He also made occasional television appearances, on such shows as Bobby's World and The Simpsons, and on the Barnes and Barnes music video for " Fish Heads". Between the mid-seventies and the mid-nineties, Hansen continued to do live broadcasts on KMET and other California stations, in addition to his weekly taped syndicated show. Hansen, under the name "Talonian Productions," handled syndication himself from 2000 until discontinuing syndication in 2010 (though Hansen did not reveal he was Talonian until being forced to respond to significant criticism of the company in 2007 this despite the fairly obvious fact that Talonian had no involvement in any other show than Dr. He left the radio network in 1992 during a business downturn.įrom 1992 to 2000, the show was syndicated by On the Radio Broadcasting. Demento to Portland, Ore., Dallas, Texas, New York City, San Diego, Montreal, Phoenix, and other cities to do live performances and PR Events, taking photos, setting up interviews and even 'running the board' at some of the live shows. It was under Robert Young's guidance that the show gained in popularity, mainly due to his willingness to foster relationships with national media and with nationally-known and up-and-coming artists, including John Mammoser, Judy Tenuta, Emo Philips, Pinkard and Bowden, Wally Wingert, and Mark Davis (Richard Cheese).
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In 1982, he handed off the show to a new producer from San Diego, professional journalist Robert Young. The producer Westwood One assigned to work with Hansen from 1978 to 1982 was Lynnsey Guererro, a former track star from UCLA and Senior Producer at the company. The Westwood One period marked the height of the show's national popularity it was carried in most major radio markets, airing mainly on FM rock stations, usually late on Sunday evenings. His weekly show went into national syndication in a two-hour all-novelty format in 1974,produced by his manager Larry Gordon of Gordon/Casady and during 1978–92 was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Network. Later, the show would be a two hour live show on KLSX, and after they converted to a talk-only format, moved to KSCA. From 1972–83, he performed a four hour live show on KMET. At the end of 1971, he moved to KMET in Los Angeles. The positive listener response to the offbeat novelties that Hansen included in his rock oldies show led to his eventually turning it into an all-novelty show. Demento in 1970 while working at Pasadena station KPPC-FM. The Doctor began his weekly radio show while working for Specialty, and he later worked for Warner Bros. He also served briefly as a roadie for Spirit, and for Canned Heat, before being hired as an A&R man, or talent scout, for Specialty Records. He graduated in 1963, and later studied at UCLA, from which he earned a master's degree in folklore and ethnomusicology.Īfter earning his master's degree, he lived for two years "in a big house on a hill" in Topanga Canyon with members of the rock band Spirit. He wrote his senior thesis on Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck and Claude Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande. He claims to have started his vast record collection as early as age 12, when he found "that a local thrift store had thousands of old 78 RPM records for sale at 5 cents each." He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he was promoted to Program Director of KRRC in 1960 and General Manager in 1961. Hansen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of an amateur pianist.