R.I.P.: Dick Biondi, Hall of Fame Radio Personality

Dick Biondi (1933-2023)

Legendary Chicago rock disc jockey and personality Richard “Dick” Biondi died early last week, WLS-AM 890 announced in Facebook Saturday night. He was 90.

A native of upstate New York, Biondi spent much of his storied 67-year career in Chicago on stations including WLS, WCFL WMAQ, WBBM and WJMK.

He is credited as one of the earliest radio DJs to play rock music on American airwaves, when the music form was still considered controversial.

Biondi has been enshrined in the National Radio Hall of Fame, and since 2010, the same year that the city named an alley south of the old WLS studios near East Lake Street and Garland Court “Dick Biondi Way.”

Biondi gained national attention in the 1950s and 1960s as a disc jockey on leading AM radio stations in Buffalo, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles, California. Besides being among the first to play Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, and other early rhythm and blues artists, he was also able to meet them.

The early Rock and Roll era meant "record hops" where disc jockeys would make personal appearances at local schools and clubs; they often included appearances by the artists whose records were being played. Biondi is credited as the first U.S. disc jockey to play the Beatles, on Chicago's WLS 890 AM in February 1963, with the song "Please Please Me". Later, while working at KRLA (1110 AM) in Los Angeles, he introduced the Beatles and Rolling Stones at their Hollywood Bowl concerts.

Since 1984, Biondi has been a mainstay on oldies stations in the city where he first earned his reputation, Chicago. On May 2, 2010, Dick Biondi celebrated the 50th anniversary of his first Chicago broadcast. WLS-AM and WLS-FM presented a 5-hour simulcast special from 7 p.m. to midnight, featuring memorable moments in his career and special celebrity guests, with Biondi as host.

Biondi is an inductee of the Radio Hall of Fame (Chicago).