Dave Herman is by all means a radio legend.
Dave Herman died in jail awaiting trial on charges of attempting to have sex with a six year old child.
Is it acceptable to celebrate the good while still realizing the bad? O.J. Simpson is still a member of the Pro Football Hall Of Fame with a tarnished legacy despite being found not-guilty of his murder charges. As Herman passed before getting his right to a fair trial, lets take a look at the radio legacy he left behind.
Herman’s radio career started at 93.3 WMMR Philadelphia in 1968 when the then Beautiful Music station debuted his Freeform “Marconi Project” at night before expanding the Rock format to 24 hours the following year. After a brief stay at WABC-FM, Herman would join WMMR’s sister 102.7 WNEW-FM New York for Mornings (outside of a brief shift to then-competitor 92.3 WXRK) where he would remain until 1998.
Herman then began a brief run as Program Director at Internet Talk startup EYada.com, a concept that was likely a decade too early to succeed. After that company faded away into the early Internet bubble, Herman retired from radio with a career that spanned four decades with a legacy that included launching the first Rocker in Philadelphia, hosting mornings for 26 years at one of the most influential Rock stations in history, and being involved in an early Internet Talk concept.
Dave Herman will likely be remembered not for his radio legacy, but for his actions late in life. He’ll never get his trial in court, but has been judged by the court of public opinion. Regardless of whether you believe him to be innocent or guilty of the charges levied against him, there is a radio legacy worth remembering.
This is sad all around.
A few years back, there was one other similar sad ending on the other side of the Atlantic: At the time of his death, the late BBC Radio One/BBC Television host/personality Sir Jimmy Saville had also been charged with child sexual abuse.