R.I.P.: Dick Kernen, Detroit Radio Programmer, Influential Mentor

WXYZ-TV graphic

Dick Kernen, a giant of Michigan broadcasting who boosted the careers of countless familiar on-air voices and faces, died of natural causes Friday at home.  He was 82, according to The Detroit Free Press.

Kernen, who started with WXYZ-AM in the '50s and helped form WRIF-FM in the '70s, was vice president of industry relations at the Specs Howard School of Media Arts in Southfield, where he had worked since 1972.

A 2003 Michigan Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductee, Kernen was a guiding hand to some of the best-known names on the local airwaves in recent decades, having worked closely with the likes of Arthur Penhallow, Glenda Lewis, Carmen Harlan, Charlie Langton, Amy Andrews, Joe Wade Formicola and more.

"He was a mentor to so, so many personalities now all over the world, and certainly here in Detroit," said Doug Podell, a longtime disc jockey and programmer now on the air at WLLZ 106.7 FM. "I don’t think there’s a person on the air here that didn’t have some sort of relationship with him.

Tom Bender, who retired in 2016 as vice president of Greater Media, was a friend for more than 50 years. He said Kernen remained an important sounding board and source of counsel through his professional life.

"It's a terrible loss for all of the people, including me, who owe a lot of their livelihood and careers to Dick’s mentorship," Bender said. "I had a million questions about how radio worked, and he had a million answers. He was a great human being and a great student of the industry — your proverbial wise man."

Kernen got his own foot in the radio door in the 1950s, working at Walled Lake Casino dancehall spinning records before landing a job with WXYZ-AM in 1956. He was with the station for 12 years, doing stints as music director and assistant program director during its Top 40 heyday.

In 1968, Kernen was tapped by ABC Radio as program director at WXYZ-FM, where he battled WABX and WWWW for the ears of hip, young rock fans during a revolutionary period in the radio world.

In 1971, Kernen led the station's transformation into WRIF-FM, ceding the bohemian battle to WABX and aiming for a more commercial approach.