John Doremus (August 3, 1931 in
Sapulpa, Oklahoma
Sapulpa is a city in Creek and Tulsa counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 20,544 at the 2010 United States census, compared to 19,166 at the 2000 census. The population as of 2022 is 22,205. As of 2019, the estimated popula ...
– July 6, 1995 in
Naperville, Illinois
Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city.
Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was ...
) was an American radio personality, best known for his radio syndication of ''
The Passing Parade
''The Passing Parade'', a.k.a. ''John Nesbitt's Passing Parade'', was an American radio series created, written, and narrated by John Nesbitt which was adapted into an Oscar-winning series of MGM short subjects. In both media, the series usually ...
'', a series of short stories of remarkable but relatively unknown episodes throughout history.
In the late 1950s he acquired the rights to the series, which until then had been a television series, and syndicated it for radio. The stories chronicled such diverse topics as the first white man to discover the mountain gorilla to the espionage and intrigue during wartime.
During the mid 1960s he produced ''Patterns in Music'' for
WMAQ in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. Original recordings of ''Patterns in Music'' were being aired by
KNXR (FM 97.5 MHz), in
Rochester, Minnesota until January 31, 2015, when the station was sold and the station's format was changed. The series is now heard on 97Five, an internet re-birth of those first 50 years of KNXR.
In 1964, his company pioneered the idea of in-flight music for airlines.
In 1956 and 1957 he was an announcer for
Oklahoma Sooners football. He provided the voice-over for the
NFL Films
NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ...
highlight package of
Super Bowl XXI and the digitally recorded voice of the titular
villain
A villain (also known as a " black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character ...
in the 1982
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
''
Sinistar
''Sinistar'' is a 1983 multidirectional shooter arcade game developed and manufactured by Williams Electronics. It was created by Sam Dicker, Jack Haeger, Noah Falstein, RJ Mical, Python Anghelo, and Richard Witt. Players control a spacecraft ...
''.
A few months after the death in 1971 of Franklin MacCormack, host of the all-night Meisterbrau Showcase on WGN radio, John Doremus took over the overnight show. The new sponsor of the show was Talman Federal Savings and Loan.
An early innovator, Doremus originated the idea of providing in-flight programming for American Airlines and a host of other airlines, including most notably, Air Force One, starting under President Richard Nixon, and later Ronald Reagan.
His company, John Doremus, Inc. had an office suite on the 18th floor of the John Hancock Center in Chicago.
["DISC JOCKEY`S SKY-HIGH MUSIC A WORLD HIT" by Robert Davis, Chicago Tribune Nov 11, 1985]
References
1932 births
1995 deaths
American radio personalities
Oklahoma Sooners football announcers
Radio personalities from Oklahoma
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