Dusty Street passes at 77
By now you probably heard the sad news that Dusty Street, best known locally for her work on KROQ (106.7 FM), passed away on October 22 at the age of 77.
A true pioneer, Street was not only one of the first female DJs in a male-dominated profession, she loved the music she played, loved discovering new artists and songs, and loved presenting her finds to her audience. In addition to her work at KROQ, she was heard on KLOS (95.5 FM), K-WEST (now KPWR, 105.9 FM), and KLSX (now KNX-FM, 97.1), though her roots were in San Francisco working with the likes of Tom Donahue at KMPX and a handful of other stations.
She left KLSX in the Spring of 1994 due to the music, telling the OC Register’s Gary Lycan, “It was like mini-purgatory working in ‘Classic Rock’ radio. My background is free-form, progressive rock. I started with Tom Donahue and hopefully I’ll be getting back into new music.”
She got her chance to play new music again when she moved to Las Vegas in the Fall of 1994. Eventually, though, she found herself back with the oldies playing Deep Tracks on SiriusXM.
Tributes to Street poured into to social media sites, from colleagues, friends and listeners. A few examples from Facebook:
“Fly low Dusty Street … I’m heartbroken
“To a truly amazing woman who has been my friend for the last forty some years and I already miss her like crazy. She took me in to her heart when she had every excuse not to back in the ‘80s and we’ve been tight ever since. I love you to pieces Street. She could have just as easily chewed me up and spit me out but instead we grew to respect each other and became life long friends.
How lucky am I that life brought our roads to cross. How cool that we’ve been friends all these years. You touched my life in some unimaginable ways, Thank you Street. I know that we will see each other again my friend. Until then, avoid the radar and enjoy those beautiful wings” — April Whitney
“Farewell Dusty Street, and thank you for all you did for KROQ, and women radio hosts.” — Tami Heide
“Time is a cruel mistress. We all lost a dear friend today. Dusty Street, a true radio legend and a dear friend, has passed away. It was Dusty who trained me to run the board at KROQ, and trying to emulate her expertise was a tough job. She brought so much of her love of music – particularly Dark Wave like Siouxsie, Bauhaus, and so many others, to the airwaves.
In today’s barren terrestrial radio market, there is no one like her. I’ll so miss her voice, her laugh, her caring for animals, our trips to Hawaii together, and our visits when I’d do a gig in Cleveland – where she did her show on SiriusXM and made her home for the past decade. Your talents will not be forgotten. Fly low and avoid the radar, Dusty.” — Richard Blade
“A true icon” — Torey Bogust
“I was lucky to know her and I will never forget her. We sat on the floor in front of her turntable & played & shared her record collection of some of the early Blues, early Country, and other genres greatest artists. We talked about performance & Raw talent & music of course!
You will be missed dearly….. now that you’re an angel you can fly high ~ No Radar… RIP to an amazing woman!” — Peggie Perkins
“I was a young kid, listening to KROQ in Los Angeles. Dusty Street was Irreverent, strong and as punk rock it got. I wanted to be her when I grew up. Many years later, I was able to interview her and boy was that an honor. Even more years after that and about a year after I moved to Las Vegas I met Dusty Street at an event. I walked up to her, and I told her how much of a fan I was of her and how much she meant to me and the career that I was building. She turned to me and said, ‘are you Carlota?’
“I said yes. She said ‘I am you’re number one fan!!’
“I can’t even begin to describe what an honor that moment was, and how much I enjoyed the friendship we built after that. I’m so sad tonight. Dusty Street was a legend. An icon. And she was my hero.” — Carlota Gonzalez
Hear an interview she did circa 2015 with former KROQer Doug the Slug at https://youtu.be/9T9e2GDnmLo?si=Wp0rODdDMTfnHsoy … among other things and included in the many stories and memories told, you’ll hear the origin of “flying low” and avoiding the radar.
And yes, Dusty Street is her real name. Rest in peace, Dusty.
We Get Letters …
“What’s up with KPCC? Why did they change their name to something so hard to pronounce … and remember? — Elizabeth, Rancho Palos Verdes
Good question. And one I cannot answer, though there are numerous examples of businesses that changed names only to either be forgotten — or perhaps worse, remembered by the old name. Thrifty Drugs and Sav-On come to mind. Traditionally, radio stations that don’t use the actual call letters as marketing identifiers usually use names or slogans at least related to the station call letters or frequency — Power 106, The Sound KSWD, “Kiss-FM” — though that is not always the case.
In the case of KPCC (89.3 FM), they changed to the remarkably bad “LAist” in early 2023, brought on due to a management thought process that listeners were tuning in via online apps outside of the broadcast area, so “KPCC” is essentially obsolete as a name.
Herb Scannell, station President and CEO, said at the time that the “LAist” name helps to future proof the station, as the official call letters are licensed to Pasadena City College, with programming provided by LAist under an agreement, similar to how the programming for KKJZ (88.1 FM) is provided to Cal State Long Beach by a company run by Go Country 105 (KKGO) owner Saul Levine.
I suppose if Pasadena City College ever wanted to go in a new direction, such as actually letting students take part in running of the station as should be required by their license, LAist could just move to another “educational” frequency interested in not allowing students to be part of the program.
Regardless, it apparently is hip and trendy to have a name that means nothing and is hard to pronounce. I guess that is meaningful, in some way or another.
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