Rick Dees:
Still strutting his stuff 23 years after
"Disco Duck"
By Carl Marcucci
Rick Dees loves radio. Beginning his career well before graduating from the
University of North Carolina, he first became nationally known with his song
parody, "Disco Duck" at WHBQ Memphis in 1977 (more parodies
followed). In '82, he leapfrogged his on-air career to CHR legend KIIS-FM in LA
with his now-famous morning drive slot.
With 350 affiliates in 23 countries,
Boasting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and 10 consecutive
"Number One Radio Personality of America" Billboard Awards, Dees continues
building his career while keeping his roots firmly planted in radio. The short
list of TV and movie appearances include: "La Bamba";
"Jetsons: The Movie"; host of "Solid
Gold"; roles on "Roseanne" and "Cheers" and guest host
roles on Fox's "The Late Show," "American Bandstand" and The Grammy Awards.
We asked Rick about his career, what's next and about his son Kevin who's
already capitalized on the next wave-the first "I-Jock" on the KIISFMi website.
You have done mornings on KIIS-FM in LA since 1982. What do you like most
about it and why are you still doing it?
It’s just the most fun of anything that I have ever done. Each day is a
different show. Every day is a different set of audience and energy. It is a
chance to meet a lot of famous people and reflect the times. And to be in the
thick of more or less the eye of the storm is the biggest thrill of my life.
What does it take to build a successful radio show such as yours?
I think it is hundreds and hundreds of things. The timing at the end of a
joke, the presentation of a sponsor's message, the telling of a story, the
staff, the people with whom you share your moments on the air and all, it is
just one thing after another. It's a lot of telephone interaction. If you take
each one and try to polish it up as much as possible, then it adds up to the
whole.
What is your radio history before KIIS-FM?
I started in
How did Weekly Top 40 first get started?
We have gone through several incarnations with the countdown. It started
with United Stations originally. The United Stations relationship was
wonderful. And then, DIR. That company went out of
business or was absorbed into another one of these conglomerates. I was offered
a chance to go with ABC. They really handled the show well and had a terrific
clearance department with Radio Today and Jeff Rich. And Lyn Andrews-she
evangelizes a product about as well as anyone I've ever seen.
So the deal with ABC was running out and my contract with KISS and Clear
Channel locally was also running out. I had them all run out concurrently. The
synergy of having all of these shows under one umbrella was something that was
very attractive to Clear Channel. ABC is the best group of people I've known in
some time or ever known, but when a business opportunity like this presented
itself, we had to look at it. ABC understood, and now it is with Premiere.
So they made you a good offer?
Oh yes, the infrastructure and synergy were so incredible. We started with
this show and have others we are doing. We started a company called NetStar [not Steve Youlios' and
Alan Fuller's old NetStar] Communications and we are
building that up already.
Tell us about NetStar.
NetStar is a co-venture with Clear Channel and I. We have the syndicated morning show-we are just kicking
that off. We are going to be syndicating other shows. We have an in-house ad
agency that we are probably going to put together; an in-house publishing
enterprise; a record company called NetStar Records.
That is a fairly full plate right there. All of those entities we could then
ratchet up to a point of an IPO here in pretty short order. That could be one,
two, three, five years, whatever. We are just taking it one a day at a time.
What are some of the other shows?
We are working on putting together an agreement with [
They are kind of superheroes.
They really are and they really love radio. For example, the TV show is
something that we have grown out of the radio show. So they really understand a
product and appreciate content and content providers. So we put this company
together and with their ability to expose the product and my company's ability
to create product, promote it and market it, is a wonderful combination.
Are you working with Premiere President Kraig Kitchin on this?
Oh yeah, Kraig Kitchin
is in charge of it. You see Kraig is really a genius
when it comes to putting a plan together. I really do think that this guy is
one of the most cutting-edge broadcasters around. He's very bright and focused
and you can imagine how excited I am about having him run this entity.
What about your own "CD Media"?
What has happened is that I have sold all of my assets from CD Media and
several other entities to Clear Channel. They own me. If they decide that they
don't like me one week and want me to do 15 to 20 hemorrhoid commercials, I'm
at their beck and call.
Watch, I've been practicing: "This is Rick Dees for Anusol-the
first four letters of our name say it all in Anusol."
Why do you think the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 show
is a good choice for advertisers?
Well, it is advertiser-friendly and advertisers should know I get the
biggest kick out of selling products for advertisers. When someone calls me and
tells me "We sold more satellite dishes because of what you said,"
that's really the greatest thrill for me on the air. So, anything that I can do
personally to make an advertiser feel like this is a great investment is a day
well spent. That is just the essence of it. Our mission statement is to put out
the best produced product, the product that has the most real energetic sound
and also to put out a product that for an advertiser is something that they
feel is a wonderful investment.
Growing up, whom did you listen to on the radio that influenced your
career?
There were several, but what comes to mind is that I listened to many comedy
records such as Jonathan Winters. I loved Jackie Gleason. Watching the
interviews of Johnny Carson was an incredible sensation. Then on the radio,
there is a guy named Pat Paterson who did the morning show in
Your son Kevin is an Internet Jock at KIIS-FMi.
How proud are you and does he want to follow in your
footsteps?
I am so proud of Kevin and the reason I'm proud of him is that he doesn't
want to follow in my footsteps. He has talent that I never even dreamed of and
that comes from his mother, Julie. He has the ability to look at someone's face
and the sound of their voice, and do an impression, which makes me a fan of
his. He has the ability in an interpersonal relationship to make someone feel
at ease, which is far beyond his years. And he is such a great person to just
hang with. He is just a good friend. He has a lot of great ideas for the
Internet. He is developing an Internet network filled with content. He is a
marketing genius. He is already the social chairman of his fraternity and he is
really coming into his own. So, I'm very proud of him and honored to have him
for a son.
You've done some movie rolls, hosted numerous feature TV shows including
your own "Into The Night" on ABC and have
released some big-selling parody singles. Tell us about that side of you.
I've been real lucky with those comedy albums and songs. To tell you the
truth, when the inspiration hits us, we'll go into the studio and knock
something out, because let's face it, there are so many
talented players around. They know that I have no talent, so they just cover me
up with a lot of great music. I'll come up with the concept for a parody song
or comedy. That's just a hobby. I certainly don't expect to be thought of as
somebody who is going to be in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. My whole niche
has been comedy, parody albums and I've been fortunate-we've sold a few.
What about the movie stuff? Is that something that you want to move into
eventually or do you really want to keep radio as your
main focus?
Radio is my main thrust. Those are just little hobbies that if something comes up from time to time. I'm trained as an actor, but no,
actually I'm trained as a bad actor. I went to the
So radio is going to be your mainstay?
Sure, I love being a performer on radio and doing comedy, but radio is it. I
just absolutely love it.