"Sweet" Dick Whittington (born 1934) is a long-time

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

who has also appeared as an actor in movies and on television.

Career

Prior to his arrival in Southern California, Whittington was a popular radio personality in the

San Francisco Bay area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

's KROW (960 AM), where he hosted the ''Night Watchman'' overnight program, and, later, a weekday afternoon show, from 1955 to 1958. In the fall of 1958, he moved to KSFO (560 AM) in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, as host of the 9 p.m. to midnight program. He began his stint in Los Angeles at KABC 790 AM, doing a one-hour talk show weekdays and a 3-hour Sunday talk show from 1965 to 1969. His greatest fame in the Los Angeles market came after he moved in 1969 to the morning drive time slot at KGIL AM 1260 in the "Sin Fernando Valley". For a brief time, he left KGIL to do the evening drive time slot at KFI AM 640. He was briefly heard in the late 1980s on KIEV (870 AM) and, for a few months in 1989, was back at KABC AM. Many people regard his broadcast style as being ahead of its time. Rather than the "happy morning to you" type of radio personality, he often spoke on the air about things that bothered him and foreshadowed the Howard Stern era of speaking your mind. At stations where he was still spinning records, he would many times interrupt a song midway through saying, "I like it up to that point, then I get bored." He was an ensemble member of the top-rated TV series '' Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968-69 season). One of Whittington's notable film roles was as the disc jockey in the TV movie ''

Duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

'',

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

's directorial debut. He can also be seen briefly as a ring announcer in

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

's ''

Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: My St ...

''.

Radio credits

* KROW (Oakland), 1955–1958 * KSFO (San Francisco), 1958–1959 *

KNOB Knob or KNOB may refer to: Objects * A round handle ** Doorknob ** Control knob, controls a device ** Brodie knob, on a steering wheel * Tow ball or hitch ball * Dorset knob, a biscuit Landforms * A rounded hill or mountain, particularl ...

, 1960–62 * KLAC, 1960–63 * KGIL, 1965–75 and 1978–85 * KABC, 1966–68 * KFI, 1975–77 *

KIEV (870 AM) KRLA (870 Hertz, kHz) "AM 870 The Answer" is a commercial radio, commercial AM radio, AM radio station broadcasting a Talk radio, talk radio format. City of license, Licensed to Glendale, California, it serves Greater Los Angeles and Southern Cali ...

, 1982 and 1988 * KHJ, 1983 * KABC, 1989–90 * KMPC 1990-91 * KNJO, 1994–95 * KKJL, 1999-?

Television and film credits

*'' Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' *''

The Incredible Hulk (1978 TV series) ''The Incredible Hulk'' is an American television series based on the Marvel Comics character the Hulk. The series aired on the CBS television network and starred Bill Bixby as Dr. David Banner, Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk, and Jack Colvin as Jac ...

'' *''

'' *'' The Jeffersons'' *''

Fantasy Island ''Fantasy Island'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Gene Levitt. It aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. Gu ...

'' *'' The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat'' *''

Almost Anything Goes ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show ''Intervilles'', and was part of the international ''Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 Au ...

'' *''

'' *'' The Waltons'' *'' Nanny and the Professor''

References

External links

*
Dick Whittington
at LARadio

unofficial fansite

at

Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittington, Dick 1934 births American radio DJs Living people