Gary David Gilbert, (January 13, 1935 – November 10, 1995) on-air name Gary Dee, was a pioneer in controversial

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

. He worked for stations which included

WERE ''Were'' and ''wer'' are archaism, archaic terms for adult male humans and were often used for alliteration with wife as "were and wife" in Germanic-speaking cultures (, , , , , , ). In Anglo-Saxon law ''wer'' was the value of a man's life. He ...

, WHK, and WWWE (now

WTAM WTAM (1100 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, that airs a news/talk and sports radio format, commonly known as "Newsradio WTAM 1100". Owned by iHeartMedia, WTAM serves Greater Cleveland and much of s ...

) in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. He spent a short time in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, but failed to achieve the huge following he had in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Gary Dee's style varied from a confrontational, "down home" manner, to

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

, and a no-holds barred

shock jock A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative or ...

style. He paved the way for radio stars who would follow him. Gary made heavy use of country music, especially

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

and

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

. In his tongue-in-cheek way, he would poke fun at politicians, society in general, and his own family and life.

Biography

Dee was born in

Hope, Arkansas Hope is a city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, Hempstead County in southwestern Arkansas, United States. Hope is the county seat of Hempstead County and the principal city of the Hope Hope micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area, which in ...

. His father was a

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

who moved the family to

Exeter, California Exeter is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. It is situated in the San Joaquin Valley near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The population was 10,321 at the 2020 census, down from 10,334 at the 2010 census. Exeter is locat ...

when Dee was 11. There his father became a fire chief. He went on to spend three semesters at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, studying accounting. He dropped out and went on to enter the

College of the Sequoias College of the Sequoias (COS) is a public two-year community college in Visalia, California. The college is named for the Giant Sequoia trees native to the nearby Sierra Nevada mountain range. History College of the Sequoias was originally es ...

. He then finished his degree in radio and speech at

Fresno State College California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

while living in a funeral home rent-free in exchange for answering the phones at night; or at least that was the deal. Gary sublet two of his three rooms and had the other college students do the work. While in Fresno, he was on-air at

KYNO KYNO (940 AM) is a radio station licensed to Fresno, California and is owned by John Ostlund and Katrina Ostlund. KYNO airs an oldies format, switching to Christmas music for much of December. KYNO's radio studios and offices are on Fulton ...

, the Gene Chenault-owned Top-40 station that was an early stop for famed programmer

Bill Drake Bill Drake (January 14, 1937 – November 29, 2008), born Philip Yarbrough, was an American radio programmer who co-developed the Boss Radio format with Gene Chenault via their company Drake-Chenault.Douglas, Susan, ''Listening In: Radio and ...

. He appeared on-air at KYNO and cross-town rival

KMAK KMAK (100.3 FM, "La Unika Mexicana") is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Orange Cove, California, United States. The station, established in 1990, is owned by founder Richard B. Smith and the broadcast license is h ...

in both Top-40 and country incarnations. In 1972,

radio station

hired him from

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

where he had been a country music disc jockey and advertising agency owner. At the time, he idolized television talk show host Joe Pyne, who pioneered the confrontational style of hosting in which the host advocates a viewpoint and argues with guests and audience members. WERE itself was transitioning into a talk format dubbed "People Power," with an emphasis on controversial hosts and an in-your-face approach. Dee became the linchpin of the new format, and quickly became the highest-rated talk show host in Cleveland. After an ownership change at WERE in 1975, country music outlet WHK hired away Dee to be their new morning show host, where he continued to enjoy successful ratings for almost a decade. In the late 1970s, however, Dee himself made news headlines for breaking the nose of his then wife Liz Richards, who was a

WEWS-TV WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of three stations that have been built and signed on ...

news anchor and co-host of that stations' high-profile breakfast television show, ''

The Morning Exchange ''The Morning Exchange'' (referred to as ''MX'' in shorthand) is an American morning television program that aired on WEWS-TV (channel 5) in Cleveland, Ohio from 1972 to 1999. A highly rated and influential program, it was commonplace that on ...

''. Richard's divorce from Dee was highly publicized as well. Dee became one of the best known (and most listened to) talk hosts in Cleveland. He was known for his encounters with politicians—especially legendary Cleveland City Councilman George Forbes, who would go on the air with Gary, often trading jabs until both were laughing so hard they could not continue. After a brief stint in New York and Washington, DC (at WPKX-FM, now

WMAL-FM WMAL-FM (105.9 MHz) – branded ''105.9 FM WMAL'' – is a radio station licensed to Woodbridge, Virginia, serving the Washington, D.C. Metro area. WMAL-FM airs a conservative talk radio format and is owned and operated by Cumulus Media ...

), Dee returned to Cleveland's WWWE (now

) in the 1980s. Highlights of this period included Dee finding out, on the air, that his beloved wooden boat (the Lyman, as he would refer to it) had been burned while docked outside of the city. Gary also had on-air encounters with his son, who Gary claimed was using illegal substances, and stealing from him. Dee's son later became a radio announcer. Dee left WWWE after one of several ownership changes. His health began to fail, but he did return to WERE in the early 1990s for a brief run before his death of heart failure following a stroke on November 10, 1995.

References

External links

A Tribute to Gary Dee (Gilbert) America's 1st Shock Jock - Updated July 2009

The Gary Dee Podcast Page - remember to share your comments

The Gary Dee Tribute Group - Please join. it's safe and easy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dee, Gary 1935 births 1995 deaths American talk radio hosts People from Hope, Arkansas Radio personalities from Cleveland People from Exeter, California College of the Sequoias alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni California State University, Fresno alumni