KIIS gives longtime DJ Rick Dees short shrift

Is morning-drive radio ready for an extreme makeover? That question will be answered Thursday, when KIIS-FM (102.7) -- home to “Rick Dees in the Morning” since REO Speedwagon topped the charts -- turns over its prized 5-10 a.m. slot to Clear Channel Worldwide’s new go-to guy, the ubiquitous Ryan Seacrest.

“I love Ryan Seacrest!” says one male listener in KIIS’ breathless promos. “He’s really cute!” adds a female fan.

True enough -- but this is radio. And the “Joke of the Day” (to borrow a longtime Dees staple) may be on Clear Channel, with Dees getting the last laugh somewhere down the dial. At least that’s what Dees’ many fans, including this fellow Tar Heel-turned-Angeleno, are hoping after his sudden, unceremonious departure from the air two weeks ago (“Dees’ Morning Reign Is Over,” by Greg Braxton, Feb. 11).

Dees and Seacrest share a similar workaholic ethic. Both started out in radio in their teens -- Dees at 15 in Greensboro, N.C., Seacrest at 16 in his native Atlanta. At 26, Dees parlayed a No. 1 single, the 4-million-selling novelty smash “Disco Duck,” into a better gig in Memphis radio, where he was the top-rated morning jock from 1976 to ’79.

In January 2003, hot on the success of “American Idol,” the then-28-year-old Seacrest renegotiated his contract with Clear Channel for better pay and a new gig: Dees’ official fill-in host. (Seacrest added another plum job to his resume when Clear Channel tapped him to assume the mike from Casey Kasem on “American Top 40” in early January.)

Things likely grew more tenuous for Dees in December, when Clear Channel pulled the plug on its next-day syndicated broadcast of “Rick Dees in the Morning” to dozens of affiliate stations nationwide, replacing the 53-year-old veteran with his afternoon colleague, Sean Valentine.

As KIIS-FM’s overall market share has fallen from third place (with an average 3.9% audience share in the fall 2002 Arbitron ratings) to ninth (3.1% in fall 2003), Dees became a target for KIIS’ declining fortunes, even if the station may have alienated morning listeners turned off by Top 40’s evolution from soccer mom-friendly boy bands to expletive-heavy hip-hop.

While no one’s saying what prompted Dees to walk away from the mike with little fanfare, it’s clear that KIIS was eager to youthify its morning sound.

Why, you might ask, does Rick Dees matter? He’s prone to bouts of hyperbole: In saying goodbye, he referred to “Rick Dees in the Morning” as “the No. 1 revenue-generating show of its kind in America.” And he recycles the same jokes year after year, from “Candid Phone” and “Dees Sleaze” to recurring characters such as talent agent Bernie Shelley and custodian Willard Wiseman.

But you find yourself laughing with him anyway. And beneath the goofball exterior lies the heart of a broadcaster who soberly anchored KIIS’ 9/11 coverage and who has served as an off-the-air mentor to many of his peers. “I could never repay him for all the things he has done for me,” one golf buddy, KZLA-FM midday personality Shawn Parr, told me.

Not that Parr’s sentiment is universal. KROQ-FM tormentors Kevin and Bean will clearly miss their longtime nemesis, calling Dees “deluded and crazy and great and wonderful” before playing the KC and the Sunshine Band-inspired “Dees Don’t Go” in his wake. (Fans in need of a Dees fix can tune in to “Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown,” which KIIS will continue to air Sunday mornings.)

They likely have a new favorite target in Seacrest, who will juggle his new morning-show responsibilities with “American Idol,” “American Top 40,” a new Clear Channel talent hunt titled “Radio Star” and his new afternoon TV show, “On Air With Ryan Seacrest.”

The last, a 6-week-old hybrid of “Entertainment Tonight” and “Total Request Live,” is struggling to find its footing, but one can’t help but echo the sentiments of recent guest Kathie Lee Gifford. “How many shows does a person need?” Gifford asked Seacrest, whom she labeled the “male Kelly Ripa.”

Seacrest could likely learn a thing or two from Dees, who lasted a full 12 months with his own TV talk show, ABC’s “Into the Night With Rick Dees,” from 1990-91. The betting here is that Seacrest’s afternoon gig doesn’t last that long, but he can take some consolation in still having a morning job -- the one that for 22 years belonged to Rick Dees.

Dick Anderson is publications editor at Occidental College.