It’s the End of the World as He Knows It

Not Depeche Mode. Not the Cure. Not Duran Duran.

No, after 18 years as the avatar of ‘80s music on KROQ-FM (106.7)--first instrumental in launching those and many other bands’ U.S. careers, later keeper of the flame with his daily “Flashback Lunch” hour--Richard Blade strayed from his usual playlist as he was choosing the two songs he planned to use to close his final show Thursday.

The selections, in fact, are not songs that have ever been a presence on the alternative-rock station and aren’t even from the ‘80s--one’s from 1978, the other from 1994.

“One is Bob Marley, ‘Sun Is Shining,’ ” he says, off the air during his penultimate show Wednesday. “That song is about why I’m going. The other is Everything but the Girl, ‘Missing.’ That’s how I feel about the listeners. I’ll miss ‘em like the desert misses the rain.”

Indeed, Blade, whose cheery English accent has been a KROQ staple since 1982, when the station was first rocketing to national prominence, is taking off for where the sun actually shines even more than in Southern California, and where there is no desert.

Today, KROQ is paying tribute to him with a live, open-to-the-public broadcast from the Palace from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., hosted by morning men Kevin & Bean and midday deejay Tami Heide (who will take over as “Flashback” host) and featuring musical performances by Duran Duran, Dave Wakeling, Berlin, Dramarama and the Specials. Then he’ll go finish packing and next week head for the Caribbean island of St. Martin, where he and fiancee Krista Henderson will open a dive shop and excursion company.

“I had two dreams as a kid,” Blade says. “One was to come to America and do radio--growing up listening to pirate radio stations in England, there were a lot of American deejays. And at the same time, when I was about 12, I decided I also wanted to live in the Caribbean. My mom has the list I made of the Top 20 things I wanted to do in life. No. 1 was live in the Caribbean. No. 2 was do radio in America.”

Of course, you might easily think that having to play ‘80s tunes past the turning of Y2K might be enough to drive anyone to an isolated island--especially given the recent ubiquity of frothy, new-wave oldies on soundtracks (“The Wedding Singer”) and such other radio stations as KYSR-FM (98.7). But Blade, who says he’s in his 40s, betrays no loss of enthusiasm for the songs he’s played countless times as he made his way through the show Wednesday.

Each track was accompanied by a comment of praise or a personal memory. Depeche Mode’s “Black Celebration” spurs thoughts of the gloomy Brit band’s sold-out show at the Rose Bowl in 1988, a professional triumph for Blade given that he was the first to play the band on American radio and was its chief champion. And a remix version of Berlin’s “Metro,” which he says had never been played on the air before, reminds him of singer Terri Nunn calling him back when the band was just an L.A. local act and saying that his airplay led to five record companies offering deals (Blade and Nunn later dated).

Blade calls Henderson at home before playing the Berlin song and asks her to phone Nunn to make sure she’s listening. A little later, Nunn calls the KROQ studio herself to thank the deejay.

“It’s the end of an era,” she explains over the speaker-phone, when asked what Blade’s leaving means. “He was such an institution--really plugged in to the club scene and then made the nation aware of what was going on in L.A.”

‘Flashback Lunch’ Pulled, Then Reinstated

The era actually came to a temporary end last December. Having long thought the close of the ‘90s would be a good time to close the prominent midday ‘80s showcase, station program director Kevin Weatherly pulled the plug on “Flashback Lunch” right before Christmas. Listeners didn’t agree, though, and after an “overwhelming” number of angry calls, Weatherly reinstated the feature after just two weeks.

It was an awkward time for Blade. He and Henderson had set their date to move to the Caribbean nearly two years ago, but didn’t tell anyone.

“In radio, if you say you’re leaving, they usually take you off the air right away,” Blade says. “They’ve always been great to me here, but it’s radio and you never know.”

Weatherly, sitting in his office, insists that he would have gladly let Blade play out his stay no matter when he’d been told. As it is, the big, sentimental send-off Blade is getting from the station is a rarity in broadcasting.

Around the station, the sadness at an old friend’s exit is genuine and readily expressed--if in a very KROQ manner.

“Ever since we got here 10 years ago we’ve been calling the INS to try to get him deported,” jokes Gene “Bean” Baxter. “He couldn’t pass the accent test--after this much time here, the accent’s supposed to go down a bit, and his hasn’t.”

More directly, Baxter admits, “I just can’t imagine KROQ without him.”

A little later in the hallway, fellow deejay Jed the Fish--who along with just Rodney Bingenheimer has been at KROQ longer than Blade--actually gets a bit far-klempt when asked about Blade’s move.

Blade, too, is clearly sad about leaving colleagues who are truly friends, as well as giving up “the money and notoriety and popularity.” He’s also giving up his role as host of three British TV shows (“Inside Hollywood,” “The American Charts Show” and “Movies, Games and Videos”) and a nascent side career as a screenwriter--a script he wrote for the UPN sci-fi adventure series “Seven Days” is being produced for a scheduled May 24 airing.

“It’s scary,” he says, sitting back in his chair. “But I just keep thinking about the sunshine and the boat and the blue ocean.”

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* A final tribute to “Flashback Lunch” host Richard Blade can be heard today from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on KROQ-FM (106.7).