Dr. Demento retiring after more than five decades playing “hits”
Legendary radio personality Barret Eugene “Barry” Hansen, better known to his legions of fans as Doctor Demento, announced last month that he will be retiring in October.
The genesis of his show came from guest appearances on KPPC (now KROQ, 106.7 FM) in 1970 when he would stop by “The Obscene Steven Clean” Segal’s program, and play some records from his personal collection. These included unusual recordings, novelty songs and just strange and often weird songs dating back to the earliest 78 RPM records.
Segal thought the songs were at times a bit odd … and thus started calling Hansen by the name “Dr. Demento.”
“I had no warning of this,” Hansen told me in an interview long ago, explaining that it came about roughly the third time he was a guest in hour-long expanded segments that began in October of that year. “He just decided he’d start calling me Dr. Demento.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
He got his own two-hour shift on KPPC at the end of 1970; moving to KMET in 1971 as did many others from KPPC, where for four hours every Sunday night he’d play his version of hits … from artists such as Spike Jones, Jimmy Durante, Ray Stevens, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, Nervous Norvus, and of course “Weird Al” Yankovic, who became a star due to the exposure on Dr. Demento’s show of “My Bologna,” a parody of The Knack’s “My Sharona” recorded in a men’s restroom at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo.
He remained at KMET until the station changed formats in early 1987 — The Valentine’s Day Massacre. After that he could be heard on KLSX (now KNX-FM, 97.1 FM) and later KSCA (101.9 FM), where it remained until 1997. The show was also syndicated nationally in a two-hour format from 1974 to about 2010, when it became available only on the internet.
KMET is where he made his true mark and developed his fiercely loyal following. If you were of a certain age, your Monday was often spent discussing with school friends the songs he played the night before. Who could forget “Star Drek,” “Pencil-Neck Geek,” “Dead Puppies (Aren’t Much Fun),” “Shaving Cream,” “Fish Heads,” “Boobs a Lot,” “They’re Coming to Take Me Away,” and many more. I may be remembering wrong, but I believe it was on Dr. Demento’s show where I first heard “Earache My Eye” by Cheech and Chong.
He even had a series of albums; I still have “Dr. Demento’s Delights” and “Dementia Royale” in my collection. He has more such albums available on his website.
His last regular new show was early June; since that time he has assembled retrospective shows that will run through October 11th, culminating with the top-40 songs played during the show’s 55-year history as his final broadcast. You can access the programs at DrDemento.Com, which features recordings of programs going back to 1974.
Mike Stark and I did a long-form career-spanning interview with Dr. Demento, who is one of the nicest guys I have ever met, back in 2013. Sharp as a tack, he described the genesis and development of his show, his record collection, the stations he worked with, and the evolution toward his online presence.
Dr. Demento, who has a master’s degree in ethnomusicology, was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2009.
I found a Spotify account with some of the most well-known songs from the show; it will be interesting to see how this fan’s list compares with the “official” top-40 list that will be presented by the good Doctor on the final show. Find it at https://bit.ly/4kdXke9
“It’s been a blast, but I have come to the decision that I need to hang up my top hat soon,” he said in a released statement. Considering his multitude and generations of fans, the dedicated Facebook page that is still active, and his over five decades of introducing “demented” records to listeners, I’d say he deserves some time off for himself. Thank you, Dr. Demento, for all the memories. Here’s to a a long, well-deserved retirement!
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