Dr. Demento: Off The Air, But Still Happily Deranged

He hasn't been heard in your area since 1985. Closest to you was Austin, and that was turned off in October 2004. Killeen, north of Austin, lost the show in January 2007, a bad month when Clear Channel and many other corporate owners of stations around the country decided to scrap any show that didn't fit their cookie cutter formats. At the beginning of 2010 he was only heard on 6 stations in the USA. Several years ago some of the stations that still played him included his show on their Internet streams; that is, until the Doctor told them to cease and desist or risk losing his show.

As Beep points out, you can hear him at his website. It's $2/show for low quality streaming, or $180/year to join the Demento Online Club and be allowed to stream more shows at 128kbps. You can become a member of his fan club and get his annual CD of music and comedy - he's now on Basement Tapes #17 and membership is $35/year (the Basement Tapes CD is part of the membership package).

The best place besides the Doctor's own website to learn about him is here http://dmdb.org/ - The Demented Music DataBase. You can listen to other web sites that offer material he used on his show, like The Funny Music Project (http://www.thefump.com/), Spaff (http://www.spaff.com/) or The Mad Music Archive (http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/).

If you're on Usenet there are two groups to note: rec.music.dementia and alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.dr_demento.

Here's an article announcing his over-the-air demise:

Dr. Demento Ends His 40 Year Old Radio Show

Written by Larz

Saturday, 05 June 2010 13:39

The novelty tunes, wacky sounds, comedy bits and parody songs, all
hosted by one crazy "doctor," has come to an end. This weekend is the
final airing for the syndicated "Dr. Demento Show." The show's
syndicator, Talonian Productions -- which is owned by Dr. Demento --
has told the affiliates that this is the end.

In a simple email to its few remaining stations, the email stated "Dr.
Demento and his management have decided to no longer offer The Dr.
Demento Show on terrestrial radio stations and to concentrate on
offering the show via internet streaming only."

The Dr. Demento Show was one of the most unique syndicated radio shows
in history, specializing in finding, playing and promoting novelty
songs, comedic songs, and the strangest songs ever recorded, from new
recordings to classic recordings from decades ago. Dr. Demento, who
real name is Barret ("Barry") Eugene Hansen, got his start playing
oldies on a radio station in Pasadena, California. As he and his
listeners had fun focusing on the old novelty songs like "Alley Oop"
and "Purple People Eater," the show then focused only on that. By
1970, the "Dr. Demento" personality was born. The weekly, goofy, all-
novelty song Pasadena show from 1970 grew in popularity and became
syndicated nationally by 1974.

The popular weekly show is credited with bringing "Weird Al" Yankovic
to world wide fame. The show is also credited (or blamed, depending
upon your perspective) for bringing the song "Grandma Got Run Over by
a Reindeer" by Elmo and Patsy to national attention in the late 70's
and early 80's. Because of Dr. Demento, that song is now heard
seemingly non-stop through the month of December.

Dr. Demento was inducted into the Comedy Music Hall of Fame in June
2005. This past November, Dr. Demento was honored with an induction
into the Radio Hall of Fame -- introduced at the induction ceremony by
Chicago's Jonathon Brandmeier.

In the last few years, his syndicated radio show had fallen on tough
times. Some of the reasons had to do with comedy songs not being very
popular any more and very few new novelty songs are being released.
That seemed to peak in the mid-80's. Some of the reasons had to do
with the fact finding advertisers for this show became close to
impossible in the last few years. While some of the reasons had to do
with Dr. Demento himself. He and his management team had become very
demanding of their affiliates. Asking for high fees for the show,
demanding certain time slots, and most recently, demanding that all
affiliate radio stations shut down their Internet streaming while his
show was on the air. Listeners were only allowed to listen via
airwaves or via a subscription to his own website. These demands,
coming from a low-rated weekend show, did not sit well with many
station managers. In the last three years, the show went from many,
many dozens of stations down to under a dozen. As of this weekend --
Dr. Demento's final weekend on the air -- the show is down to only six
radio affiliates.

The very last station to drop the Dr. Demento Show? Chicago's own WLUP-
FM, who had been one of the show's longest supporters, through
numerous ownership changes. For around 35 years, Dr. Demento was heard
in Chicago on 97.9. WLUP dropped the show three weeks ago. A few days
later, Dr. Demento took that lost Chicago affiliate as a sign to end
the show. It was only a matter of weeks before the true 40th
Anniversary of the show was to happen.

The show will continue on, but now it will only be streaming and in
podcast form on his own website. Even then, only for those who choose
to join the "Demento Online Club."

It's the end of era for novelty songs. It's the end of an era for
radio.

http://chicagoradioa...ar-old-radio-show

(emphasis added)

Post #328,389 by SpiceWare 6/22/10 11:42:30 AM Reply	Dr. Demento: Off The Air, But Still Happily Deranged Used to listen to Dr. Demento after hours at KFC while we where shutting down the restaurant. Miss the show, but don't miss managing at KFC :) Article and audio interview on NPR: http://www.npr.org/t...storyId=127989850 didn't know Weird Al got his start at 16.
Post #328,399 by Ashton 6/22/10 3:29:21 PM Reply	Nice to hear he's to be click-able, next.. A melange of Spike Jones, Monty Python, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer and, of course, Frank Zappa ... can only saute the brainpans of every Reactionary within 100 yds. of your mini-boom-box. Lovely.
Post #328,401 by beepster 6/22/10 3:44:37 PM Reply	already click-able http://www.drdemento.com/ I will choose a path that's clear. I will choose freewill.
Post #328,412 by lincoln 6/22/10 6:12:58 PM Reply	You're dating yourself He hasn't been heard in your area since 1985. Closest to you was Austin, and that was turned off in October 2004. Killeen, north of Austin, lost the show in January 2007, a bad month when Clear Channel and many other corporate owners of stations around the country decided to scrap any show that didn't fit their cookie cutter formats. At the beginning of 2010 he was only heard on 6 stations in the USA. Several years ago some of the stations that still played him included his show on their Internet streams; that is, until the Doctor told them to cease and desist or risk losing his show. As Beep points out, you can hear him at his website. It's $2/show for low quality streaming, or $180/year to join the Demento Online Club and be allowed to stream more shows at 128kbps. You can become a member of his fan club and get his annual CD of music and comedy - he's now on Basement Tapes #17 and membership is $35/year (the Basement Tapes CD is part of the membership package). The best place besides the Doctor's own website to learn about him is here http://dmdb.org/ - The Demented Music DataBase. You can listen to other web sites that offer material he used on his show, like The Funny Music Project (http://www.thefump.com/), Spaff (http://www.spaff.com/) or The Mad Music Archive (http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/). If you're on Usenet there are two groups to note: rec.music.dementia and alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.dr_demento. Here's an article announcing his over-the-air demise: Dr. Demento Ends His 40 Year Old Radio Show Written by Larz Saturday, 05 June 2010 13:39 The novelty tunes, wacky sounds, comedy bits and parody songs, all hosted by one crazy "doctor," has come to an end. This weekend is the final airing for the syndicated "Dr. Demento Show." The show's syndicator, Talonian Productions -- which is owned by Dr. Demento -- has told the affiliates that this is the end. In a simple email to its few remaining stations, the email stated "Dr. Demento and his management have decided to no longer offer The Dr. Demento Show on terrestrial radio stations and to concentrate on offering the show via internet streaming only." The Dr. Demento Show was one of the most unique syndicated radio shows in history, specializing in finding, playing and promoting novelty songs, comedic songs, and the strangest songs ever recorded, from new recordings to classic recordings from decades ago. Dr. Demento, who real name is Barret ("Barry") Eugene Hansen, got his start playing oldies on a radio station in Pasadena, California. As he and his listeners had fun focusing on the old novelty songs like "Alley Oop" and "Purple People Eater," the show then focused only on that. By 1970, the "Dr. Demento" personality was born. The weekly, goofy, all- novelty song Pasadena show from 1970 grew in popularity and became syndicated nationally by 1974. The popular weekly show is credited with bringing "Weird Al" Yankovic to world wide fame. The show is also credited (or blamed, depending upon your perspective) for bringing the song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" by Elmo and Patsy to national attention in the late 70's and early 80's. Because of Dr. Demento, that song is now heard seemingly non-stop through the month of December. Dr. Demento was inducted into the Comedy Music Hall of Fame in June 2005. This past November, Dr. Demento was honored with an induction into the Radio Hall of Fame -- introduced at the induction ceremony by Chicago's Jonathon Brandmeier. In the last few years, his syndicated radio show had fallen on tough times. Some of the reasons had to do with comedy songs not being very popular any more and very few new novelty songs are being released. That seemed to peak in the mid-80's. Some of the reasons had to do with the fact finding advertisers for this show became close to impossible in the last few years. While some of the reasons had to do with Dr. Demento himself. He and his management team had become very demanding of their affiliates. Asking for high fees for the show, demanding certain time slots, and most recently, demanding that all affiliate radio stations shut down their Internet streaming while his show was on the air. Listeners were only allowed to listen via airwaves or via a subscription to his own website. These demands, coming from a low-rated weekend show, did not sit well with many station managers. In the last three years, the show went from many, many dozens of stations down to under a dozen. As of this weekend -- Dr. Demento's final weekend on the air -- the show is down to only six radio affiliates. The very last station to drop the Dr. Demento Show? Chicago's own WLUP- FM, who had been one of the show's longest supporters, through numerous ownership changes. For around 35 years, Dr. Demento was heard in Chicago on 97.9. WLUP dropped the show three weeks ago. A few days later, Dr. Demento took that lost Chicago affiliate as a sign to end the show. It was only a matter of weeks before the true 40th Anniversary of the show was to happen. The show will continue on, but now it will only be streaming and in podcast form on his own website. Even then, only for those who choose to join the "Demento Online Club." It's the end of era for novelty songs. It's the end of an era for radio. http://chicagoradioa...ar-old-radio-show (emphasis added) "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Post #328,417 by SpiceWare 6/22/10 7:57:55 PM Reply	it was later than 85 I didn't move to Houston until 87, and I wasn't in management at KFC until 88. I know we listened to Dr. D at the last KFC location I managed, which was in 89 or 90 - I started working IT in 90.
Post #328,475 by lincoln 6/23/10 4:44:14 PM Reply	My typo - it was Sep 1992 "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow

Welcome to IWETHEY!