The journey from rock to talk

Paul Saitowitz

Radio personality Warren Duffy has been a first-person observer of

rock ‘n’ roll since the genera’s inception, but more so than that, he is

a survivor of its lifestyle.

Before becoming the voice of the drive-time talk show “Duffy &

Company, Live from LA”, on KKLA FM (99.5), he spent years traveling the

radio industry’s tepid path.

Duffy, whose voice has the deep buttery timbre associated with

old-time radio disc jockey’s, began his career in radio at the age of 17

in Baltimore, Md. He worked the day shift and did anything the station

needed him to do including reading the news.

With the advent of television, the old radio sitcom format was going

by the wayside and the phenomenon of Top 40 radio was born.

“Before that no one ever played any music on the radio,” Duffy, 64,

said. “Once the kids started hearing this music the entire industry

changed.

Duffy served as a Top 40 DJ all over the eastern United States and was

actually one of the first people in America to play a Beatles record on

the air.

“I got a call from this guy who told give the song ‘Please please me’

a chance,” he said. “I later got a thank you call from a guy named

[Beatles manager] Brian Epstein.”

With the progression of music on the radio, things started to move

from the AM dial to the FM dial. The FM sound was more conducive to

playing songs because of it’s clarity and its stereo capabilities.

At this time Duffy moved to an FM station in Boston.

“I figured we’d try an alternative format, and try to do something new

over there,” he said. “Instead of just playing short pop songs or one

song, we played long songs and entire albums.”

He played what happened to be underground music at the time -- the

Doors, Jimi Hendrix, the Who -- and managed to get the station a rampant

following. The industry took notice and in 1969 Duffy left Boston for a

position as a programming director with up-and-coming underground

blowtorch KMET FM (94.7). The station served as one the Southland’s

leading rock stations until it became “The Wave” in the late 1980s’s.

After working at KMET for a few years and helping break several acts,

Duffy decided to leave the radio industry in favor of of doing public

relations. He helped promote the well-known “Brian’s Back” Beach Boys

tour in 1976. The full U.S. tour broke the record for attendance at Mile

High Stadium in Denver, Colo. with 155,000 people. Also part of that tour

was legendary guitarist Santana.

The lifestyle of living on the road in a highly volatile environment

lead Duffy to his breaking point.

“I got seriously addicted to drugs,” he said. “It started off as just

a little partying and everyone was doing it, but before I knew it I was

addicted to speed and cocaine.”

After eventually losing everything and spending three days alone in an

apartment crying, Duffy realized it was time for him to make a change.

As a practicing Buddhist at the time he met a women who was a

practicing Hindu. The two became fast friends and eventually lovers.

“We needed something that we could spiritually share together, and

that was Jesus Christ” he said.

Since getting married in 1980, Duffy has remained off drugs and uses

his radio show as a forum for newsworthy issues discussed from a

Christian point of view. The show has been on for eight years and has

been wildly successful.

“I was a terrible person, but I turned myself around through the lord

and I think people can relate to that,” he said.