Dr Don Rose - died today

Dr Don Rose died early this morning in his sleep.

Noted radio researcher Bill Earl called him "probably the greatest air talent in the country....ever!" In a career that lasted 33 years and 28 days, Dr. Don was honored as "Disc Jockey of the Year," while both on the East Coast (WFIL, Philadelphia) and the West Coast (KFRC, San Francisco).

After four years at the University of Nebraska (he majored in accounting!) Rose worked at KOIL, Omaha; KTSA, San Antonio; and KRNY, Kearney, Nebraska, and with the same dismal result in each city; He was fired! It took several humiliating months to get another job, but Rose ended up at KWMT, Fort Dodge, Iowa, where his luck changed; He met his one and only wife Kae, and by default, inherited the morning show. ("Did you wake up grouchy, or is she still in bed?") Next Rose's career led him to Duluth, Minnesota; ("It's hard to be funny when it's 40 below.....you look outside at your car and there's a dog frozen to the wheel"). After five frigid years, he was off to Atlanta ("I said, 'Where do you do your cotton-pickin'? And the boss said 'cotton pickin' what?"). Then came six very successful years in Philadelphia; ("I spent some of my finest days in Philly. Vacations...weekends...sick leave").

All of this set Dr. Don up for the finest part of his career. In 1973 he landed the morning show at KFRC in San Francisco, and what a run it was! KFRC was voted "Station of the Year" four times by Billboard Magazine, with Rose as anchor. His morning program was #1 for a solid decade!

Dr. Don's 20 years of March of Dimes Superwalks raised more than $10 million. He MC'd a myriad of golf tournaments, including his own, which benefited Special Olympics and Special Education. Rose was featured in "Who's Who In California," and for more than a decade hosted Field Communications TV cartoons in Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia, as well as San Francisco.

Rose was an avid sailor (longest sail; Hawaii, broadcasting all the way), exploring, traveling, movies, and making the best Caesar Salad West of the Pekoes. He was active in church, enjoyed Bible Study, and playing Scrabble and cribbage with Kae.

 

I remember hearing Dr. Don Rose on KFRC during my middle school days. I think it was a love-hate thing with his radio show. You either were enterntained or thought he was very obnoxious. But truth be told, he was very popular and put KFRC 610AM on the SF Bay Area map before talk radio took over that band. That was truly the last days of the golden age of AM radio, when you can hear the latest rock, pop and soul all on one station.

 

I was an avid listener of WFIL in Philadelphia when Dr Don Rose was there. He was one of the "Boss Jocks" and always enjoyable.

 

I spent my middle school/high school years in Central California, so i listened to DDR for many years. He could be a tad obnoxious at times, but he sure brought in the listeners. A very entertaining man. I will mourn his passing much more than the well-known attorney who died recently. Don Rose was a funny man. RIP.

 

As a young kid in the Bay Area, I spent many, many hours listening to Dr. Don's KFRC shows on a cheap transistor radio. Very sad news.

 

This is sad news. A good chunk of who I am is the result of Bay Area radio back in the early '70s. DDR and the fact that KFRC always had that little bit of extra reverb or bigness when you listened to it made it hard not to recall the impact of how songs stuck with you. For AM stations down there back in the day, it was KFRC, KYA and San Jose's KLIV. If you cut me open and took a look inside, you'd see forms of those stations actually running around. They're just as much a foundation in me as my vital organs.

 

I managed to be the person to relay the sad news about Dr. Don Rose to one of his former "Boss jock" co-horts, Jim Nettleton, who was just beginning his shift today at our AM station. He was quite broken up about it.

 

I still live in San Jose and while DDR was big when he first came here in 73 (when I was 13), he faded fast when in that same year I bought the Blue Album. AM radio lost a lot of its charm after that. KYA, KLIV are dead now but KFRC still plays the oldies stuff.

DDR was the last of the great 'clean fun DJ's' and I miss that. Now the only radio personalities are shock jocks, right and left wing bombthrowers, sports personalities who know very little and self-help gurus who know even less.

That's why I have an MP3 CD car deck and CDs with 120 songs each along with CDs full of Old Time Radio Programs. I can go for weeks without hearing the same thing twice and it is all what I like.

Although, here in the Bay Area we have the greatest talk show host in the country, Ronn Owens on KGO from 9 till noon. He is brilliant, fair and real interesting. Look him up on the net as he is available online to listen to. Trust me, Ronn is the best one going today.

Long live DDR in my memory. He was one of a kind and a kind man too. I can say that everyone loved him. He will get a big send off in the papers and in the community.

 

This is such sad news.
I grew up with AM radio; AM radio, for me, was made up with such inspirations as Dr. Donald "D" Rose (as I remember him calling himself on KFRC).

Thanks Dr. Don for being my friend of the airwaves.

 

I will always have fond memories of listening to DDR....RIP

 

And remember he had that little duck quack sound effect all the time. He was an original, that's for sure.

When he arrived that station took off. They were the biggest thing around. We had KOME for FM and KFRC for AM. Both giants!

Then late at night KSJO, the hard rock station your parents hated so you had to listen to them with your headphones on. The Lamb, Styx, Floyd, BOC, UFO, Rush were all album side features then. And seven albums on Sunday night. Wow! Hard for people today to realize how cool that was.

 

I grew up listening to Dr Don. Sure he was obnoxious, but he was the king of San Francisco radio in the 1970's! What did he pass away from? I remember he messed up his leg around 1976 or so and broadcast his KFRC morning show from his bed for a period of time.


RIP.

Evan

P.S. I was living in the Bay Area at the time, thestereofan. I rememeber KSJO and KOME, as well as other stations.

 

For a time during 1976 KFRC-FM simulcast their morning show. It was really far out (that means neato in '70s speak) to be able to listen to Dr. Don in "hi-fi" albeit on a transistor portable. I spent many waking hours during that summer of '76 listening to Dr. Don. RIP.

 

Up your nose with..

 

Doctor Donald D. Rose...I especially loved the horns. RIP

 

I remember when he left WFIL in Philly. The last song he played was The Supremes "Someday We'll Be Together" A class act. Someday we'll be together Dr. Don. Rest well.
Beep

 

All the reports I have read/heard say simply that he died in his sleep.

He did have cardiac bypass surgery about 3 years ago, and ther were severe complications to the surgery that left him in a coma for a short while. He did recover from all that, however. This situation had been discussed in detail on Dr. Don's now-defunct Web site...

**********************************

Dr. Don Rose was an important part of the soundtrack of my childhood. I still clearly remember sitting in the kitchen having breakfast before school listening to Dr. Don's show.

In the mid-70's he also hosted the after-school kid's cartoon show on KBHK TV44 in SF, carrying over many of his trademark characters from the KFRC morning show.

When he broke his leg (in a hunting accident, IIRC), my family wrote him a get-well letter and a few weeks later we received an autographed 8x10 photo of him thanking us for the kind letter!

Dr. Donald D. Rose- July 3, 1975: Click to listen...

Rest in peace, Dr. Don. You will be sorely missed....

-Aaron

 

I'm very saddened to hear this. I've lived in Northern California for almost my whole life and listening to Dr. Don in the morning on KFRC was always a bright spot in my day. I have a fond memory of winning a radio contest while he was on the air one morning. He was able to put me at ease while poking fun at me at the same time during our on air conversation! An extremely fun and affable guy. Totally unique and irreplaceable. He will be missed. Dr. Donald D. Rose R.I.P.

 

Hey Evan,

I remember that too when he had leg problems and worked from home, Not sure what it was but I think an accident. Don't hold me to it though.

When you are the king, you can work from home or anywhere you want. Look at Rush.

;'>

KSJO, KOME great stations huh?

Them days are gone forever.

I always thought of DR DONALD D ROSE as the Captain Kangaroo of Radio. He looked like him, sounded like him and acted like him. What a nice image to give people. A gem of a man and my dad and I drove to school listening to his schtick. My dad never really liked him but tolerated him because he was better than that "noise" I wanted to hear. Noise being rock.

 

Yea, KOME was my favorite station. Then I bought a house in South San Jose and was a bit too close to a little hill, and could not receive the station whatsoever. Got stuck listening to their "competitor". Forget what station that was now. I eventually switched over to KFAT / Gilroy.. which was a totally different type of music they called progressive country.

 

Long before Click n' Clack on Car Talk said it, I remember Dr. Don refering to his law firm of "Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe". I woke up to him on KFRC every day for a time. My system was a Panasonic clock radio with the Rolodex-style digital clock. May he RIP (quack quack).

 

The Official Dr. Don Rose web site is back up!

-Aaron

 

Wow. I'm from Philly and this saddens me greatly. He also did some announcements for UHF stations in Philly as well, so I heard his voice a LOT. I recently picked up a WFIL vinyl compliation with a souvenir pullout of all the DJs. It was from about 1967-68. He was definitely the star.

 

At www.famous56.com there is a nice six minute scoped tribute to Dr. Donald D. Rose from the WFIL days,including his last moments on Philly radio. Corny? You bet! That was the point. I understand he planned hours for each future show,using one written joke per hour and riffing off of that theme for the remainder of the hour.Mac

 

And Lulubelle the cow. Radio in the Bay Area in the 70s was absolutely awesome. I feel lucky to have lived in such a time.

DDR was so popular on KFRC that for a time he broadcast from his bed, in a body cast, rather than be off the air. He was a kick in the pants in the morning, until I discovered KSAN.

Rest well, Dr. Don, you did real good.