I'm not going to the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame award ceremony today at lunchtime at the Marriott Quincy Hotel, but it bears mentioning anyway. Robin Young, Tom Ellis and Gary LaPierre are among the honorees, along with posthumous recipients Ken Coleman, Robert J. Lurtsema and Johnny Most. But the inductee whose career meant the most to me is former WRKO and WXKS DJ Dale Dorman. Dorman spun Top 40 rock at 'RKO AM 680, from 1968 to '78. I probably switched over to free-form FM and wilder things on WBCN around 9th or 10th grade, but from '68 to about '75, especially when he was on the wake-up shift, it was Uncle Dale who first played so much great music for me. That was the golden era before music radio split off into disco and hard rock and rap and all the other formats, when Top 40 might bring a segue from the Stones or Creedence to the Temps or Gladys Knight and on to some godawful one-hit wonder. And the same songs the next hour. My Wonder Years, it was, and every time I happen to hear a snatch of his voice, from some old aircheck on line, it puts me right back there. Here's to ya, Dale. The Hall, by the way, is at Massasoit Community College in Brockton.
He was also the host/voice of the later years of Creature Double Feature on Channel 56. A mainstay of my childhood.
Posted by: Peter_the_Gr8 | September 17, 2010 at 12:09 PM