- But I really think that part of the secret of anybody's success is just showing up, you know, being there or grabbing the opportunity when the opportunity presents itself.

90% of the success is showing up, and that's what I try to do.

- He is iconic in so many deserved ways.

- [Man] Think they're remembering you now, how do you think they're remembering you?

- Guy with the funny mustache.

- Dick, had an incredible professionalism and discipline.

- [Dick] You know, lasted 45 years on the air in Detroit.

- He went from Keener to WXYZ, to CKLW, to WCZY, to WKQI, to WOMC, the guy couldn't hold a job.

(Dick laughs) - We were both radio guys for our whole lives, and he taught me so much of how to make radio better.

- He was the Johnny Carson of radio.

- I think as part of dad's success is that he just wanted to share his family and share the everyday life with people.

- But Dick was way, way ahead of his time.

- Arguing with program directors, who would say, "I think you should do this or say this."

I'd say, "Uh-uh."

- Trying to tell Dick how to do his radio show was a little like telling Picasso how to paint.

- It was his show.

He sat in the big chair, but it was a family.

- I look at this man, who's constantly learning, who's constantly turning it into funny, making people laugh, making people happy.

Well, who wouldn't wanna do that?

- Well, the 45 years was worth it.

- [Announcer] This program is made possible in part by The Salvation Army, The Artichoke Garlic Foundation, Rosalie and Joe Vicari Andiamo Restaurants, and by these funders, and through contributions to this PBS station by viewers like you.

Thank you.

- Dick Purtan.

We've got a show all about radio legend, Dick Purtan, with some Detroit, or should I say, American broadcast history.

On the air for more than a half century, I got a chance to spend a little bit of that time with him, but now something I'd really like you to see.

An inside look at the comedy, the comradery, and passion Dicks had for his listeners, his community, and his family.

From Detroit Public Television, "Detroit Remember When: A Tribute to Dick Purtan."

(gentle upbeat music) - [Narrator] The Detroit radio market has always enjoyed an incredible loyal listener base, and that always translated to an emotional attachment with the personalities.

Probably more so during the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, than, than today.

And nobody was able to turn that loyal listenership and turn it around for the common good of the community, more than Dick Purtan.

- [Dick] I grew up in Kenmore, New York, which is just a small village right next to Buffalo.

I often on the air would refer to myself as being from Buffalo, because that was easier I think, for people to hear.

They would know, "Oh, okay, get it.

Don't know where Kenmore is but know where Buffalo is."

- [Narrator] Dick was born in 1936.

- First name is Paul, and the middle name is Richard, but mommy and daddy called me Dickey.

My dad bought a floor model radio with a record player in it and a microphone.

So when I saw that come in the house, I started to pick up the newspaper and read in the microphone.

My parents would listen to me and they thought I was really good, so (laughs) I believed them.

And from that point on, I just, I just was fascinated by radio, and I still am, to tell you the truth.

When I was about eight or nine years old, I would take the bus from Kenmore five miles to Downtown Buffalo.

I thought it was more like 50 miles, to tell you the truth at that age.

I'd get off the bus to go to the Statler Hotel, go up to the 18th floor where Clint Buehlman, was broadcasting at WBEN in Buffalo, which my parents listened to, that's why I knew the station.

♪ WBEN ♪ Your neighbor on the night - [Clint] Hello everyone, good morning to you, and welcome to the "Clint Buehlman Show."

- If the engineer answered the door, I would explain who I was and that I was just wanting to see Clint broadcast his show, but he wouldn't let me in.

Then when Clint would answer the door, he'd always let me in.

So I did that about three, four or five times, and then I'd take the bus back to Kenmore, and I never told my parents I did that, because I was afraid they were gonna say, "You're not allowed to do that."

The first time I was ever on the radio was actually on the "Foster Brooks Show."

- Hey, I don't know who you are, you're Dean.

- Dean Martin.

(audience laughing) - Foster Brooks, is actually a Buffalo, New York radio personality.

(audience laughing) He played always the drunk, the drunk act.

The act apparently was not a drunk because when I was in the studio with him with a whole bunch of other kids, and I got my way up to the table where he was broadcasting from, and he was doing a commercial for a product called BlueDo, which I guess was a whitener product or something in for laundry.

And so while he was doing the commercial, and I was standing right here and he pulled me down, he said, "Does your mother use BlueDo?"

I said, "Yes".

I was on the radio, and that was the beginning of that.

But through Clint Buehlman and WBEN letting me in the studio, and Foster Brooks having me on the air with my little "Yes", I said, "This is my future," and basically that's what happened.

- [Narrator] Dick, headed to Syracuse University, but most weekends you'd find him hitchhiking back to his high school sweetheart, Gail.

He excelled in what else?

Radio, where he was a couple years ahead of Ted Koppel.

- You know, those of us who were underclassmen in those days, we really, really, really did look up to Dick Purtan.

He was an idol.

I think he had a show on a commercial radio station in Downtown Syracuse, W-O-L-F, WOLF, and Dick had a morning show.

- [Narrator] It turns out Dick was a funny radio morning man, right from the get-go.

- The kind of morning shows that would later be done by people like Bob and Ray.

I think Dick Purtan was doing that before they ever even came on the scene.

- [Narrator] Dick did some time in the army, rising to Captain.

Later, a Master's degree, then on to stops on the airwaves in Buffalo, Jacksonville, and Cincinnati.

- [Dick] I moved from Jacksonville to Cincinnati because it was too hot.

The summers in Florida I had never experienced before.

Ooh, is it hot?

- [Narrator] It was 1964, Cincinnati.

Dick, the afternoon man at WSAI.

♪ Cinci's fun, sound up, 1360 - [Narrator] An Indianapolis radio station tried to hire him.

Dick didn't go, but he did get the inside track on an upcoming Beatles tour of America.

- Radio station in Indianapolis were sponsoring The Beatles in Indianapolis.

I said, "Really?"

He said "You know, you could do that for Cincinnati, I suppose".

I said, "Yeah, I suppose I could."

- [Narrator] Dick Purtan and WSAI, brought The Beatles to Cincinnati.

- [Radio Announcer] The Beatles are coming to town, and this is Monday, April 20th.

They'll be here on Thursday night at Cincinnati Garden.

(upbeat music) - [Dick] We really sold out naturally, and we knew we would.

We knew we'd get our money back.

So we met The Beatles, and then The Green Room, and all that kind of stuff, and it was quite a thrill.

It wasn't as big a thrill for us guys, I think, as it was for about 15,000 young girls who populated the venue.

♪ You'll let me hold your hand - The top ticket price for The Beatles was $5.50.

Then it was like $4.25, and then it was $3 something, and then $2 something, and that was it.

That's what they paid, the kids, to see The Beatles.

(upbeat music) I wanted to come to the Motor City, and the reason was my dad in his line of work would come to Detroit a lot from Buffalo.

On occasion, he would invite me to come along with him.

♪ I said shotgun - I just got to know the city of Detroit.

- [Gary] Baby, let's do the swim.

- It always stuck with me.

- [Gary] Got Keener 10 minutes after specs on the "Gary Stevens Show" - A guy named Gary Stevens, who happened to be from Buffalo, but he was doing the afternoon show in WKNR.

- [Gary] A little water, the high 80 WKNR savagery.

- They did a good job, and they said they went from worst to first in the ratings in like 30 days.

- [Announcer] If there's one thing that makes WKNR the most listened to station in Detroit it's- - The DJ.

- No, it's the content.

- The DJ.

- No, it's the content.

- Anyway, I called up Gary in Detroit, I said, "Hey, I'm looking to get out of Cincinnati.

I understand you're leaving, and who do I talk to?"

- [Announcer] We have another winner.

- [Narrator] WKNR wanted Dick Purtan, and they made him an offer.

- And I turned it down, and they said, "Yeah, you flew up here.

Didn't you, weren't you interested in the job?"

And I said, "Yeah," but I said, "I'm not sure I'm right for three to six in the afternoon."

That's more teen time on the radio, at least on that station and Keener.

Then they offered me seven to 10 at night, I turned that down.

Then they offered me 10 to one at night, and this is over a period of about a month.

- [Voices] Let's swivel up with Dick Purtan.

- And ended up doing the late night, 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM show.

- [Announcer] "The Dick Purtan Show" of WKNR Keener 13 and all that, blah, blah, blah (beep).

Deadaway WKNR time where music is more often and all that stuff.

- Well, like everybody in Detroit, I grew up listening to Dick on our beloved Keener 13 WKNR.

(upbeat music) - I remember as a young fellow, 11, 12 years old, listening to this new show, and I thought, "What a talent."

♪ Callin' out around the world ♪ Are you ready for a brand new beat ♪ - [Dick] Scotty Regen, preceded me at Keener 13.

- [Announcer] WKNR "Scott Regen Show" with gabbers of music passing before your very ears.

- [Dick] And they had the contest, big contest about him and so forth on the station.

- Scott Regen, comes in with the Skateboard Contest, and Dick Purtan says, "I gotta follow this guy.

I don't have a contest.

What am I gonna."

- [Dick On Radio] I had to come into town and nobody had ever heard of me before, and so I might add that a lot of people in this town still haven't, and so I have invented my own contest called the Picture Contest.

So what you do is draw a picture of what you think I look like.

- 'Cause I had an eight by 10 glossy from WSAI in Cincinnati from where he came.

- [Dick On Radio] AR Vuolo, Art Vuolo Jr of three.

Anyway, Art, if you're listening, you don't win, baby.

- I was crushed 'cause I knew I had the best picture, but he probably knew that I had cheated.

(announcer laughing) (radio static) (upbeat music) - [Dick] Yeah, I was kind of doing the same thing when I got to Jacksonville.

♪ You're sweet - [Dick] When I got to Cincinnati and when I got to Detroit, it was, I decided that the radio that I was hearing, that I was even doing a lot of myself, ♪ The one we danced - [Dick] I didn't think was very good.

♪ All night long ♪ It used to bring - [Dick] So when I got to Detroit, I researched the city as best I could.

From the Mayor and the City Council, just anybody and anybody who had a name that I might have some fun with.

It felt like I knew the city, and so it felt like home.

It did, just did.

- [Dick On Radio] Thank you.

Coming at the door, maybe it's Tom.

Come in, Tom.

(door rattling) - [Tom] Guess what?

- The switchboard was right across from the main studio and Dick liked to keep the door open.

He, you know, it was just easier when he and I could see each.

- [Dick On Radio] Tom Ryan's mounting the telephones that I droves and Tom is very adorable.

- And I was doing the 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM show for the first two months that I was here.

And so I got to know Tom, and I got to realize that Tom did voices.

He did characters.

- He loved to put people on the air, 'cause that's the way he was.

He did love to talk to people and they'd request records.

So we would get occasionally somebody who sounded pretty weird or everything and I would give Dick, "Call line two, take line two."

And then, well, then occasionally on a slow night, nothing was happening.

I'd get on the phone from the switchboard, and I'd say, "Dick, line three, there's a guy there."

And he'd say, "Okay."

He would tape the call, and I would say, "Hey, Mr. Purtan, that's Azaria that it from Tyler and I want," and he would lead me on.

Then he realized it was me.

- I would then start the bit, and then Tom would join him with the voice, and that's how it worked.

- [Sweeney] You're on the "Swingin' Sweeney Show."

That's hardly pretty, but you know, best we can offer in the morning.

Nobody else will get up.

- Then Swingin' Sweeney, was our morning man.

(upbeat music) - You are swinging with.

- He gets fired.

So WKNR says to Dick, "You're gonna be the new morning man."

And Dick said, "I want that switchboard guy to be my voice man and producer."

And that's how we started.

- [Voices] Music.

- [Dick On Radio] Hello, this is Dick Purtan on the air every morning on Keener from five until nine.

Goodbye.

- And I remember one time at Keener, we had a program director who told him not to do this certain thing.

He said, "No, that's, that's me.

That's what I do."

And he said, "If you don't like it, I'll tell you what, I'll quit.

I'll leave, I'm out the door.

I'll leave tomorrow.

I'll go back to Cincinnati where I was from."

And the guy panicked and said, "Hold on, no, no.

That's, you go ahead and do it."

- You gotta fight your own battle.

I did it, I did it my way.

- Hey, you know, DJs, they do come and go a lot all over the country, and a lot of them do have very short stays here and there.

His only short stay was in Baltimore.

♪ WBAL, didn't I know - They promised me the world.

They said, "You could do anything you want."

- He sent me three letters during those five weeks he was there.

First letter, "Larry, this is a great town, having a good time.

We bought a house."

- But the general manager, Bill, called me in at 10 O'clock, where he said, "You know, I hear you do the commercial for Western Electric of Cockeysville, it's in the format.

That's what we do."

And he said, "Well, I don't ever wanna hear you do any lines about Cockeysville."

- Second letter, "They won't let me say the word Cockeysville on the air, and that's a suburb of Baltimore."

- "Well, maybe every now and then you can do a line about Cockeysville."

I said, "Really?"

"But I don't ever wanna hear you do any lines about the town that's 10 miles from Cockeysville."

I said, "What town is that?"

He said, "Dickeyville."

- [Narrator] Baltimore, the city grabbed Dick's tongue, and it just wouldn't let go.

- He said, "You used a non WBAL word today."

- They won't let me say the word guts- - He said, "That's a non WBAL word.

We don't use that word on WBAL."

Guts.

- and they won't let me refer to the governor as Spiro Tax Agnew.

- Spiro, that was the governor of Maryland.

- There's only one thing that can change it, and that's new leadership in Washington.

- So Agnew, of course, went on to become VP, vice president under Nixon, only to resign about 19, I think 73, over tax evasion charges.

(crowd chattering) And I called him Spiro Tax Agnew because he was trying to get through a rather severe tax increase in the State of Maryland, and he heard that, and he told the general manager, he said, "Tell your guy to not do that again."

So I said, "Okay, fine."

So the next morning I went back in the air and I did it again.

Five weeks and fired out the door.

- Third letter, "Larry, I'm coming home.

I got a job at WXYZ."

♪ I said, I say, I say a little prayer ♪ - [Dick On Radio] And that's our opener here on the "Dick Purtan Show" today from WXYZ, and so nice to be back in Detroit, and many, many thanks to the great people who have sent along cards and even letters.

- I was basically, you know, doing Sergeant Sacto at Channel 50, and Dick said, "Come on back and work with me at WXYZ."

(orchestral music) - [Announcer] This time I should like to read to you a poem.

But Rosina, yes, I took my sweetheart to die just the other night.

The mood was perfect, just a candle and a flower.

(orchestral music) Plus me, my sweetheart, and the cook at the white tower.

(orchestral music continues) I think that's a little better though.

(orchestral music fades) - [Man] Ah, the Dick Purtan iconic mustache.

I was thinking that there's a statue of the Joe Lewis fist on Jefferson Avenue in Downtown Detroit.

Really, Dick is deserving of having the Dick Purtan mustache statue, not his head, but just the mustache.

I mean, I think that's only fitting.

- The local company, asked me to fly down to The Bahamas and get a speech to their customers.

So I did do that.

As a luck, I decided to grow a mustache while I was down there.

So when I came back, I still have the mustache.

So the general manager said to me, "What's with the mustache?"

This is the WXYZ.

I said, "Duh, just screwed as I like.

No big deal."

So they looked at it.

He said to me, "Yeah, you might wanna shave that off."

- I don't remember how old I was, but I only knew my dad with a mustache.

- So one time in Boston where we did a TV commercial, and I was supposed to be hit by lightning.

(lightning striking) The fact is you can't be hit by lightning, and you can either lose the whole mustache or you can lose half the mustache or, so I decided I would lose half the mustache.

- He comes home.

Now, I had probably cried the whole time they were gone, 'cause I missed him so much 'cause that's pretty much what I did.

When I opened the door, so excited to see them they're back home again, my dad's mustache was gone.

It freaked me out, I started crying.

(twinkling music) And I also realized he has no upper lip.

Thanks dad.

- But anyway, that's and I've always kept it because it did become a trademark.

- Anthony Barbuza calling from Farmer Jack, Miss Rossi.

- Yes.

- The put-on calls were probably my favorite and everybody enjoyed those.

And I think that was a highlight of his career.

- Yes, Master Coates?

- Yes.

- I'm calling long-distance.

This is Jake Fulsom from Bonner's Garage in Gaelic, Virginia.

- The classic call was the Porsche call.

- Yes, sir?

- You don't know me, but the other day a lady came in here who I believe is your mother.

- Yes.

- She brought in a 924 Porsche.

It's a Mars red with a black interior.

- Oh, boy.

Yes.

Yes.

What did mother do?

What's the problem?

- She brought it in for some repair and some paint work to be done.

- My eyes, my tongue, but not my Porsche.

- Well, the put-on calls were so much fun to do.

- My sports car.

- Okay, if there's any problem on your way down, let me give you a number to call.

- Okay, I'll do that.

- 2 9 8.

- 2 9 8.

- 6 0 8 0.

That's for Sheriff Purtan.

- Oh no!

Oh no!

- So, I would invite people, if you have anybody in mind that you think a put-on call would be effective, if I call them, let me know.

About your party trays.

- Yes, yes.

- What did you order on there?

We want to double-check on it.

- Okay, I ordered Famous Deluxe trays.

- As far as I know, I think I was the first to do them, the put-on calls.

Famous Deluxe?

- Yeah, I ordered that for forty people.

- Forty people.

- Forty people.

And I ordered two of the shrimp trays.

- Two shrimp trays.

And I've been called by a couple of people, too, as the father of the put-on calls on a national basis.

So, I guess that's what I was.

- One potato salad and one cole slaw.

- One cole slaw.

- You have that?

- Yep.

- Right.

What else do I have there?

- That's just it, I don't know.

That's my problem.

- You don't know?

The girl took the order!

- No, I haven't got it in front of me, I'm just double-checking.

- How can you double-check it if you don't have the order in front of you?

- The point is, ma'am, that just temporarily I haven't got the order in front of me, so I'm asking you to give me the order so when I get to the order I can double-check it.

Guys around the country got cited by the FCC for putting people on the air without their knowledge.

I never did that.

- Did you tell her about the table dancers?

- Did you want any table dancers?

Hello?

Lisa?

- I think we're in trouble.

- Not again.

I would always, at the end of the call, tell them, "We have recorded this, and do I have your permission to play this on the air?"

- What do you want?

- Lisa?

- Yes!

- Before you hang up again, this is Dick Purtan at WCZY Z95.5.

- Oh my God, I don't believe this!

- Nowadays, you have to say it at the beginning of the call, and if you don't do that you're not legal.

- You know how mad you got me?

- My boss Stu's here.

- Stu!

Oh my God, I don't believe this!

- Lisa, how you doing?

- I'm fine now.

- That's good.

Does this mean you don't want the table dancers?

- No!

- Then I'll keep them.

- I don't believe this.

- Dick had an incredible professionalism and discipline about what he did.

Not discipline in a stiff way.

- Few ever consider what it takes for their favorite DJ to get to work before dawn.

- While I marveled at the team of staff that he worked with, that worked on his show every day.

- Funny-man Dick Purtan picks up his sidekick and producer, Tom Ryan -- - The ability through the different iterations of his team members over the course of time.

- Remember that, in this business, the radio business, the only time to be on the radio, really, is in the morning.

Like in TV, you gotta be on in the evening.

That's primetime for evening.

In radio, morning's are primetime.

- The morning drive to deliver comedy to morning drivers.

Dick and Tom Ryan, what a team!

The early years, at one point, driving everyday over the boarder to Windsor.

- But I did know that Sir Thomas Crapper of England did invent the flush toilet, yes.

- Yes.

Isn't that interesting?

- Yes, I did know that.

- I didn't know it.

- I believe it was the French invented the toilet seat, I believe it was.

And then some years later, the Germans put a hole in it.

- How about stand-up comedy?

Have you ever considered -- - No!

I've never had any desire to do that.

I can't remember things very well.

You gotta remember your lines.

This way, when people don't laugh, we don't see them.

- That's the whole secret.

- Right.

- Stations changed.

By the time Dick hit the FM dial, he'd began putting together his stable of voices called Purtan's People.

- Dick really promoted everyone's contributions.

He really wanted everybody to contribute whether it was writing-- because Dick could always see what needed to be corrected.

You could come up with a script for Dick and he would look at it and he would know what corrections and make you look good, make him look good, make the whole show look good.

[Laughter] - This is George Bush.

Good morning, Dan.

- No, its Dick, Mr. Vice President.

[Laughter] - Whatever.

- Back in 1988 Dan Rather of CBS news and then VP and presidential candidate, George H.W.

Bush had a rather infamous encounter live on the air over Iran contra.

- Well, Dan, lets be careful here because-- - Yes, I want you to be careful-- - They made big headlines, which as was our common practice, we turned headlines into comedy for our show-- or, at least, we tried to.

- Yeah, its been a couple of days now since your confrontation with Dan Rather and it looks as though it is helped you politically.

- I want to put all of that behind me, I have no hard feelings against that jerk.

I'm gonna tell my mom, she doesn't think I'm a wimp.

[Laughter] - Thank you for clearing up a few things, Mr. Vice President.

- Glad to help Dan.

- Dick.

- Same to you.

[Laughter] - Dick's got a way of being funny and, if you will, acting like he's not smarter than the rest of us and he's a very very clever individual.

- This is Joe Carcione, The Green Grocer, reminding you that bran is natures alarm clock.

[Laughter] - So long, Joe.

- Happy Birthday to you from all the Purt folks - The voices, the characters; Purtans People.

Like one of the originals; Joe Noune.

- Howard is with us this morning, good morning, uh-- - Good morning, Richard, how are you?

- When does the Iditarod race start?

- The Iditarod; I think it begins tomorrow.

1PM Saturday.

- Okay, in Alaska?

- I'm into the Iditarod.

- Joe Noune was the voice of Howard Cosell on the show - The man, the legend-- - And so my dad was talking to Howard Cosell and Howard said that he was, he had been able to be at the race and he really enjoyed it but there was only one problem.

- What do you mean you have 'great seats?'

- Last year, for example, I bought my tickets from a scalper.

I ended up with a-- [Laughter] - You actually had obstructed view seats at the Iditarod?

- That's right.

We were sitting behind a tree.

[Laughter] - The visual that came into my head that day it just-- I couldn't stop laughing.

I could not stop laughing.

To this day, even my children still laugh at that so hard.

- In a way, it could be, you could say, somewhat analogous with the Seinfeld show.

I was Jerry, and Al and the other people were the other characters in the Seinfeld show.

It has to revolve around somebody and its usually the name on the show.

You gotta have somebody that's the main player, even though he may not be the funniest, by any means.

But, uh, it just works that way.

- Dick was like a mistro.

You know how the director uses the baton and directs the wood wind section and, um, the brass section, percussion, and so forth.

You know, he was directing us and all together, once it was over and done-- we produced, obviously, a very successful and just a beautiful sound.

- Dick was very generous, very kind.

He surrounded himself with very talented people, but-- he had the ideas, but he wanted everybody else to execute.

I understood very early on that if I had something to offer to not be afraid to make the suggestion.

- I used to walk around impersonating the mayor, which, really, was an impersonation of my little brother, Tom, who did the mayor.

And they thought it was funny.

- Joe Noune did Coleman Young, a beautiful Coleman Young, it was great.

- There was the time Joe got together with Mayor Young and his people to turn the tables on Dick Purtan for a change.

- His press secretary suggested that we do a put-on call.

- He did a put-on call to me.

- And I was like, "Good morning, Dick, its the mayor of the city of 'troit, Coleman A.

Young."

[Laughter] - What, yes- yes.

Well, Mr. Mayor I know what a great sense of humor that you really do have, and you always have had.

Do you plan to pull some April's fools jokes today?

[Laughter] - I've got a couple of beauties, Dick.

- There was only one thing we could possibly do and that was for me to be with the mayor, calling Dick with the mayor interrupting.

- I'm going to send out a press release saying the People Mover is all complete!

And I'm going to invite the media to go on the inaugural ride.

[Laughter] I wanna see how many of those guys can swim holding those microphones.

[Laughter] - Dick's line says, "Aren't you worried they're gonna get upset at you?"

And the real mayor, that was his cue to interrupt the call.

- Aren't you worried about any od these people trying to get back at you, though?

- Hell I'm just going to tell 'em its some damn Coleman Young impersonator.

You know there are a lot of them around.

- Joe?

- And who was that?

[Laughter] - And Dick was completely fooled.

- This is the mayor of the city Detroit.

Who's on the other line?

- Joe, did you lose the voice for a second?

- Did I lose the voice?

I don't know, Dick.

They say-- [Laughter] - Don't you know the real thing when you hear it?

- Is that the mayor?

- I was the guy that was nailing people with prank calls and now I was all of a sudden I was the victim.

- And it worked out really great.

It was very great.

[Elvis Presley Music playing] - I met Gene Taylor, who became a very active part.

Great writer, great brilliant guy.

[Music Continues] - He was bright, he was funny, he was anything and everything.

He was a wonderful guy.

[Music Continuing] - Gene gave us writers on the show a huge head start on the creation of comedy because he created the template for writing scripts, so when we wrote for Dick, it had Gene's genius all over it.

- Gene would crank out a script, 3 or 4 pages, and before, say, during a commercial or while a song was playing they'd review it and I used to watch them and it was amazing to me.

They looked at it like 2 doctors looking at an x-ray.

They were dead serious; "Okay, this lines funny, okay this lines REALLY funny.

This one needs help, uh, you gotta criss cross some words.

Okay, now its funny."

- Hello Americans, this is Paul Harvey.

Stand by for news.

- He had a formula in his head that he created with all of our characters that we did and he created magic.

- Medical experts admit that a lack of sunshine during the winter months can have disastrous affects on everything from your personality to your sex drive.

My wife, Angel, says that during the winter months even I even I tend to be more sluggish than stud-ish.

And that's why the folks at True Value have developed a perfect way to keep a bright outlook during the hazy days of winter with the True Value sun shorts!

- Gene Taylor suddenly passes away from an asthma attack, leaving us all shell-shocked.

But, in time, to fill that void Dick would turn to a creative force in his own family; daughter Jackie.

- He said, "Gene died," and I was stunned.

And then he said, "Can you come back to Detroit?"

I was in New York.

He said, "I need you.

Can you come back to Detroit and work for the show full time?"

- My daughter, Jackie, uh was in the first cast of Second City, downtown Hockeytown.

She worked in New York radio for 10 years.

That was before she came working on my show.

- And it was amazing.

- And it improved the show because Jackie is very funny.

She's known for her writing, really, more than the voices and very off the cuff.

- So Ken Burns had done this series on the civil war, which was very huge at the time.

- My love, your letter could not have arrived at a better time.

My spirits have been so low.

- So I took The Civil War, took Al's hard luck romance relationships and came up with this historical parody.

- I feel silly complaining with your life just one musket ball from being taken from me.

Take care, my love.

Your Claudia.

- Claudia, thanks for the note!

Uh, next time if you could include some brownies or cookies or something, I'd really appreciate it.

- Right at the top of the best of the comedy sketches she wrote for the show.

And to this day when I hear that bit, I laugh out loud.

- Her being in the studio just added another element that was great.

It worked out.

In fact, Al and Jackie were working and doing voices back together and writing back together.

- Hello, this is Mr. Michigan with another sketch from the gallery of life and things in the Great Lakes area.

The Michigan: Michigan state game.

- Doc, little doc, because you know he was a little person, and he had the biggest voice.

- A chance for the state police to meet their quota for yearly breathalyzer testing in a single afternoon.

[Laughter] - But of course the game itself means nothing compared to the event where middle aged fat guys with plaid pants try desperately to cling to their youth while the autumn skies echo the resounding voices of wives yelling, "For God's sakes, Fred!

Act your age."

- He was a tremendous part of the show.

I don't remember exactly how it started with Doc, but I'm sure glad it did.

- This is Gordan Kincaid with oldies 104.3 WOMC 2020 news.

Roses are red, guitars are for strumming, Liza and David have split, boy I didn't see that one coming.

[Laughter] - He called him the voice of God.

So funny.

He did the sports on the show, but he was also a bunch of characters on the show.

And you could just laugh hearing Doc do his bits, because he cracked up a lot doing the bits.

- Larry King was scheduled to do his 847th exclusive hour long interview with the couple tonight!

Word on the street is news makers, Tito Jackson and David Hasselhoff have stepped in to fill in the scheduling void and will spend the hour discussing American-Iraqi policy.

[Laughter] - Our show had to put up with a lot of loss.

Not only Gene Taylor, but we lost Doc Andrews to colon cancer.

Its amazing that our show was able to continue.

That's a testament to Dick Purtan where he knew how to heal us and get us to do our jobs and to move on.

- We have a breaking news story.

- Yeah we do.

Uh, its unbelievable footage of a plane that is apparently gone right into the upper floors of one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City.

- 9/11, without question, the most impactful moment for us, our show, our listeners.

- On the side of the tower-- - The second tower.

- The second tower, another plane just flew into the World Trade Center.

You know, Al, you said before; this could be a terrorist thing.

What else could it be now?

- Dick Purtan had a great show making people laugh, but when the news was not so funny; when 9/11 happened, Dick could take that and ease peoples' minds.

He could make people feel comfortable.

- The way I dealt with it, was to play nothing but patriotic music.

[Music Begins] - It turned out, that the audience apparently really, really liked and appreciated that.

Because I never had higher ratings than during that time.

- I called my dad on the warm line in the studio from a New York City bus.

- Jennifer, oldest daughter, became vice president of ABC radio in New York, in charge of radio sales across the country.

- I had never been on a New York City bus, but I was on one trying to make it across town and dad put me live on the air.

And that's where dad was getting the information he was disseminating to Detroiters.

[Music Continues] - All right, uh, my daughter, Jennifer, on the phone here at oldies 104.3.

Good morning, Jennifer.

- Good morning, Good morning.

- How's it looking?

- I'm actually on the 10th floor of the Embassy Suites hotel, where we're broadcasting overlooking ground zero.

- Okay, with ABC, right?

- Right, with ABC News.

There are quite literally thousands of people in the street lined up back- to-back listening to mayor Rudolph Giuliani, now former mayor reading the names of the lost and to observe the moment of silence and all of the things that have been going on this morning.

Security in the city is-- [Music Begins] - By playing the patriotic music, the content with the guys on the show talking seriously about a very serious event, uh, it just came naturally.

You have to talk about what people are thinking about and what they think they're talking about too.

And that's how you connect with the audience, you know.

No matter what happened.

Talk about what things are.. what people are talking about.

- The show became serious for weeks, I think.

I remember from channel 7, I had to do a story about 'When is it okay to laugh again?'

and I went to the morning show at WOMC and talked to dad about that.

When is it right?

When is that feeling?

When do you pivot again?

But, that, to me, was just- you know, they looked to my dad to make them laugh, but when you love people like that and you feel like its family, you look for them to be involved in everything you're feeling kinda.

And after 9/11 the right thing to do was just to be serious and to help all of us through that serious, serious horrible time.

- The audience seemed to want to hear that, so in a way it became an easier show to do.

The community needed us, and we needed them.

And we slowly, but surely go through it and got back to laughing because Dick knew that eventually, you have to laugh.

- [Director] Okay, ready?

Ready to do it again?

(inspiring music) - [Dick] I was never a TV fan in terms of being on TV.

(inspiring music) - [Ted] You know, the funny thing is, I mean, Dick really I think would've been great on television.

He was brilliant on radio, but he would've been great on TV.

(audience cheers) - [Dick] Yeah, no, I didn't want my own show.

I didn't do this.

Turned out I got my own show at channel four when they came up with the idea My name, even spelled it right, like at this D I C K. We got this at quite a bargain, by the way, this was left over from an old Nixon For President rally.

(audience laughs) And we were fortunate enough to get the thing, really.

In fact, we have a great bargain.

Anybody in the audience named Spiro?

We got some super letters to him, too.

Most of the show was, was written by Tom DeLisle, now deceased.

Very, very funny guy.

Wonderful guy.

I originally thought, by the way, that this show should be on PBS, you know, public broadcasting.

But then I realized that this station is an NBC affiliate, and as they say, you know, working for NBC's like working for a non-profit organization anyway, so.

(audience laughs) Did very well.

Tom Ryan was on the show with me.

When Antoine de Cadillac, the chief, attempted a landing at the foot of Woodward in 1701.

We did so well in the ratings that the station replayed the show six months later.

The problem with me was that they wanted me to do another show, but I didn't wanna do another show because it took about three months, my feeling was, to do this show.

And unfortunately the first landing ends in the dense foliage that was present in those days.

A second landing attempt is made.

And on this one, Cadillac did touch shore.

It was a moment so tense that even the orchestra stopped playing, (audience laughs) but he kept his balance.

You're on site somewhere and you're doing this routine, scheme, and well whatever you're doing.

So I never redid another television show.

I didn't want to.

Well, I wanna tell you what a delight it is to be on a- - [Bass Player] I ain't got no seat.

I beg your pardon?

- I ain't got no seat.

Oops, we got one guy in the band here.

The bass player has no seat.

What do we do?

- [Audience Member] Throw somebody out.

- Are there no, is there any empty seats, any empty seats alone.

I want you in the front row.

Madam, Madam, I wonder if you would mind moving, so the bass player could sit here.

I hope it's in no personal front, I'm sure.

(audience laughs) Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I just was not a fan of being on television.

(bright music) - [Announcer] The Dick Purtan Comedy Special, starring Dick Purtan, with Tom Ryan, and special guest Bill Kennedy, and is sponsored in part by... (soft music) - [Dick] Jackie, number two daughter, was in Children's Hospital when she was 15 years old.

- [Alan] If one gets the impression after a while that Purtan is always on, but funny DJs are like circus clowns.

Even when there is sadness in their lives, they have to tough it out and still be funny.

It's an occupational hazard.

- I never really felt bad until recently when I had a daughter, one of my daughters was in the hospital, in Children's Hospital, for 65 days with extremely serious illness.

But I never experienced a time when I had such a long term downer, and had to come in the radio in the morning and allegedly be humorous or funny or witty or bright and wonderful and all those things we're paid to be.

- [Jackie] I got sick.

They thought it was food poisoning, and over a course of several days I was taken to the emergency room.

- I was with Dick at the hospital one night when the doctor came out of Jackie's room and said, she's gonna die.

And Dick and I said, what?

We just couldn't accept that.

So basically in the middle of the night, we were able to get Jackie transferred to Children's Hospital - [Jackie] Was diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is a very, very rare disease.

- [Dick] It took a very long time to make her better.

- [Jackie] Then he went on the air and said to people he had to announce that my kidney said come back.

And it was a miracle.

It was pretty cool.

And people were so supportive.

People to this day come up to me and say, I remember when you were in the hospital.

- So I had to do something for Children's Hospital.

I just had to.

And because they saved her life.

We met with Dr. Larry Fleishman, who was the head of nephrology, kidney stuff, at Children's Hospital, and he worked wonders.

- It was an incredible family thing, and it really kinda launched a lifelong devotion to Children's Hospital and raising money for them.

And something that we still do now to this day.

We've done calendars.

We've done all kinds of things for them, and it is a passion that I have that has kind of continued with our family.

But it's kind of like if it took me getting sick to have that happen and to raise amazing amounts of money and stuff like that and awareness and whatever for the hospital, then it was kind of worth it to me.

- They asked me to be on the board as soon as Jackie was released from the hospital.

And I said, certainly.

I sure wasn't gonna say no, I'm sorry.

Folks, the Bed and Bread trucks, remember it, become a lifeline for the underprivileged.

And that's what this radiothon is all about each day.

- [Art] One of the things people remember the most were the Salvation Army radiothons - Soup, sandwich, and perhaps a cookie is about all they get.

- [Alan] The Salvation Army Bed and Bread Club trucks deliver thousands of meals to the streets of Detroit to help feed the hungry and provide shelter to the homeless.

- It's the only sustenance that some of our fellow citizens receive for the entire day.

- [Alan] This all started after Dick finished his fifth year at Q95, the year 1988.

He wanted to do something to commemorate that anniversary.

- So I called the whole staff together around the table in the conference room, and I said, what's your favorite charity?

And there were about five, six of us there, and everybody mentioned the Salvation Army.

Please think about us between now and 9:30.

A $10,000 match will be doubled.

Whatever you give is doubled automatically.

- [Alan] That started out as a small little radiothon in a small studio at Q95 in Oak Park, Michigan.

They raised $15,000 that first time.

Everybody was elated - [Art] They later did it from the Oakland Mall, in various places where the public could come and be a part of it.

- [Alan] The enthusiastic crowds that have shown up to witness the radiothons over the years, live and in person have been a cross section of the Metro Detroit community, young and older alike, from all walks of life.

- [Dick] You know, we heard businesses make a difference.

You know, so and so gets an award every month from making a difference and so forth.

You can make a difference right now if you haven't done it yet, please do it again.

- [Alan] The show's biggest one year total?

2.4 million.

35 years later, over 40 million raised.

- [Tim] I love being able to put my funds where my mouth is, and Dick and the radiothon has always been the most gentle way of doing that in my connection with Detroit - [Kevin] I just admire Dick so much for having put that whole awareness of that program together.

So many more people know about the Bed and Bread program now than had before, and I, to this day, I'm still a regular donor to the Bed and Bread club every year.

- So when, you know, someday this summer, let's say, and you're relaxing, maybe outside on the patio, and you're thinking back and say, you know what, on the 26th of February, that cold snowy day, I gave X amount of dollars to help feed people.

What a good feeling that is.

- [Radio Person] It is a good feeling.

- [Dick] It's a very good feeling.

And this is a very giving city.

People just give, give, give, and this is solid proof of how good people are about that.

They understand these are people standing out there waiting for food that they don't have much of, and we're handing food out the window to them.

- [Rebekah] As we all know behind a great man is always a great woman, and Gail was just very special.

Gail, the mother of his children.

She was always the wind beneath his wings.

We all knew that - [Dick] Gail was a driving force in my career, and I can say right from high school, as a matter of fact.

- [Charlie] And Dick was very fortunate that Gail became a bookkeeper right after high school, because Dick wants nothing to do with numbers or tax returns or books and records.

However, Gail was very good at it.

- [Jennifer] Their memories began when they were 15 years old.

When we planned their 50th wedding anniversary, they reenacted for us in Buffalo, New York at Kenmore West high School, the seat where dad was sitting when he saw my mom up on the stage and said to his buddy next to him, see that girl up there, third from the left.

And he said, yeah.

And he said, I'm gonna marry her someday.

- I mean, my dad worked, right.

He every day, he's coming up with things to do for the radio show, and my mom was there supporting him every step of the way, and raising six girls.

- [Dick] It's six daughters, Jennifer, Jackie, Jill, Joanne, Jessica, and Julie.

- [Joanne] I mean, you know, she was the one home, keeping it all together while dad was doing what he was doing.

- [Dick] She had my back, let me put it that way.

From the very beginning, she never thought it was too crazy that I wanted to get into radio.

- [Jessica] You know, my dad was the one who got the laughs and got the notoriety in a lot of ways, but I think that my mom was so integral to that whole process and the success.

They built that all together.

- [Joe] Gail was, you know, it was like being with your mom.

She was incredible.

So down to Earth.

- [Dick] Gail was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which is the most deadly of all gynecological cancers.

Last January I mentioned that my wife had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

I can't believe the hundreds of cards that have come into her, and we are most appreciative of that.

We were very fortunate to be treated by Dr. V down at Karmanos.

And so he worked with Gail 22 years, 22 years.

They had a second look operation.

This is standard protocol, in which they took about 30 biopsies taken at that time.

And fortunately, none showed any sign of cancer, so while realizing that with cancer, you never know what the future will bring, we are very optimistic and hopeful.

I wasn't afraid to talk about it.

I wanted to talk about it.

I wanted to bring it to people's attention.

It was the same thing when I years ago had prostate cancer, and I talked about it on the air because I wanted men to know about prostate cancer and what they should do, shouldn't do - [Alan] On October 31, 2018, Dick Purtan says goodbye to his high school sweetheart.

Wife Gail's long and courageous battle is over.

- [Jackie] And it always astounds me cause my dad has always said, you know, with all of the craziness and celebrities that he's met and the things he's done, he said, you know in all the years and all the things I've done, he said the only thing I ever wanted to do is go home.

And he said, cause your mom was home.

And he said, wherever she was, that's where I wanted to be.

- [Jim] Icon, legend, hall of famer, those are the labels you're gonna get after 45 years as the class act on Detroit radio, including the last 14 right here on WOMC.

- [Alan] March 26th, 2010, Dick's final show.

- Are you nuts?

(people laugh) It's not even six in the morning.

(people laugh) - [Staff Member 1] How you feeling, Dick?

- Tired.

(people laugh) - [Staff Member 1] Like everyone.

- Yes.

- [Staff Member 2] Excited, are you?

- Yeah.

As a matter of fact, this is the first time Gail has, I think first?

- Yeah, come to work.

- Come in like six in the morning, right?

- [Dick] Think it's time maybe to devote a hundred percent instead of 95% to the battle with her, to fight the battle.

You know what I mean?

It's just I wanted to be just even more involved.

- [Staff Member 1] Has it sunken in yet, 45 years, hanging up the mic like that?

- No, this just seems like just a regular day.

- [Jackie] Just to see him, the emotion in him saying goodbye, to this day.

I mean, he loves it so much.

That's all he ever wanted to do, you know.

- I guess when it's over I'll say, wait a minute.

That was a long time.

But anyway, you mind if I get the studio?

- It's two minutes to 6:00 on March 26th, 2010, The day of my dad's retirement after 45 years in Detroit radio, and I'm barely holding it together right now.

- 104.3 WOMC.

Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm sorry I'm a little delayed here.

I got stopped by the police again.

- [Alan] Dick Purtan got his share tickets.

He was always in a hurry, whether he was late or not.

- I get to the corner of Hilton here, and I see a police officer sitting in his car, in the gas station, and I'm coming down there, and all of a sudden he's speeding up, and I'm saying, uh oh.

- [Joanne] On your head.

- And the lights go on and I pull over and I'm thinking, don't tell me the last day.

And an officer comes, a friend of police, of course, comes up and he says, well, you didn't think I was not gonna stop you, did you?

(people laugh) So anyway then he gave me a police escort right into the driveway - [Alan] That by all indications, the police did that all on their own.

- So that's two warnings in a row.

Only this time, it was kind of an honorary type thing.

- [Alan] When Dick retired, I think it's fair to say to an extent we were all ready.

The radio landscape was changing, and there's that issue about not enough sleep.

- We all knew it was the last show.

And I think it was time.

It was time, and we knew that.

- So, anyway.

- [Radio Host] The only disappointment is you were actually going the speed limit.

- [Dick] I was.

- [Radio Host] That's just it.

You probably did it because of Gail, I'm sure.

- Well, that was part of it, too.

- [Radio Host] Yeah.

- Yeah.

I didn't want to get into, you know, - [Radio Host] A discussion.

- I did, no, no.

- [Jackie] And for him to say goodbye, was so hard and so bittersweet.

- Right now, I want you to take a look behind me.

History in the making as Dick Parton prepares to say goodbye surrounded by his family and friends.

- How do I sum up 45 years on the radio here in Detroit?

Well, first of all, my thanks to you the listeners for enabling me to be on the air here for almost half a century, and let's face it, I didn't make it easy for you because I moved up and down the radio dial five different times, AM and FM.

And each time you, the listener, came with me, and through the years I hoped you would, even if the station's music formats were different from each other, and, incredibly, you always did.

- [Charlie] You could almost like Dick was doing a normal show.

That it was just, he wanted to take care of his audience, and he wanted to take care of his family.

- The goal was simply, really simple, really, to be summed up I think by a great line remember from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.

Well, you get the idea.

- [Joe] It's hard to put it in a nutshell.

All I can say, it was just very emotional.

- And then there are my lovely six daughters who not only spent their elementary and middle school years having kids say things to them like, oh, hey, I heard your dad said, heard him on the radio.

I heard what he said on the radio this morning.

It was so stupid.

(people laugh) - [Joanne] But he was in his zone through that whole show.

It was just magical to watch.

- And most of all, I want to thank the true love of my life, my wife Gail, who has supported me, encouraged me, and even listened to me through all the years, starting all the way back in my junior year in high school when I was the PA announcer.

Lucky for me she was an impressionable sophomore, right, Gail?

- [Gail] Yes, that's right.

- That's right.

Lucky for me.

And a few years later, you can only imagine how thrilled her mom and dad, who were such incredible salt of the earth parents, were when she told them she wanted to marry a boy who was going to become a disc jockey.

(people laugh) They were thrilled.

Kind of said, well, maybe all these years was worth it because all these folks kind of upset because we're signing off here.

But now it's time to say goodbye, and so after 45 years and thousands of mornings, I sign off with my eternal thanks, my favorite singer, and my favorite song.

("Softly, As I Leave You" by Frank Sinatra plays) ♪ Softly I will leave you softly ♪ ♪ For my heart would break if you should wake ♪ ♪ And see me go ♪ So I leave you softly It's very rewarding because you think to yourself, well, maybe the last 45 years here has been worthwhile.

And, you know, that whole thing about all businesses have, make a difference, and it's nice to think that maybe I did make a difference.

Makes me, you know, feel good.

♪ I can't bear the tears to fall ♪ ♪ So softly It was gratifying.

It really was.

It was very nice with lot of people, especially my family, cause I know they didn't really want to be there.

♪ Softly - [Al] Let's go eat.

(people laugh) - [Speaker] Leave it to Al to put in perspective.

- From Kenmore, New York, to Keener 13, from put on calls, to Purtan's People, from broadcast studios, to broadcasting halls of fame.

When someone talks to me now about Dick Purtan, they say I don't listen to the radio as much.

With Dick's retirement, we miss the humor, the comradery.

Dick was that consistent voice we all counted on, but we still can today.

He and his daughter Jackie have a daily blog at dickpurtan.com.

In today's world, that's a welcome daily dose of levity that I think everyone would agree we need more than ever.

Anyway, thanks for checking out "Detroit Remember When: A Tribute to Dick Purtan" For Detroit Public Television, I'm Big Al Muskovitz.

Proud to be one of Purtan's People.