Dr. Demento is the professional name of Barry Hansen (Barret Eugene Hansen, born April 2, 1941), a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present.
He created the persona in 1970 while working at Los Angeles station KPPC-FM. After Hansen played "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on the radio, DJ Steven Clean said that Hanse...
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Dr. Demento is the professional name of Barry Hansen (Barret Eugene Hansen, born April 2, 1941), a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present.
He created the persona in 1970 while working at Los Angeles station KPPC-FM. After Hansen played "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on the radio, DJ Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play that. Thereafter, the name stuck. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 and from 1978 to 1992 was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Network. It is still on the air as of September 2009, syndicated by his own company, Talonian Productions. Since August 3, 2009, he is also starring in a weekly video podcast show, called simply Dr. Demento, on The Real UHF.
On August 5, 2009, it was announced that he will be formally inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in November.
Hansen was born in Minneapolis...
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