Dale Dorman was always fun, silly and just an all around kidder. And he’s at his best on this cool Summer morning here as Boston celebrates America’s Independence by tuning in to WRKO! Well, okay maybe thats not how all Bostonians did it but many were tuned in to Uncle Dale every morning. I’m always struck by how in the early 70s, WRKO really had a laid back sound that didn’t quite fit many of the ‘typical’ RKO stations around the country. Jingles were used infrequently and the whole atmosphere at WRKO at the time seemed less intense as one would expect from this Top 40 giant. Indeed, by 1976, WRKO was the hottest sounding station in Boston, and perhaps in many ways one of the best in the U.S. but this was the post-Drake era (by a couple of years). Others who were there will no doubt have insight on the inner workings of early 70s WRKO. And of Dale Dorman, one of Boston’s best and longest on air disc jockeys rivaling WBZ’s Carl DeSuze and WHDH’s Jess Cain for total number of years on air in the market. The only real difference was that they did it at one station, while Dorman split his time up at four (In Boston) not counting his time in San Francisco at KFRC.
Actually, in 1972 , all the RKO Top 40s were fairly laid-back and experimenting with album cuts. Didn’t work…Drake ended it by fall of that year. Drake left RKO in May, 1973.
Back in 1965 Dale Dorman was doing nites on 250 watt 1490 WOLF right down the dial on 5,000 watt WNDR was Bud Ballou! those two guys burned the city of syracuse to the ground going head to head that year!!!
I thought that Dale left RKO in 1978?
Every now and again he would come back to syracuse to visit and sit in on WOLF oldies reunion weekends too!
Sounds like Tom Bosley (aka Mr. Cunningham from Happy Days) doing the V/O on the spot for “Boxcar Bertha”.
I remember Dale Dorman at WRKO in Boston when I was 6 years old. I had to take a bus to go to school participating in the METRO program. I listened to him every day at 6:00 am.
I am now 49 years old. I just want to know what has happened to him. If he is no longer with us, I just want to thank him for travelling with me every day to the suburbs when it wasn’t politically correct to have minorities bussed to the suburbs.
I haven’t been home in a very long time. I lived in quite a few places over the years but I have never forgotten home and plan to come back soon.
Please tell me where he is now.
Thanks.
Laura
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Ahh YES…Dale ! I’m very fortunate to have had a rather unique “inside track” on some of the inner workings of “The Big 68″…you see, my longtime friend, and College (Curry) co-hort, John Sherman, was Dale’s preferred “on-air board operator” . No doubt, he was at the controls for this show…when I would travel from Rochester to Boston to visit John…he would most often tell me of the most excellent and somewhat histerically funny things that he would “encounter” when he ran the board for Dale ! So often, Dale would just “really wing it”…and John (who was very witty himself!) would “conspire w/ Dorman ! Together…they ignited the airwaves !
John was in awe of Dale…and likewise, I’m sure !
They said Drake (the Programmer) not Dale. He left to go to WVBF around the time you said.