Dick, you are a home-grown Kansas Citian?
Yes, I’m a life long resident of the KC area growing up in the Northland. I attended NKC High School.
What got you interested in broadcasting?
Back then the KC Chamber of Commerce had a day when students took over the KC government. I ran for mayor with five other kids from around the city. We were interviewed on radio and TV shows and that’s where I first saw the background workings of the industry and got interested. (I didn’t win mayor but won second place city manager so I still got an office on the top floor of city hall).
Did you really get your start in the proverbial mailroom?
Well, yes. I went to Central MO State College (as it was called back then) and worked at KOKO there. One day I came to KCMO and asked about an internship from CSMU. The front desk lady misunderstood and thought I’d said an internship from a senator. Five minutes later I was in the office of VP/general manager E.K. Hartenbower’s office. He realized the mistake but was kind enough to call a few weeks later and offer me a summer job in the mailroom.
The mailroom job paid off?
That led to a weekend on air job at KCMO-AM while finishing college.
You were the first radio traffic reporter in KC?
After college in 1971 I worked as music director and weekend announcer for WDAF-AM. Yes, I was the first one to do sky-spy, flying traffic reports for AM/PM drive.
You also have the distinction of playing the first song ever on KY 102?
We took WDAF-FM live to become KYYS-FM and I played the first song on KY102 in July 1974.
You also were an FM pacesetter with Jay Cooper?
About a year later Jay Cooper joined me on the morning show and “Dick & Jay” became one of the first morning radio show teams in the nation on FM.
You replaced the late TV legend “Uncle Ed” Muscare (who died this month) on KSHB?
Yes, I left KY102 in 1984 to take over hosting “All Night Live” on KSHB after Uncle Ed left. (Sorry to hear he passed). Did you enjoy doing TV?
That period in KSHB history was golden with all the great local production shows they had. Now it’s all news and very little fun off of Teleprompter. I mean, does anyone today invite viewers in to compete against my longest rolling office chair in the city or put pies in peoples faces when they give the wrong answer to a KC trivia question?
When did you begin your current radio gig?
In 1986, I was hired by Gannett Radio to host the morning show (5-10 a.m.) on KCMO-FM (94.9 FM) and I’ve been there ever since. It marked my 40 years in the media as of 2011.
You still kept your fingers in TV?
While all this was going on…in 1989 I was hired by Dick Clark Productions to host a variety late night show called “Camp Midnite.” We shot in LA and every other week I would catch a Friday morning flight after the air-shift for Burbank. We’d shoot two 90 minute shows on Saturday night and I’d return Sunday to continue on radio. We were on for 23 weeks on the USA Network, Friday nights at 11. I ended up hosting a number of game show pilots for various production companies too.
What are some of the broadcasting honors you have gathered during your career?
I have won a number of DJ awards from local media organizations through the years. Twice I have won top Missouri DJ from the Missouri Broadcasters Association. I also won $100 from Playboy Magazine for “best DJ dollar bill folding contest.” (I did a bow-tie); OH, I was also “Dick of the Year” in 1990 from the Dick’s of America organization.
How has radio changed over the years?
Of course technology has gotten better and better through the years, and the fewer times I have to get out of my chair to get something (commercial carts, LPs, etc.) the better I like it. I appreciate the ability to bring people onto the show from around the country and with the Internet it’s extended my cast of “and Company” portion of the Dick Wilson and Company Show.
Has the poor economy changed radio?
Very much so. It’s sad the economy hit everyone hard after 2008 and many talented people were cut from the industry. At one point I had a five person morning show and now it’s me. It’s tough to get a start in radio these days just because of the smaller staffs.
If you had not gotten into broadcasting…?
If I hadn’t started in radio, medicine has always fascinated me and perhaps I would have become a doctor.
Any celebrity stories?
On the “Camp Midnite” show I would have five or six celebs on for interviews. Ellen Degeneres was on as a young starting stand up comedian. Dr. Timothy Leary was interesting. I learned about the behind the scenes love affairs on the Brady Bunch from Maureen “Marsha Brady” McCormick.
Linda “The Exorcist” Blair played my girlfriend one night on the show. Another night producer Dick Clark brought the full staff to his Malibu house for dinner. He and his wife Kari are wonderful people.
Want to share some memorable moments during your career?
Most of them are the fun things that happened on the air. Live at the Bijou theater in Westport on Friday mornings with Jay on KY102. I remember hitting marshmallows with golf clubs into the live audience along with John Cougar Mellencamp. The Dick and Jay cruiser. Swearing 40,000 people into “Partyville” before a Summerjam show at Arrowhead. Riding through a car wash in the back of a pickup to prove we were the cleanest morning show in the city.
Is it true that you interviewed a nude Marilyn Chambers?
Yes, I did Marilyn Chambers’ nude interview on the morning show. Jay didn’t know she was going to do the interview nude, so when she dropped her sarong, he dropped his jaw!
You must have a ton of memories over four decades.
I do, but mostly though it’s the memories that listeners tell me about what they remember that are fascinating. Sometimes I don’t remember doing those things, but it’s great to be a part of their history.
You have been married for 37 years?
My wife Patti and I have been married since 1974. Our daughter Nicole and her husband, Craig Swanson, live in Liberty and have produced two great grandkids Brett (4) and Brenna (7 months). My daughter Miranda lives in New York City and works as an actress appearing on a number of soaps, dramas and commercials, and my son Spencer is in his second year at Marymount Manhattan College in New York studying acting and musical theater.
What does the future hold for Dick Wilson?
So here’s the plan. No plan to ever retire. I’ll work as a morning show host as long as they’ll have me and then I’ll be that crochety old man that makes up the morning show team starring two young guys who hope to take the radio world by storm.