Barret ‘Dr. Demento‘ Hansen will retire from his program when it reaches its 55th anniversary in October.
On this week’s show, Demento announced that it was his final regular show with a series of retrospective episodes regarding the history of the show to air weekly until a final episode in October that will feature the top 40 songs in the show’s history. Hansen recently turned 84 years old.
Hansen debuted his ‘Dr. Demento’ persona on Freeform Rock 106.7 KPPC Pasadena CA (now KROQ-FM) in October 1970 quickly converting to to focusing on comedy and novelty music. His show would be heard across multiple Los Angeles stations over the subsequent decades including a long run on 94.7 KMET from 1972 until its demise in 1987. A syndicated version of the show debuted in 1974 and continued until the show moved to a subscription internet platform in 2010.
JB Raccoon 
Paul Hogue 
Monte Dietrick 
Santo Giustiniano 
The good Doctor not making house calls anymore?!??! Oh my! The Doctor was my weekend fix to not only get the new week started, but to laugh off the stress from any snafus that happened the past week as well as the weekend.
I discovered Dr. D. in his latter years on KMET just before the famous Valentine’s Day Massacre which became The Wave (KTWV) after that, he was heard on various stations in L.A. including KSCA and KLSX (now KNX-FM).
It wont be the same on Sunday nights (or any other night) that the Dr. would prescribe his mad music and crazy comedy to his fans. Thanks for the laughs Dr. D!!
I have been a fan of Dr Demento since the 80s when I discovered his show on a station out of DeKalb IL. Such pawsome times.
I.m sorry to see Dr.D retire from the airwaves.I used to listen to him when he was “The Sound Doctor”on KPPC-FM in Pasadena,and later on KMET-FM 94.7.As a d,j myself,I used to run Dr.D’s syndicated show on KAFY AM 550 in Bakersfield in 1975,and many years later on KRAB-FM,106.1,also in Bakersfield.It was Dr.D who introduced the late Spike Jones to a whole new generation in the 1970’s and 1980’s!!Once I was trying to get through to Dr.D’s request line,and was cut off before I could finish.A few weeks later I got a letter in the mail from him!He said,”Dear Gerry,I’m sorry you got cut off my request line,it sounded like you were about to request something really interesting!”He ended the letter by saying “Here’s a little help for the request line”.He included a dollar bill with the letter!What a nice guy!He’s kept us all laughing for a long time!Again,sorry to see you retire from the airwaves,Dr.D.We’ll all miss you!Gerry(Jim Diamond)Whitehead,Long time radio d.j.
I discovered Dr. Demento sometime around 1980 when I listened to it without fail every Sunday night on KQ 94 out of Little Rock. A show that featured songs about fish heads, shaving cream, Irving the cowboy, and an accordion player who made up songs about food turned out to be a huge influence on my sense of humor and psyche, and I am forever grateful to him. I will always “Stay deeeeemented.”
I am sorry to hear of Dr D’s retirement. I use to listen to him when i was in jr. High, high school and college back in the 70s on klms am in lincoln ne. They took him off the air and all i could do was find a few of his cd’s he was great to listen to and introduced many to a whole new genra of songs. Happy retirement wishes to him.
Fond memories of listening to the good Doctor on WNOE FM New Orleans in the mid 1970s. Congratulations, Dr. D! You’ve earned it!
His show was TOTALLY entertaining…but to learn that we’ve missed decades is very disconcerting!!!