Dick Biondi

Born in September 1932, Dick Biondi became an incredibly influential American disc jockey who fundamentally shaped the sound of rock-and-roll radio.

Affectionately known as “The Wild I-tralian,” “The Screamer,” and “The Supersonic Spaghetti Slurper,” Biondi ruled the airwaves with an energetic, shouting delivery and a rebellious streak that endeared him to millions of teenage listeners

Though he broadcast across New York and California, Biondi achieved legendary status after joining WLS 890 AM in Chicago when the station flipped to a Top 40 format in May 1960.

Biondi’s evening show reached into nearly 40 states and parts of Canada, and at his peak, the loud, knock-knock-joke-telling Chicago DJ commanded an astronomical 60% to 80% share of the total radio audience

He routinely instructed teenagers driving around Southern Lake Michigan to honk their car horns on cue, causing chaotic choruses of blasting horns to echo across Chicago neighbourhoods.

Biondi is credited as the first American disc jockey to play The Beatles, doing so in February 1963 – a full year before the band’s famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

He later relocated to KRLA in Los Angeles and served as the emcee introducing both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones during their legendary concerts at the Hollywood Bowl.

Biondi’s fast-talking, unpredictable persona frequently put him at odds with conservative station executives.

In a 1988 interview, he famously estimated that he had been fired 23 times throughout his career due to his temper, wild stunts, or jokes gone wrong.

At WKBW in Buffalo, he was dismissed after encouraging listeners to throw rocks at his boss’s car. At WLS in 1963, he was abruptly pulled off the air mid-broadcast after a heated disagreement with management regarding the length of commercial blocks.

Biondi returned to Chicago permanently in 1984 to help launch WJMK 104.3 FM, where he spent more than two decades as the beloved “King of the Oldies”. He continued broadcasting into his 80s before officially stepping away from the microphone in 2017.

He died in Chicago on 26 June 2023, at the age of 90.