Joe Puccio, ‘Happy Medium,’ Dies

Joe Puccio, the self-proclaimed “Happy Medium” whose prescient presence was a fixture on Los Angeles radio and television stations, has died of the complications of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a family spokesman said.

Puccio was 48 when he died at his North Hollywood home Feb. 21. He had been forced off the air last July by the debilitating and usually fatal illness.

From 1980 to 1985 he was seen regularly on his own cable television program as “The Happy Medium,” and his success as psychic, counselor and phone friend made for regular guest appearances on several local talk shows.

In 1986 he moved to radio station KFI-AM where his rapid-fire delivery produced instant replies to moving questions. People would call in trying to locate a long-absent parent or child or to inquire about a relationship or a pending business deal.

Puccio, who claimed to have had psychic experiences since he was 3, warned his listeners that he “doesn’t have all the answers.” However, his success on the air, he admitted, doubled his private counseling business.

He was on the radio from 10 to 11 a.m. daily, interspersing his prophesies and answers between recordings and weather and traffic reports.

He preferred the immediacy of radio, he told The Times in a 1986 interview. Predictions are “off the top of my head--it’s fast, it’s something that’s spontaneous, it’s objective and because of that it’s usually most accurate.

“When I have to stop and think too much about it, my own processes get in the way and my accuracy diminishes.”

But Puccio was keenly aware of the perils of consulting psychics.

“I think there’s the danger a lot of times with psychics that we have a tendency to be placed in the position of being God, and we’re not. . . . I have to be careful about what my message is. I don’t want to come across as some squirrelly person or some person who is out of left field or spacey.”

And how accurate were his predictions?

“I wouldn’t give a percentage . . . but I know over the years I must have had a high degree of accuracy or I wouldn’t be as successful with people returning to me as I’ve been.”

Puccio is survived by his parents, Frank and Tina Puccio and a brother, Frank Jr., who ask contributions to AIDS research.