Radio Gag Leaves Dees in a Stew

To listen to KIIS-FM (102.7) deejay Rick Dees tell it, he was convinced that a stalker was following him as he left for work Thursday morning. To his counterparts at rival KROQ-FM (102.7), however, he merely turned their publicity stunt to his own advantage.

The so-called stalker waiting in front of Dees’ home was actually Michael Burton. Burton, whose on-air moniker is Michael the Maintenance Man, regularly indulges in lighthearted gags at the behest of KROQ’s morning deejay team, Kevin Ryder and Gene (Bean) Baxter.

But Thursday’s stunt went too far, according to Dees, who said he phoned 911 because he feared for his life and for the safety of his family.

“I tell jokes for a living, but it’s scary when your personal life and your family is involved,” said Dees, who spent much of his show rehashing the incident and even faxed accounts of his alleged ordeal to major news organizations.

The scene began when Kevin and Bean sent Burton to Dees’ North Hollywood-area home in an effort to determine what time Dees leaves for work each day. The purpose, the pair said, was to investigate an industry rumor that Dees tapes much of his supposedly live show the day before and arrives at work well after his program is on the air.

Roger Neal, Dees’ publicist, insisted that the deejay is on the air live every day at 6 a.m.

Dees insisted that he had no idea who was in the Mercedes with the tinted windows parked in front of his house when he left for work at 5:30 a.m. When the car followed him onto the Hollywood Freeway, Dees said, he got scared.

“The driver was raising a metal object,” Dees said. “I thought it was a gun.”

The object apparently was Burton’s trademark bullhorn, which he uses as part of his routine. Burton’s account of the pursuit was broadcast live on KROQ.

Dees said he phoned KIIS producer Paul Josephs, who told him that KROQ was having a joke at Dees’ expense. Nonetheless, Dees said, he had the station call police to be on the safe side because he was not “fully aware” that it was a prank.

He dismissed Kevin and Bean’s suggestion that he was indulging in a publicity stunt. “Give me a break,” Dees said. “What do you call what they did?”

Kevin and Bean, meanwhile, insisted that Burton did nothing illegal or threatening to Dees. They noted that Dees placed an on-air phone call to his wife at 7:20 a.m. to see if she was OK--at least an hour after he had been told that the incident was a joke.

“He was milking it for everything he could,” Baxter said of Dees.

Burton declined to comment on the incident.