Saturday night wasn't just about eating pizza and drinking beer; it had not yet become a ritual to stay up late and wait for "Saturday Night Live", not that SNL wasn't cool, just more along the line, the FM dial was way cooler (back then) and this crazy dude out of San Jose was about to sign on and you were about to STOP EVERYTHING, Because, "don't touch that dial, it's got KOME on it."
Dennis Erectus (real name, Dennis Netto) was a sort of benign (at first) DJ that worked odd jobs, born and raised in Oakland, and found his way to San Jose and worked the Saturday night shift on KOME, a dead-on AOR station that was way more than just AOR. It played, yes, Edgar Winter and Hendrix and the Dead, but it did more than that. It had CHARACTERS and character in a time when all that was mandatory even if you had to hunt for it. KSAN was around but for kids like myself, KSAN was too commercial for our taste and rocking the boat, they did not.
Enter Dennis Erectus.
He was everything you'd expect but more. He didn't shock for shock's sake, he actually shocked for talent's sake. It was not everyone's cup of tea, it was an aquired taste but with everything else in that time, you just had to be there, in this case, listening on KOME, the radio. 8PM and on to midnight but it went by too quickly, Dennis didn't give a shit because God only knows what he was on, what he was smoking, but it didn't matter, the music was good and Erectus was his crazy-ass self. The Bay Area word got out --pre Internet, mind you--shit, "you have to listen to this guy on the radio!"
Saturday Nightt, circa 1978, was the first time Idiscovered Dennis. I was over at my friend's house in the Oakland Hills, Craig Pryor, and we had a ritual, eatcing pizza and sneaking a few bud beer cans and talking about the latest "Star Wars" news. Pretty mundane stuff and a few other Skyline (High) friends came over. Someone talked about this DJ guy in San Jose on KOME, which was a clear signal FM (98.5) outlet with an amazing tone even though it was San Jose. But the music wasn't the draw, it was this funny, outrageous guy (said the devotees) who you had to listen to. Not your ordinary jock and way too abstract and edgy.
I can't describe in detail how cool was Dennis Erectus. You'd have to listen and hear for yourself. I'd love to find old air checks because that would do him justice, not my blase description because you simply cannot describe Dennis Erectus. It wouldn't do him justice.
It's all a blemish now. There is NO ONE like a Dennis Erectus. It would be a crime if someone tried to impersonate him but no one could. Those of you that listened to him know why. He was a ruckus, an all-timer. A Bay Area radio legend who died much too young in my book.
The Bay Area radio world has no characters anymore. Mostly becuase today's PC world, it wouldn't be allowed. Which is all the more reason we remember the great Dennis Erectus and his massive fun zone and world that was Saturday Night on KOME, 98.5 FM in the 1970's.
That's the thing PD's don't seem to "get" these days. A station changes format because of dying ratings and what's the 1st thing they do? 5,000 hours of straight music.
ReplyDeleteHow can they not get (ESPECIALLY in this day & age where anyone can listen to whatever the hell they want on their custom playlists) that PERSINALITUES are what put eases in seats/listeners on the dial. And there was no more of a unique personality than Mr Erectus.
Sorry to hear that Dennis died.
ReplyDeleteI still have a few different KOME stickers.
Behold, some audio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uW1yCnnJqE
ReplyDeleteGreat memories, and I'm still laughing!
DeleteDennis was a hoot, who has been considered an icon by so many (including myself) from that generation. His show was always good for riotous laughs, memorable lines, total irreverence, an escape from the mundane, and a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteI miss the guy. You are right, Rich. He was a legend, who died much, much too young.
Wow! So Lieberman had a bit of Erectus in him. Then again, preteens in my days - the early 1980s - thought the world of him as well. Terribly missed compared to today's DJs.
ReplyDeleteYep, too PC today. Even the Sharks left 98.5 two months ago. The now-KUFX could've used some Dennis Erectus. And the cool thing was KOME played music from each side of the Atlantic during their heyday from Scorpions to Springsteen and everything in between. Many a school dance was skipped in favor of 98.5 KOME, and with no regrets.
DON'T touch that dial there's KOME on it
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HE WAS GREAT!
ReplyDeleteI never heard of Dennis Erectus, but DAMN! What a GREAT PORN NAME!
ReplyDeleteWow bringing back some awesome memories here. Legendary DJ, and a legendary station. Miss the days where corporate marketing types didn't decide everything and when stations actually were DIFFERENT. On a side note, I never understood why rock stations of that time wound up abandoning newer music by what are now called "classic rock" artists. The stations that made their $$ on rock essentially killed it by sticking with the old hits.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Dennis Erectus line: "A man so horny, not even the crack of dawn is safe!" He was fantastic...
ReplyDeleteFavorite Erectus memory ... he was hosting a midnight movie Three Stooges festival at the Los Gatos Theater. After the opening schtik, the film rolled and he returned back up the aisle, getting mugged near the back of the theater. A staged event? Maybe, but he could certainly piss off a call-in listener.
ReplyDeleteDennis Erectus was lame. Shouting and acting stupid on the air doesn't make you a great disc jockey or make for good radio. Just like bozo Howard Stern. People liked him because he said "damn" and "ass" on the air. Gee, how entertaining. Imus was awful, too. It shows how bad radio can be. Give me music to listen to and not buffoonery.
ReplyDeleteThanks for saying this as I thought I might be the only one here to dread his juvenile clown act. His act was old after 30 seconds of hearing him.
ReplyDeleteI guess thats what NPR is for You two clowns
DeleteR.I.P., Dennis!!
ReplyDeleteAmazing that San Jose was the king of rock radio in the Bay Area in the mid'70s to mid '80s. Because the station was in San Jose (and had a very weak signal in San Franciso and East Bay at the time), KOME did not get nearly enough recognition for how great it was. This was back in the day when KOME was locally owned, DJs could have a personality and say things and were allowed to play deep album cuts. Add to that an over-the-top personality, Dennis Erectus, and you had the ingredients for one of the all time best rock stations. It was a great time to be growing up in the South Bay. Fond memories.
ReplyDeleteI loved it when he said "KOME, rocking grocery stores and gas stations everywhere". It was self deprecating, like he knew his audience was just people in a backroom somewhere. He always tried to pair up his listeners and you had to laugh when he said stuff like asking if you were ready to suck up the juices of love.
ReplyDeleteDennis Erectus was king!
ReplyDeleteA bay area legend ...rest in heaven buddy.
ReplyDeleteI spent my misspent youth listening to Dennis and howling with laughter . One my favorite shows he was inviting the then mayor of San jose to meet him at a seedy motel on south 1st . Where they drink cheap wine out o Dixie cups an he would take to heaven tonite . I’m not sure that ever happened. I hope there is a hot mic where ever you are ,we miss you Dennis
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