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The End of the Dr. Demento Show On Radio
damnbunni writes "Dr. Demento has announced that his long-running comedy radio show will be ending (except weekly in and around Amarillo, TX). Modern 'format' radio has been less and less friendly to oddball and offbeat programming, and after years of declining station membership the Doctor announced on June 6 that his radio show will be no more. He will still stream weekly shows on Saturday from his website, drdemento.com. While I'm sad to see the show go, nearly 40 years is a good run."
It's sad to see it go. The show that helped so many of the musicians that geeks love make it big.
How will we get our entertainment in the future? I think the net will let shows like Dr. Demento thrive.
When I was younger, it was always a privilege to catch a bit of the Dr. Demento show on the radio...usually on a car trip home from somewhere...usually wasn't up late enough, and/or listening to a local station that carried it. I don't think now that there's a local station here that does, though I've long given up on FM Radio. I'll remember what I can fondly, yet, I'll remain more pissed that Adam Corolla left Loveline shortly after I left high school--he made that show funnier than anything.
I don't post AC. I like my -1, Flamebaits. Trump/Sheen 2012 on the Batshit Insane ticket!
I grew up on Dr D in the 70s and even saw a live version in the 80s. Heartbreaking that it's fading into the sunset and that the current generation won't know the Dr. When I was growing up the big things on radio were the top 40 show and Dr Demento. While he had a show the truly twisted had a home. Without shows like his it's hard for such things to stand out. These days there's entertainment overkill. Unless it's a Youtube hit the odds are you'll never hear about it. Shows like Dr Demento gave a forum for such works long before there was a web. It may be giving him a place to continue on but it'll never be the same.
I live in a small town. Clear Channel is one more way to erode something unique. The corporate whores at the FCC have decide to server their corporate masters, and this is just one more sympton.
Dr. Demento ran a syndicated radio show that focussed on the weird, offbeat, and just silly. Weird Al got his start there, for example. A large number of people in the geek community grew up listening to his show, especially as it's had a forty year run.
What's being lost? A bit of the unique, a bit of the oddball and unusual. Radio has become that little bit more boring and bland.
Lovely little fish heads! The only place that song EVER got played. Perhaps "They're coming to take him away. ha-ha. ho-ho. hee-hee..."
I listened to him on every Sunday,
The Funny Five and music skits,
But now that his show is all finished,
I can't help but feeling like
Shaving cream, be nice and clean
Shave every day and you'll always look keen!
Thanks Dr. D!
W
-------------------
This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
The corporate whores at the FCC have decide to server their corporate masters
Yes, I too have servered my corporate masters every now and then. From great distances I have hurled 1U, 2U and every now and then 4U servers towards their heads. Sadly, despite their weight and looking very sturdy, servers break too easily for servering my corporate masters on a regular basis.
I'm planning to bring out a book in a year or two: How to server man.
FWIW, I make the same typo nearly all the time ;)
Though I agree with your sentiments, I have to point out, nothing is being lost. It is being redirected. As the Demento audience declines internet useage increases. Your strange, silly, and plain funny are now online. Radio is going the way of the newspaper. There is a new medium in town.
It's as dead as dead puppies. And dead radio shows aren't much fun.
Attention zealots and haters: 00100 00100
What a bunch of ga-ga. I happen to have it on very good authority that radio is yet to have its finest hour.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
When I read this today, a was quite saddened. For whatever reason, I identified with Dr. Demento. I remember listening to him when I was 10/11/12. It appealed to me and helped me form my identity today. It wasn't like I was introduced to it, it was patently "un-cool", but the show and the music struck a chord with me. I understood it and I understood there were obviously other people out there who thought like me and were interested in the same things. Call it "geeky" or "nerdy" if you wish, but it was uniquely me in a way that few people around me could even begin to understand. A friend at a time I didn't have any.
D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M.
Another one rides the bus.
Reading through his website announcements there is like a timeline of and old school radio guy dying. I'm not going to pretend I'm a big Demento fan, but still kind of sad. We're closing up, we're losing money. We got only 100 orders for a last ditch money making idea. We're clearly being hurt by the decline of CD sales. We can't fill orders because we're working with Yahoo Small Business for some reason.
Just out of curiosity, why the hell is going online/podcast a last-last ditch effort for this guy? He's got a name recognition that would draw people in, and the format would seem to work well for podcasting. At the very least a podcast could drive people to his website and help him sell a few CD's/tshirts. I get he's an old school guy and up until recently still had a terrestrial broadcast to do, but you'd think someone would have come to them at some point and suggested this.
Althought the commercial stations complain about the dominance of the BBC, the fact that there are so many quality channels on the BBC (no adverts, mandate to produce quality programming) forces the commercial stations to push similar content quality in order to remain competetive.
Dr. Demento was syndicated, not local. He is definately niche.
Too bad there is not some system that can allow people to connect and search for content using computers.
I also live in a small town and if it weren't for the clear channel stations, I'd receive no radio stations (we have weak local stations with lots of static).
http://www.irememberjfk.com/mt/2009/11/dr_demento.php
He's a legend, radio will miss him.
"Star Trekking, across the universe..."
The archive is right here. http://drdemento.com/online.html
It's not complete, and it's not free, but it's there!
sorry, but NPR is as bad as Clear Channel! I didn't use tho think that way and I don't think NPR was that way years ago but they have the same corporate roll-over-anybody-who-doesn't-agree-with-them mindset that characterizes the stereotypical Big Media guys. For example, not too many years ago NPR came out STRONG against the low power radio service that was gaining a toe-hold in markets now being steamrolled by Clear Channel (and NPR!) They said the low power stations wouldn't be in the public interest when in reality the low power stations were EXACTLY what the public wanted and needed in small markets. NPR is Big Business. But since it is so "PC" it doesn't get tagged the same way as Clear Channel.
If no-one values his work enough to pay for it, perhaps his work isn't that important after all.
Too bad, though I haven't listened to it in ages... perhaps because what he did, the internet does so much better... I mean he was an aggragate of comedy/weird music in an age before internet searches... It's where I first heard of musical comedians like Tom Lehrer and (not as musical) George Carlin... and of course the god of musical mirth, Weird Al... who has done quite well by evolving with the times... as evidenced by the fact that I still regularly watch his stuff on YouTube...
http://www.beanleafpress.com
Yes, because as we all know, the only value of something is how much money it's worth.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
Blah blah blah corporatism yay! blah blah blah sucking business penis blah blah blah. Sound better to you? Monopolies are baaad,mkay? See how you couldn't hardly find AMD Athlon PCs when Intel was putting out shitty Netburst, or how MSFT crushed legitimate competition by tying sales per PC manufactured. Do we need to hire Sexual Harassment Panda to do a little jingle to spell it out for you?
As for TFA, while the Doc was always an acquired taste, because some of his stuff was funny and some was just...well demented, it is a shame to see another piece of our collective past bite the dust. Sadly like the poster before the corporatism yay! guy ever since Clear channel bought out every station in my area it has been nothing but shitty radio 24/7/365. Thank the Great Electron for MP3 car stereos, that way I never have to be exposed to the complete and total foulness that is Clear Channel. I wouldn't wish that dreck on anyone...well maybe the anon coward that I'm responding to. I bet after a couple of weeks of forced CC listening he'd be crying like a bitty baby!
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
I have an email folder full of emails from NPR on how they wanted to support low power radio.
You are full of shit.
I have dealt with both organizations. Clear channel is full of entitled ass holes who think cities should do what they say because they own the radio stations.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
You are incorrectly assuming that, in the absence of Clear Channel stations, some other broadcaster would not choose to use those same frequencies.
Another way to look at is that Clear Channel owns all the high-power stations in the area, leaving the little guys no room but to broadcast on low-power frequencies.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.