“Monster Mash.” “Another One Rides the Bus.” “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.”
The D.J. most responsible for lodging these earworms in listeners’ heads, Barry Hansen, better known as Dr. Demento, said last month that he would retire from the airwaves in October, on the 55th anniversary of his radio debut.
Mr. Hansen, 84, started on KPPC-FM, a free form and progressive rock station in Pasadena, Calif., (now KROQ-FM) in 1970 and soon began focusing on what he called “funny music” because of listener requests for songs that made them laugh.
After he played “Transfusion,” a song by Nervous Norvus, which had been banned on many radio stations in the 1950s, another D.J. at the station called Mr. Hansen demented.
“Transfusion” — featuring the sound effects of vehicle crashes — is about a reckless driver who repeatedly gets seriously injured in car crashes by breaking traffic laws. In the lyrics, the driver gets a blood transfusion after each crash and vows to drive safely, before getting into another one.
The novelty song struck a chord with Mr. Hansen, who would spin up similar parodies for his playlists for the next half century. The nickname Dr. Demento, which he adopted shortly afterward, also stuck.
He referred to his fans as dementoids and dementites.
“I have been doing this show for nearly 55 years, about two-thirds of my life,” Mr. Hansen said on his May 31 show, which broadcasts online. “It’s been a blast, but I have come to the decision that I need to hang up my top hat soon. The show you just heard is the last of my regular shows.”
Mr. Hansen wore a top hat and tails for public appearances, but he would wear the outfit either with a white dress shirt and red bow tie or — more fitting his madcap persona — paired with a T-shirt.
Mr. Hansen said his remaining episodes will focus on the greatest moments and songs in his program. The final show in October will be devoted to the Top 40 songs in the show’s history.
A syndicated version of the show debuted in 1974 — at its peak it was heard on more than 150 stations — and continued until the show moved to a subscription internet platform in 2010.
Mr. Hansen popularized songs including “Elvis Was a Narc,” “Shaving Cream” and “Fish Heads.”
He introduced artists like Allan Sherman, Barnes & Barnes, Benny Bell, Bobby Pickett, Nervous Norvus, Spike Jones and Stan Freberg to a wider audience.
Alfred Yankovich grew up listening to Dr. Demento and he sent him a cassette tape of his song parodies, which he sang and accompanied with his accordion.
Mr. Hansen put the teenager’s music on the air in 1976, and Weird Al Yankovic was born, though the nickname came later. Weird Al’s extensive spoof music catalog includes “Another One Rides the Bus,” “Eat It,” “Like a Surgeon” and “My Bologna.”
“If there hadn’t been a Dr. Demento, I’d probably have a real job now,” Mr. Yankovic said in 2000, when Dr. Demento released a two-disc, 42-track, 30th-anniversary compilation called “Dementia 2000!”
There are dozens of Dr. Demento compilations, some of which showcase the prime time for novelty songs, which came before Dr. Demento got on the air.
“Dr. Demento takes you back to when funny songs were always on the charts: From the mid-50s to the mid-60s, not a week went by when there wasn’t one funny song on the Top 40 station,” Mr. Hansen told Billboard magazine in 2000.
Mr. Hansen, who has an extensive record collection, graduated from U.C.L.A. with a master’s degree in folklore and ethnomusicology.
“At any given time I usually have a tune running through my head, at least in the background,” he said in an interview published in the blog “Music Makes You Think” in 2015. “Not necessarily a funny song, and not always a rock song either. Lots of pop tunes from the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s. Sometimes a tune I made up.”
Mr. Hansen said that his song selection had no rules.
He knew what would work for his show, though listener reaction also played a role. He had a distaste for music that was too conventional or serious.
That dovetailed with his longtime tagline: “Stay demented!”
Adeel Hassan, a New York-based reporter for The Times, covers breaking news and other topics.
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