Dr. Demento Announces Retirement After 55-Year Radio Career
27 comments
·June 19, 2025pugworthy
I used to have this AM headphone radio that I’d listen to from Oregon. Late at night these remote California stations would start to come in and I’d pick up things that my coastal small town living did not imagine existed. Like the good Doctor.
Well that and listening to my brother’s Firesign Theater albums.
edit
Ah. Archer twin speaker AM radio headphones. Impulse buy off eBay just now.
tkgally
> Dr. Demento debuted in October 1970 on KPPC Pasadena, California
I was thirteen years old then and living in Pasadena. I remember hearing the regular rock music shows he deejayed on KPPC, and I must have started listening to the Dr. Demento shows from the very beginning. A song he played called “Shaving Cream” [1] was a big hit among the kids at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School.
It’s great that he has stayed active for so long.
whartung
Used to listen to him on KMET. Just another notch on when radio was interesting.
As I understand it, Dr. D has the largest record collection in the world.
Aeolun
It always makes me happy to see that people have been following the same passion for literal decades. Though it’s a bit sad I always find out only when they stop.
I can only hope that I find something I can be so enthusiastic about.
Isamu
We listened to his show in the CMU dorms around 1979, I think his show was where Weird Al Yankovik was introduced to the world.
smitty1e
First TV appearance is worth your attention => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZkouut-9RQ
RyJones
I listened to Dr Demento on WMHD for so many formative years. A titan!
cl0ckt0wer
his website is entirely on brand: https://drdemento.com/online.html
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goodthink
Thanks for the link. That is awesome.
WarOnPrivacy
Dr. Demento introduced me to artists, that my kids listen to now. The Residents and Negativland top a list. Son #3 is inexplicably on a Rutles binge this month.
ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativland
ref: https://www.residents.com/
ref: https://rutles.fandom.com/wiki/The_Rutles_discographyjerrysievert
christianity is stupid ... but in other news, always going forward, cause we can't find reverse.
I was blessed enough to see negativland live at a couple of subgenius devivals, and think about star trekking on a fairly regular basis due to being such a Star Trek geek, and I thank dr demento for so much.
yard2010
Everything is relative. If it makes you feel better next to islam this religion is coca cola
jerrysievert
I'm sorry you're offended by a song title by the band that we were discussing that is directly related to the article, but this is a direct response to what dr Demento was playing, not a religious or political response.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNR4PHyvXeQ for a randomly searched YouTube video. perhaps you'd also be interested in the _other_ reference, where the artist was sued and an album destroyed because of heavy copyright enforcement against parody: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/ep-u2-sued-out-of-existence/
WarOnPrivacy
Christianity is Stupid is a track on Escape from Noise (by Negativland). I think I still have the album.
WarOnPrivacy
> christianity is stupid ... but in other news, always going forward, cause we can't find reverse.
...but less stupid than U2 it turned out. I'd of loved to seem them live but am an E Coaster.
Everything I know about SF I learned from A Big 10-8 Place. Most importantly, I know where Dave's mom's cigarettes are.
jerrysievert
related, sadly the Jello Biafra is no more (Portland, not SF, but west coast) - I used to drive by there and sadly nod as I passed.
jerrysievert
> but less stupid than U2 it turned out
I'm sure you mean the letter U and the number 2, because anything else would be a lawsuit.
I was only lucky enough to see them (in Portland and Seattle) because of religious beliefs, which apparently was enough!
khazhoux
You're stranded on a desert island and can only bring one cassette tape you recorded off the radio:
Fish Heads or Star Trekkin'?
bradleybuda
Camp Granada
kQq9oHeAz6wLLS
Fishin' With Fred by Da Yoopers
paulpauper
that is insane that anything by a single person can run for so long. is there anything else comparable to that?
docdeek
There are a couple on this list, including one host of a show for 67 years that has run for 99 years.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-running_radi...
duskwuff
Weird Al? (Whose music career began in high school when he handed a demo tape to Dr. Demento.)
There was something special about hearing music this weird over the air. Pretty sure I heard the Goofy Gold record by K-Tel before Dr. Demento, but once I did I stayed up and taped it religiously. Still somewhat amazed I heard Camper Van Beethoven ("Take the Skinheads Bowling") first on his show and not on MTV. When I moved to L.A. in the '90s one of the first things I did was pull out my Thomas Guide to figure out what the deal was with the intersection of Pico and Sepulveda.