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Donahue, Tom 192$ -1975

U.S. Disc Jockey and Radio Station Executive

In the late 196os and early 197os, helped to KDIA to supervise the production of records by artists Bobby revolutionize radio broadcasting in the United States. He is Freeman, , and The Great Society, with lead regarded as the "Godfather," if not the "father," of "free- singer . form" rock and roll radio. In 1967 at KMPX -FM in San Fran- In the spring of 1965 Donahue left KYA to devote more cisco, he introduced the commercial underground radio for- time to his entrepreneurial interests. He operated a radio con- mat, which eventually became Progressive and later Album - sultant service and published a music tipsheet, Tempo, which Oriented Rock radio. Known as "Big Daddy," Donahue was kept track of record sales. He also owned racehorses and pro- an imposing figure. He weighed over 35o pounds; sported a duced music concerts, including a 1966 performance by the thick, dark beard; and spoke with a deep bass voice. He began Beatles at Candlestick Park. his radio programs with the line, "I'm here to clean up your By the mid 196os the Vietnam War and the civil rights face and mess up your mind." movement began to dominate the news, and attitudes of young Donahue got his first disc jockey job in 1949, at age z1, at people on those issues, as well as on sex, drugs, and fashion, WTIP in Charleston, West Virginia. He moved to radio sta- began to change. In response, Donahue and Mitchell opened tions in Maryland and Pennsylvania and eventually was hired Mother's, San Francisco's first psychedelic nightclub, which in 1951 at WIBG in Philadelphia, where, in addition to the featured bands such as The Byrds and Lovin' Spoonful. early 195os popular tunes commonly heard on the air, he Although Donahue recognized that Top 4o music had been played rhythm and blues and rock and roll music. dominated by rock and roll in the 195os and had developed In 1961 he moved to San Francisco, becoming a disc jockey into a formidable economic industry, he believed it had now at KYA, which had a Top 4o musical format. Working with stagnated, failing to keep pace with changing tastes in Ameri- music programmer Bill Drake, Donahue became a "kingpin" can popular culture. For example, in order to play music by an disc jockey at the station after helping to make it one of the emerging popular group, The Doors, stations often shortened top -rated operations in its market. The success of Donahue the 6:5o "Light My Fire" to three minutes, and they virtually and the station was attributed in part to the fact that he and ignored "The End," which ran 11:35. To be sure, there were in other disc jockeys heavily involved themselves with the music the mid- to late -196os stations that experimented by playing they played, often holding meetings to discuss the merits of longer musical pieces; the Pacifica Foundation's WBAI -FM in records heard on the air. This distinguished the KYA disc jock- New York City and Massachusetts Institute of Technology's eys from others in the business, who saw their jobs as simply WTBS in Cambridge were two such stations. In 1966 an alter- springboards to careers in television or movies and who cared native format was presented on commercial station WOR -FM little about Top 4o music. in New York City. However, the "underground" radio format Donahue's interests grew beyond his air shift and music was extremely rare. programming jobs. Together with his partner, fellow KYA Donahue longed to return to radio to program a station radio disc jockey Bobby Mitchell, he operated a small record reflecting America's burgeoning new musical and artistic land- label, Autumn Records. He employed a 19- year -old disc scape. He envisioned a "free- form" format, where disc jockeys jockey, Sylvester Stewart (), at soul music station were not constrained to be "boss jocks," constantly upbeat