Remembering Southern California DJ Dusty Street
By now, you've probably heard the sad news that Dusty Street, best known locally for her work on KROQ (106.7 FM), died Oct. 22 at age 77.
A true pioneer, Street was one of the first female DJs in a male-dominated profession. She loved the music she played, loved discovering new artists and songs, and loved presenting her finds to her audience. In addition to her work at KROQ, she was heard on KLOS (95.5 FM), K-WEST (now KPWR, 105.9 FM), and KLSX (now KNXFM, 97.1). Her roots were in San Francisco working with the likes of Tom Donahue at KMPX and a handful of other stations.
She left KLSX in 1994 because of the music, telling the Orange County Register's Gary Lycan, “It was like mini-purgatory working in `Classic Rock' radio. My background is free-form, progressive rock. I started with Tom Donahue and, hopefully, I'll be getting back into new music.”
She got her chance to play new music again when she moved to Las Vegas. Eventually, though, she found herself back with the oldies, playing Deep Tracks on SiriusXM.
Tributes to Street poured in to social media sites from colleagues, friends and listeners. A few examples from Facebook:
“Fly low Dusty Street … I'm heartbroken”
“To a truly amazing woman who has been my friend for the last forty-some years and I already miss her like crazy. She took me into her heart when she had every excuse not to back in the '80s and we've been tight ever since. I love you to pieces Street. She could have just as easily chewed me up and spit me out but instead we grew to respect each other and became lifelong friends.
“How lucky am I that life brought our roads to cross. How cool that we've been friends all these years. You touched my life in some unimaginable ways, Thank you, Street. I know that we will see each other again my friend. Until then, avoid the radar and enjoy those beautiful wings”
••• “Farewell Dusty Street, and thank you for all you did for KROQ, and women radio hosts.”
•••
“Time is a cruel mistress. We all lost a dear friend today. Dusty Street, a true radio legend and a dear friend, has passed away. It was Dusty who trained me to run the board at KROQ, and trying to emulate her expertise was a tough job. She brought so much of her love of music — particularly Dark Wave like Siouxsie, Bauhaus, and so many others, to the airwaves.
“In today's barren terrestrial radio market, there is no one like her. I'll so miss her voice, her laugh, her caring for animals, our trips to Hawaii together, and our visits when I'd do a gig in Cleveland — where she did her show on SiriusXM and made her home for the past decade. Your talents will not be forgotten. Fly low and avoid the radar, Dusty.”
••• “A true icon”
•••
“I was lucky to know her and I will never forget her. We sat on the floor in front of her turntable & played & shared her record collection of some of the early Blues, early Country, and other genres' greatest artists. We talked about performance &
Raw talent & music of course!
You will be missed dearly….. now that you're an angel you can fly high ~ No Radar… RIP to an amazing woman!”
•••
“I was a young kid, listening to KROQ in Los Angeles. Dusty Street was Irreverent, strong and as punk rock as it got. I wanted to be her when I grew up. Many years later, I was able to interview her, and, boy, was that an honor. Even more years after that and about a year after I moved to Las Vegas, I met Dusty Street at an event. I walked up to her, and I told her how much of a fan I was of her and how much she meant to me and the career that I was building. She turned to me and said, `Are you Carlota?'
“I said, yes. She said, `I am your No. 1 fan!!'
“I can't even begin to describe what an honor that moment was, and how much I enjoyed the friendship we built after that. I'm so sad tonight. Dusty Street was a legend. An icon. And she was my hero.”
•••
Hear an interview Street did circa 2015 with former KROQer Doug the Slug on YouTube (search “Dusty Street Doug”) … among other things and included in the many stories and memories told, you'll hear the origin of flying low and avoiding the radar.
And yes, Dusty Street is her real name. Rest in peace, Dusty.
We get letters …
“What's up with KPCC? Why did they change their name to something so hard to pronounce … and remember?”
Good question. And one I cannot answer, though there are numerous examples of businesses that changed names only to either be forgotten or, perhaps worse, remembered by the old name. Thrifty Drugs and SavOn come to mind. Traditionally, radio stations that don't use the actual call letters as marketing identifiers usually use names or slogans at least related to the station call letters or frequency — Power 106, The Sound KSWD, KIIS-FM — though that is not always the case.
In the case of KPCC (89.3 FM), it changed to LAist earlier this year under the notion that listeners were tuning in via online apps outside of the broadcast area, so KPCC is essentially obsolete as a name.
Herb Scannell, the station president and CEO, said at the time that the LAist name helps to future-proof the station, as the official call letters are licensed to Pasadena City College, with programming provided by LAist under an agreement, similar to how the programming for KKJZ (88.1 FM) is provided to Cal State Long Beach by a company run by Go Country 105 (KKGO) owner Saul Levine.
I suppose if Pasadena City College ever wanted to go in a new direction, such as actually letting students take a meaningful part in running the station, as should be required by its license, LAist could just move to another frequency.
Regardless, it apparently is hip and trendy to have a name that means nothing and is hard to pronounce. I guess that is meaningful, in some way or another.