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August 5, 2020 1:42 pm  #1


Seattle Radio Legend Pat O'Day Dies

You might not normally expect to see news about Seattle radio here, but anyone who ever worked out west in the halcyon days of Top 40 likely knows the name Pat O'Day. He was the most famous DJ in that not quite border city, making the call letters KJR famous from his hometown all the way into B.C. (Think Jay Nelson or Roger Ashby for how well known and long serving he was.) He was also on the Cruisin' album from 1966. 

His son says his father passed away at his home in the northern part of Washington. He was 85.

Seattle broadcasting legend Pat O’Day has died 


Chart courtesy The Radio Historian.org

 

August 5, 2020 7:17 pm  #2


Re: Seattle Radio Legend Pat O'Day Dies

Another radio great is gone. Pat O'Day was on Cruisin' 1966. Three of the Cruisin' jocks have left us this year - Robin Seymour, Arnie Ginsberg and now Pat O'Day. Only two of the Cruisin' jocks are still with us - Dick Biondi (Cruisin' 1960) and Johnny Holliday (Cruisin' 1964).


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

August 5, 2020 8:24 pm  #3


Re: Seattle Radio Legend Pat O'Day Dies

Then first time I heard Pat O Day's name was when he was featured in this film. Like Tom Donahue, B Mitchell Reed and David Marsden he started in Top 40 but graduated to a more adventurous format:





 

Last edited by Fitz (August 5, 2020 8:26 pm)


Cool Airchecks and More:
http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/
 

August 5, 2020 8:29 pm  #4


Re: Seattle Radio Legend Pat O'Day Dies


     Thread Starter
 

August 5, 2020 10:59 pm  #5


Re: Seattle Radio Legend Pat O'Day Dies

Fitz wrote:

Then first time I heard Pat O Day's name was when he was featured in this film. Like Tom Donahue, B Mitchell Reed and David Marsden he started in Top 40 but graduated to a more adventurous format:





 

O'Day looks a bit like Dan Neaverth.


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

August 6, 2020 1:29 am  #6


Re: Seattle Radio Legend Pat O'Day Dies

If you've seen the film - you may remember the amazing story about Pat O'Day and Jimi Hendrix. What Pat did after Jimi's death, places Pat O'Day on a very high pedestal in my memories. 

 

August 6, 2020 4:56 pm  #7


Re: Seattle Radio Legend Pat O'Day Dies

This article outlines what O'Day did for Jimi Hendrix and later for his family, after the guitar great's death. 

But it also reveals how he singlehandedly made the Ventures' "Walk Don't Run" into an international hit, when no one was willing to give the band a chance. 

From the Seattle Times:

"In a 2010 Seattle Times interview, Don Wilson, one of the founders of The Ventures, credited O’Day with making “Walk — Don’t Run” a national hit in 1960.

"The year before, Wilson had been working construction in Tacoma. The group took their single to every radio station in Seattle, and they all turned them down. Except for O’Day, who began using 30 seconds of it as “news kicker” just before the news. That was enough. The kids began calling, and the record went onto regular programming."
 

     Thread Starter