Posted by Larry Bud Melman on June 06, 2010 at 13:07:50:
In Reply to: Re: Dr Demento leaving regular radio posted by Yo on June 05, 2010 at 23:39:58:
Comedy bits, novelty tunes, parody songs, wacky sounds - all hosted by a crazy "Doctor" - is going, going, gone. This weekend's the final
airing of the "Dr. Demento Show." The show's syndicator, Talonian Productions (owned by Dr. Demento) told the affiliates this is the end.
Via email to the few remaining stations, it stated "Dr. Demento and
his management have decided to no longer offer The Dr. Demento Show on terrestrial radio stations and to concentrate on offering the show via internet streaming only."
The popular weekly show is credited with bringing "Weird Al" Yankovic
to worldwide fame. The show is also credited (?!) for bringing
"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" by Elmo & Patsy to national
attention in the late 70s & early 80s. Because of Dr. Demento, that song is now heard seemingly non-stop throughout December.
Dr. Demento was inducted in the Comedy Music Hall of Fame in June
2005. This past November 2009, Dr. Demento was honored with an
induction in the Radio Hall of Fame -- introduced at the induction
ceremony by Chicago's Jonathon Brandmeier. (?!)
In the last few years, his syndicated radio show had fallen on tough
times. Some of the reasons had to do with comedy songs not being very
popular any more and very few new novelty songs being released. That
seemed to peak in the mid-80's. Some of the reasons had to do with the
fact finding advertisers for this show became close to impossible in
the last few years. While some of the reasons had to do with Dr.
Demento himself. He and his management team had become very demanding
of their affiliates. Asking high fees for the show, demanding certain
time slots, and most recently, demanding all affiliate radio stations
shut down Internet streaming while his show was on. Listeners were
only allowed to listen via airwaves or via subscription to his own
website. These demands, coming from a low-rated weekend show, didn't
sit well with many station managers. In the last 3 years, the show
went from dozens of stations down to under a dozen. As of this weekend
-- Dr. Demento's final weekend on the air -- the show is down to only 6 radio affiliates.
The very last station to drop the Dr. Demento Show? Chicago's own
WLUP, who had been one of the show's longest supporters, through
numerous ownership changes. For about 25 years, Dr. Demento was heard
in Chicago on 97.9. (WLUP dropped the show 3 weeks ago.) A few days
later, Dr. Demento took losing Chicago as a sign to end the regular radio show.
The show will continue on, but now it will only be streaming and in podcast form on his own website. Even then, only for those who choose to join the "Demento Online Club."