Deirdre O'Donoghue (DJ) breakfast w/ the beatles
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Deirdre O'Donoghue; Host of Radio's 'Breakfast With Beatles'
By JON THURBER, Times Staff Writer
Deirdre O'Donoghue, longtime host of the radio program "Breakfast With the
Beatles," which most recently was heard on KLSX-FM, has died.
O'Donoghue was found dead in her Santa Monica home Saturday night by
police officers who responded to a report that she had missed a broadcast and
had not returned phone calls.
The coroner's office is investigating the cause of death, but foul play is
not suspected.
Born in 1948, O'Donoghue grew up in New York City. She attended Clark
University in Worchester, Mass., before landing a job in radio at WBCN in
Boston in 1974.
She entered Southern California radio in the late 1970s, working first at
KKGO-FM, then a jazz station, before joining KCRW-FM in 1980. Her program,
"Snap"--an acronym for "Saturday Night Avant Pop"--eventually aired three
nights a week and was influential in showcasing new bands on the cutting edge
of rock music.
Tom Schnabel, the producer and host of Cafe L.A. on KCRW and program
director of World Music at the Hollywood Bowl, recalled that the station was
doing very little in the way of pop music before O'Donoghue joined the station.
"She had the talent to bring pop music to KCRW," said Schnabel, who was
the station's music director when O'Donoghue came aboard. "She was talented,
passionate about music and opinionated."
In 1983, she began an association with KMET, then one of the leading
mainstream FM rock stations in town, that would last several years. It was
there she originated "Breakfast With the Beatles," a two-hour Sunday morning
program devoted to the legendary British band.
She worked simultaneously at KMET and KCRW, covering a broad range of rock
music. When KMET changed formats in 1987, O'Donoghue took her Beatles program
to KNX-FM and then to KLSX-FM. She remained with KCRW until 1991, when she left
for health reasons.
"Deirdre was as passionate about music--and especially about discovering
new music--as anyone I've ever heard on radio," recalled Steve Hochman, a pop
music writer who covered O'Donoghue for The Times. "For her it was never about
hits or popularity, but about talent and emotion. And she had a gift for
expressing that in a way that made her enthusiasm contagious. Not
coincidentally, some of her biggest fans were musicians, including Michael
Stipe of R.E.M., Henry Rollins and many others."
Louis Epstein
: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 |
:
:
: Deirdre O'Donoghue; Host of Radio's 'Breakfast With Beatles'
: By JON THURBER, Times Staff Writer
:
: Deirdre O'Donoghue, longtime host of the radio program "Breakfast With the
: Beatles," which most recently was heard on KLSX-FM, has died.
: O'Donoghue was found dead in her Santa Monica home Saturday night by
: police officers who responded to a report that she had missed a broadcast and
: had not returned phone calls.
: The coroner's office is investigating the cause of death, but foul play is
: not suspected.
: Born in 1948, O'Donoghue grew up in New York City. She attended Clark
: University in Worchester, Mass., before landing a job in radio at WBCN in
: Boston in 1974.
: She entered Southern California radio in the late 1970s, working first at
: KKGO-FM, then a jazz station, before joining KCRW-FM in 1980. Her program,
: "Snap"--an acronym for "Saturday Night Avant Pop"--eventually aired three
: nights a week and was influential in showcasing new bands on the cutting edge
: of rock music.
: mainstream FM rock stations in town, that would last several years. It was
: there she originated "Breakfast With the Beatles," a two-hour Sunday morning
: program devoted to the legendary British band.
: She worked simultaneously at KMET and KCRW, covering a broad range of rock
: music. When KMET changed formats in 1987, O'Donoghue took her Beatles program
: to KNX-FM and then to KLSX-FM. She remained with KCRW until 1991, when she
: left for health reasons.
: "Deirdre was as passionate about music--and especially about discovering
: new music--as anyone I've ever heard on radio," recalled Steve Hochman, a pop
: music writer who covered O'Donoghue for The Times. "For her it was never about
: hits or popularity, but about talent and emotion. And she had a gift for
: expressing that in a way that made her enthusiasm contagious. Not
: coincidentally, some of her biggest fans were musicians, including Michael
: Stipe of R.E.M., Henry Rollins and many others."
"Deirdre O'Donoghue" was also the name of the character played by Liane
Langland in Michael Braverman's TV-movie pilot(not picked up) DESPERATE,
which Leonard Maltin,IIRC,called "an uncredited adaptation of TO HAVE
AND TO HAVE NOT".
No idea if Braverman named the character in homage to the radio hostess;
the film was made in 1987,when she was clearly active from the above
history.The character was from Boston,where the radio hostess also
apparently had a past...and was a lawyer who was duplicitously running
guns for an IRA splinter group.Presumably they made sure the radio
hostess would have no objection?...or did they take refuge in the
name being thought coincidental if she objected?
One good thing about that film though(besides the presence of la
Langland)...the male lead is seen dialing a "555" number on a phone,
AND IS ACTUALLY CALLING DIRECTORY INFORMATION,not pretending that's
a normal number!
Bryan Styble
>Langland)...the male lead is seen dialing a "555" number on a phone,
>AND IS ACTUALLY CALLING DIRECTORY INFORMATION,not pretending that's
>a normal number!
>
>
Interesting factoid there, Louis! Thanks!
As for the late Ms. O'Donoghue...I heard her Beatles show numerous times
and was impressed with how unimpressive a production it was--I mean, any radio
personality can just play a bunch of Beatles tunes (released or un) and throw
in some trivia betwixt the tracks.
It seems to me that if you're gonna devote a regular broadcast to a single
musical entity (and there are no more than a small handful of artists that
might warrant such a production), you gotta have some kind of unique aspect to
it.
Please don't interpret this as dancing on her grave--I'm just doing what Edward
Kennedy astutely declared in the wake of RFK's demise ("My brother need no be
idealized, nor enlarged in death beyond what he was in life.").
Sincerely,
BRYAN STYBLE/Albuquerque
Paul Grayson
news:20010125081704...@ng-mh1.aol.com...
> >One good thing about that film though(besides the presence of la
> >Langland)...the male lead is seen dialing a "555" number on a phone,
> >AND IS ACTUALLY CALLING DIRECTORY INFORMATION,not pretending that's
> >a normal number!
> >
> >
>
> Interesting factoid there, Louis! Thanks!
>
> As for the late Ms. O'Donoghue...I heard her Beatles show numerous
times
> and was impressed with how unimpressive a production it was--I mean, any
radio
> personality can just play a bunch of Beatles tunes (released or un) and
throw
> in some trivia betwixt the tracks.
I've not heard this show, but I can guess whay you mean. We have simillar
things happening in the UK on BBC Radio 2. A few 'stars' get a show where
they play records interspersed with simillar trivia. It is evident that the
programme has been put together by a producer, and the presenter is reading
from a script. It is likely that the presenter did no more than record the
links in one go in a studio, with the entire broadcast edited together
later. Johnny Cash did a series of such shows last year, which sounded
embarrassing.
Brad Ferguson
<sty...@aol.com> wrote:
> As for the late Ms. O'Donoghue...I heard her Beatles show
> numerous times and was impressed with how unimpressive a production
> it was--I mean, any radio personality can just play a bunch of
> Beatles tunes (released or un) and throw in some trivia betwixt the
> tracks.
>
> It seems to me that if you're gonna devote a regular broadcast to a single
> musical entity (and there are no more than a small handful of artists that
> might warrant such a production), you gotta have some kind of unique aspect to
> it.
You remind me that, back in the '80s, the DC area boasted an
all-Beatles station called WBTL (I think) that did nothing but play Fab
Four and related music (solo-career stuff, covers by other artists).
The format lasted about four months, or one month per Beatle (if you
don't count the Februaries of Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best). You
couldn't have found WBTL's Arbitron number with a magnifying lens and a
map.
Two solid hours of Beatles stuff more than once a month is probably an
hour and a half too much. They still play better in rotation.
King Daevid MacKenzie, UltimaJock!
> You remind me that, back in the '80s, the DC area boasted an
> all-Beatles station called WBTL (I think) that did nothing but play Fab
> Four and related music (solo-career stuff, covers by other artists).
> The format lasted about four months, or one month per Beatle (if you
> don't count the Februaries of Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best). You
> couldn't have found WBTL's Arbitron number with a magnifying lens and a
> map.
...a few years back KGIL in the San Fernando Valley (once a legitimate Top
40 contender in the L.A. market when KHJ, KFWB, KBLA and KRLA were also in
the fray) did the same thing with much the same results...
--
+++++++++
King Daevid MacKenzie, UltimaJock!
kingd...@elknet.net
WMCW Harvard IL/WSUW Whitewater WI
Love your enemies. It drives them right up the bloody wall.
dejam...@my-deja.com
creativity. I mean, how often can one listen to "Norwegian Wood"
without getting just a little sick of it. and to think that show
lasted over 15 years. I remember it in the 80s, and was flipping the
dial last Sunday and sure enough, it was still there, now on KLSX.
A show like this would be great, maybe once every 10 years.
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
dkell...@hotmail.com
Then you should only listen to it once every 10 years and then you won't
have to waste our time complaining about it.
Richard Burns
Deirdre O'Donoghue also had a great program on KCRW in Los Angeles from
the late 1980s until 1991(leaving for "health reasons"), S.N.A.P, that
was delightful for its eclecticism and showcasing of artists that were
ignored by corporate radio. She will be sorely missed.
Richard.
terio...@gmail.com
terio...@gmail.com
Teri O'Donoghue