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| Dr. Demento |
The doctor's program - and indeed, his identity - has its
roots at former local underground station KPPC, now KROQ, 106.7 FM Los Angeles and
according to the
Press-Telegram in
Long
Beach, is tied
to a song by an artist called Nervous Norvus (real name Jimmy Drake) called
"Transfusion," released in 1956.
In the song, Drake sings a cheery tune of careless driving,
each verse ending with the sound effect of a car crash and lyrics talking of
receiving a transfusion. Each verse ends with a promise of better driving; each
verse starts with more bad driving.
For about six months prior to his being hired by the station
for his own show, Barry Hansen would make weekly guest appearances on KPCC's
"The Obscene," Steven Clean's show to play songs. One day in 1970 he
played "Transfusion;" Clean thought it weird enough to muse that
Hansen had to be demented to play it.
On that day, Dr. Demento was born.
Once he was officially hired, his show was actually a rock
oldies show, but the novelty records he added began to get traction. Soon the
show evolved into an all-novelty song program. Those were the days of creative
programming especially on the freeform FM stations. Nothing like this could
happen today.
The days of KPPC would be numbered, however, with the entire
air staff being fired in October 1971. Hansen took his show to KMET, now KTWV,
94.7 FM, in early 1972, where it ran every Sunday night until that station's
demise on Valentine's Day 1987. Hansen later did live, local shows for KLSX,now
KAMP, 97.1 FM, from 1987 to 1992, and KSCA 101.9 FM from 1994 to 1997. A
syndicated version was heard on stations across the country from 1974 to 2010,
when the program left radio for good, a victim of media consolidation and
changing tastes. The novelty of novelty records had apparently run its course.
So where is he now? Living in
Lakewood, still playing novelty records and
producing a new show every week. But like many other DJs who were pushed to the
curb as part of the great media consolidation push, he can be found on the
Internet. So instead of hearing the programs on your FM radio, you just point
your computer browser to
drdemento.com.
