Brian to collaborate with Christian after hearing the DJ talk cars.
7. Gary Mack
In May 1965, KHJ took out an ad in The Los Angeles Times announcing its original seven "Boss Jocks." That included Riddle, Steele, and Christian (not to mention an elephant) — as well as Mack, the afternoon disc jockey. Just how popular was the format change? "We went from 23rd place in the market to number one in 90 days!" Mack wrote. "It was fast-paced, with short breaks, great music, constant contests and promotions. And it just got bigger and better. Big-name artists dropped by just to say hello — Mick Jagger, Sonny and Cher, all of 'em"
8. Dave Diamond
Dave Diamond (yep, he worked at KHJ, too, in primetime) would show his influence on rock 'n' roll through his love of psychedelia. He not only spun acid-inspired music, but his show itself would also get out there. Take it from M*A*S*H writer Ken Levine, who counted Diamond as one of his close friends. "He realized that radio was the medium of imagination. He could create whole worlds. Which he did," Levine wrote on his blog. "Just as Jack Benny delighted listeners in the '30s and '40s with his trips down to his private vault where he kept his money, guarded by alligators and whatnot, Dave Diamond welcomed you to the Diamond Mine. Through poetic psychedelic imagery… he created this whole mythical Wonderland. And you didn’t have to take LSD to experience it!"
SEE MORE: 8 more boss disc jockeys of the 1960s. Did you listen to any of them?
Turn the dial back half a century and dig these other pioneers and promoters of rock & roll.
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58 Comments
Bud Connell, mentioned above, was not a DJ at the time he created the "Johnny Rabbitt" persona, he was the Storz Radio's PD at WMAQ, Miami, then came to St. Louis as P.D., and started use of the name here. Yes, he first used Ron Elz as the "Rabbitt", but after the first year (1963-1964) that wasn't working out so he hired Don from KRIZ in Phoenix...and the rest is Radio History !
In September of 1967, I started my own On-The-Air career, first at a small station in Southeast Missouri, then in April of 1969, I was hired by Lin Broadcasting at 50,000 Watt/KAAY-AM in Little Rock, as MD/Air Personality, then to WDRQ-FM in Detroit for Bartell Broadcasting in 1972, and in August, 1973, was asked to come back to St. Louis as MD/Air Personality, for our sister station KSLQ-FM. All the while, Don and I stayed in-touch, and he was so happy about the moves I made.
Don left KXOK, around 1970, and went back to Phoenix, and then to California where he started a school called "Rabbitt's Word Of Mouth" teaching students voice-over techniques & film production. I visited him there, and he always hoped that we could work together in L.A. with him doing Afternoon Drive (2pm-6pm) & my doing the 6pm-10pm Slot...so we could do a late-dinner, or whatever we wanted after we got off.
Sadly, that never happened, and Don passed-away, April 18th, 1997. I still miss him, and "Bruno", everyday. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
My Pasadena Playhouse pal/recording star, Gary Lewis, at an Interview Session I brought him to for Rabbitt
If you'll look at the surprised expression on my pal Gary Lewis's face, it's because I (that's me in the middle} had just informed him that "there's no smoking in the studio !" (This pic/and interview with the Rabbitt took place in the KXOK On-Air Studio on Monday, April 18th, 1966. Ironically, Don died on April 18th, 1997...EXACTLY 31 Years after we had been together at that Interview with Gary.)
I wonder how many other "d.j.'s" that he had to compete with, for the D.R. 2000 role?
The studio was three blocks away. I got a bunch of movie passes and albums. I think that's how I saw "FM" in 1978, a film about an FM radio station.
I can't remember why that faded, I suspect they stopped doing it that way.
It was much harder if you had to phone in, but I got some movie pases thst way
Like I guess everybody outside the LA area, I never really knew much about The Real Don Steele until Death Race 2000 came out. That guy was just crackers. A lot of his old airchecks are still available out there on the net. "Tina Delgado is alive, alive!" After he died, his wife said even she didn't know who the heck Tina Delgado was.....
