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| Joe Donovan |
Joe Donovan died Sunday morning while in the hospital being treated for issues with his colon.
Donovan hosted an all night radio show on 84 WHAS radio in the 80's and 90's mostly devoted to old time rock and roll.
He worked as an on-air personality in Loveland (KLOV), Ft. Collins (KCOL) and Denver (KOA, KIMN), Colorado. He was considered a pioneer in the "Oldies" concept before it became a fad. He moved to Louisville in 1977 to go on the air at WHAS 840. His air work reached most states and several other countries that could pick up the 50,000 watt station all night.
Joe continued working for Clear Channel Communications until his retirement in 1998.
He had a very nice voice and passion for his work. RIP
ReplyDeleteI remember Joe's all night oldies show well. WHAS almost always boomed into northern Illinois at night. Apparently WHAS maintained a huge oldies music library and Joe used to invite listeners from around the county to call in and request a favorite long forgotten oldie. I remember calling in one night. Joe answered and I spoke with him for a couple of minutes. He later played my request (Walk Tall by the 2 of Clubs). He followed up a few days later by mailing me a cassette that he made with a recording of the song I requested. I stil have that cassette. Great DJ - RIP Joe
ReplyDeleteDB
Sad to hear about this, Joe's show was the best radio program I've ever encountered, discovered it back in '77, listened all the way through his last show in 1997. The records he played were his own, not the station's. How he amassed such a collection on 45 rpm's is amazing. Back before the FCC ruined clear channel reception by allowing every 1,000-watt AM station to remain on after dark, I remember listening to Joe's show while vacationing all over the country, and nightly from my home in SE Minnesota. God must've needed an obscure record played. Oldies radio rarely plays anything less than a number 1,2 or 3 charted hit. Thanks to Joe we got to hear numbers 4 - 100.
ReplyDeleteLoved Joe's show. I called fairly often in the late 70's and early 80's to win a contest or request a hard to find Oldie.
ReplyDeleteHe will be missed!
Al
York
Pennsylvania