What teens, do you suppose, knew that in 1999, one of their favorite DJs was in his 50s? On the occasion of Uncle Dale’s passing in 2014 at age 71, at the time of this aircheck, he was at the tail end of a 20+ year run as the Afternoon Drive jock at Boston’s “Kiss-108 FM”.
Dorman is one of those jocks who made it big in the RKO chain of stations back when personality really mattered. Once the Morning Show host at WRKO in it’s top 40 heyday, Dorman also spent time doing West Coast top 40 at KFRC San Francisco in the late 60s, and after WRKO was the morning guy at Fairbanks’ WVBF in it’s “F-105” incarnation.
Over 9 minutes scoped from the original 30, here’s Uncle Dave, STILL doing top 40 and sounding like he’s relevant and loves the music despite being generations older than his main audience. And perhaps the point of this is that great talent still commands an audience regardless of his or her age, and that just because a certain approach appears outdated, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still work. For radio management, there’s an obvious lesson in this. And you know what it is 🙂
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This is a gem. This was taped 27 years after I was in afternoon drive at RKO and Dale was in mornings..27 years..think about that.
Like Fine wine ! Dale was a Good Friend to us all…my college buddy John Sherman was an R K O “Tech” , and he would often tell me of the Great Fun he had while “at the controls” for Dorman ! Dale came out to Curry College (to “inspire us as Broadcasting students) with Roger Allan , RKO News Director…way long hair, and lots of juicy stories, as he told us about this guy named ” Drake” ! And , in 1994, he did me a tremendous Favor, when I called him at Kiss 108, to ask if he could please host (for an hr. or so ) an Albany, N.Y. friend who was “dying” to meet and interview Dale for a weekly little Newpaper at the time. Dale, as I understood, spent WAY more than an hour with the guy…and was so REAL and Gracious, all as he was doing his afternoon show…LONG LIVE Dale Dorman !