This was in the days before Specialty had become strictly a reissue label, and Hansen's behind-the-scenes duties included compiling and annotating numerous excellent vinyl releases (among them several fine Little Richard packages and doo wop, one of the Doctor's areas of true musical expertise), producing and issuing the decidedly demented Edard Nelson single "Pale Blues," and almost signing an embryonic version of the J. In the late '60s, Hansen found himself gainfully employed by Specialty Records in Hollywood. The Review had been a hardcore folk music magazine - one of the first to write about Dylan - but Hansen's tenure found him writing about eclectic electric rockers like Frank Zappa instead, this literary bent leading him to do record reviews for Rolling Stone as well. Hansen's love of music's eclectic side led him to briefly edit the Little Sandy Review. An early forerunner of his present-day format was exhibited on a show he hosted on the station called Music Museum. He went on the air at the tiny ten-watt campus station with a half-hour weekly blues show, working his way up through the ranks to eventually become the student station manager. Hansen's journey from record collector to national personality is the journey of the radio everyman, but one also grounded in a solid knowledge of American music in all its glorious forms.Īt the age of 19, Hansen first started broadcasting at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He's made hits out of 40-year-old records that no one had ever played, and was singularly responsible for the success of "Weird Al" Yankovic, whose song parodies debuted on his show. In that time, he's elevated the novelty record - in all its myriad styles - to a high trash culture art form. In 1995, he celebrated his 25th anniversary of broadcasting the greatest novelty records of all time, both new and old. He was born Barret Hansen, being the proud owner of a Master's degree in music from UCLA under that moniker, but he's far better known to millions of radio listeners as Doctor Demento.
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