My Appointments with Dr. Demento

This past Friday, a well-known radio announcer turned 80 years old. I emailed him a birthday greeting that day but then felt inspired to write this tribute since he helped get my music heard by a wider audience.

Barret “Barry” Hansen was born on April 2, 1941, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After graduating from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, Barry moved to California and earned a master's degree at UCLA plus worked a variety of jobs in the music industry. Eventually, he created a radio show featuring novelty songs and other unusual recordings. A colleague who called Barry “demented” for playing stuff like that inspired a new nickname. The Dr. Demento Show was soon heard throughout the United States and abroad on Armed Forces Radio. It’s probably best known for launching the career of parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic.

The first time I heard of Dr. Demento was in 1982. I became an announcer for KMSC, the radio station at Moorhead State University in Moorhead, Minnesota. During my shift, I played promos for the Dr. Demento Show but didn’t listen to it then. KMSC could only be heard on campus and I still lived at home. Also, KMSC aired Dr. D’s show on Wednesday nights when I usually worked at a roller rink.

It wasn’t until moving to Minneapolis myself when I started listening to the Dr. Demento Show, which aired Sunday nights on KJJO-FM. By 1986, I assembled a home recording studio to create original electronic music. Many people thought Dr. Demento would play my stuff. So I mailed him one of my demo tapes. Dr. D wrote a reply saying he liked what I did with my synthesizers but needed material that was more humorous. A few months later, I sent him “Let’s Blow Up the Tow Truck.” That song and a follow-up called “Hangover” became #1 requests and continue to be favorites on his show.

One day in July 1987, I unexpectedly received a phone call from Dr. Demento. He was writing an article about my music for his Demento Society newsletter and wanted more information. During the next two years, we talked on the phone a few more times. I had considered making a trip to California to personally meet him but that wouldn’t be necessary. In June 1989, Dr. Demento returned to Minneapolis to visit his mother and left a message on my answering machine suggesting we get together. We ended up recording an interview in my studio that he later aired on his program. Dr. D also invited me to attend a gathering of his family members.

Two years later, Dr. Demento conducted a national tour to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his radio show. One of his stops was Minneapolis. By this time, I had become a Christian and stopped pursuing a secular music career. Nevertheless, I went to see Dr. D at a record store where he signed autographs and talked with fans. I was placed on the guest list to attend a live appearance of him that evening at a local nightclub.

Dr. Demento and I met again the following year when he made another visit to Minneapolis. I put together a recording titled “Too Much TV”, a fictional story composed of television show titles that originated as a Toastmasters speech. I played it for Dr. Demento but found out he already aired a similar recording on his show.

It wasn’t until 2015 when I got another new recording (“Seal Dog Theme”) played on the Dr. Demento Show. Five years earlier, Dr. D ended the syndication of his program. He now produces an online version. Although I periodically check his playlists to see when my songs have aired, I avoid listening to the online programs mainly due to cuss words that no longer need to be censored.

I hope Dr. Demento had a happy 80th birthday. More importantly, I pray that he and fans of his reading this will recognize the importance of being ready for eternity. While God wants us to enjoy ourselves on earth (Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine”), we will all someday stand before His throne to give an account of our lives. Hell is no laughing matter. I don’t want to see my fellow Dementoids and Dementites going there.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” - John 3:16

From Nu Skin to the New Birth

At the beginning of 1990, I became dissatisfied with life. At 26 I had mounting debts from pursuing a music career and lost my enthusiasm working as a nightclub disc jockey. Around this time, a radio program I listened to called “Musical Starstreams” started running ads about a business opportunity. Forest (the show’s host) talked about a way one could earn a large income and have the time to enjoy it. Soon I received a video in the mail about a network marketing company called Nu Skin.

After watching the video, I was intrigued enough to call Forest and find out why he was involved with a company that manufactured personal care products. Forest explained he wanted to make enough money to buy radio stations and air new age music full-time. Since Nu Skin was experiencing exponential growth, I decided to take advantage of this “opportunity of a lifetime.” I sold all my recording equipment to have extra money for purchasing product and sales aids. My goal was to build a residual income, pay off all my debts, and then resume my music career.

One of the first things I learned in network marketing was how to prospect through my “circle of influence” list. I quickly realized a need to associate with people serious about progressing in life. Most of my friends then were musicians or barflies. None of them wanted to go into business with me. Some of them tried talking me out of doing Nu Skin. 

Consequently I had to search for prospects in the cold market. That was done with newspaper ads and leaving business cards in public places encouraging people to call my voice mail number to hear a recorded message. Those wanting more information about my business were sent the same video I had watched. The process of mailing out videos with prepaid return envelopes was very costly. It resulted in me signing up only two distributors.

So I tried inviting people to my home for interviews. This cut down on the postage expenses and filtered out individuals who were just curious. Half of the people that scheduled interviews didn’t show up. None of the others signed up with me as a Nu Skin distributor. Despite my lack of success in recruiting, I was getting outside my comfort zone and developing better people skills.

To help me maintain a positive attitude, I started attending motivational seminars and listening to self-help tapes. From which I kept hearing how important it is to have your priorities in order. To be a successful person in life, you must put your spiritual goals first, next your family, and then your business. Every time I heard the “spiritual” part, thoughts crossed my mind about going back to church. For a while I was reluctant to do so. The traditional Lutheran church I went to as a child gave me wrong perceptions of Christianity.

Nevertheless, one Nu Skin executive I grew to admire was a former pastor who used an interesting illustration. Jesus put twelve men on His frontline that resulted in Him capturing a large percentage of the world’s marketshare. It was another seed planted that eventually resulted in my salvation on March 19, 1991. For another year, I persisted with Nu Skin despite making very little money plus my sponsor switched to a different MLM company. 

Then in February 1992, I had a dream in which I was in Utah wanting to visit Nu Skin’s corporate headquarters. When I called directory assistance, I heard a recorded message that gave out the number but then said, “Please do not call this number!” When I decided to go ahead and call the number, a glass plate suddenly covered the telephone buttons. This prevented me from making the call. After waking up I prayed, “Lord, if you are telling me to get out of Nu Skin, then please give me a confirmation on this.”  

The next night at church, my pastor had a word of knowledge saying, “Someone here is involved in multilevel marketing...you need to get out of it and find a regular job.” For the next four years I worked at a variety of places until the Lord called me to full-time ministry.

I don’t regret my time in Nu Skin. The experience taught me things that later helped me be successful with evangelism (like isolating objections when people oppose the gospel). Since then I’ve been approached with several other MLM opportunities but remained focused on promoting the most important product available: eternal life.

“but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” - Matthew 6:20

My Prayer for Casey

At the time of this writing, a well-known radio personality who had a big influence on my life is in poor health and may pass away soon. 82-year-old Casey Kasem is best known for hosting “American Top 40” plus voicing various cartoon characters. In recent years, Kasem has suffered from a form of dementia similar to Parkinson's Disease that has left him barely able to talk.

Casey’s radio show was one of the things that inspired me to become a DJ. It also got me through difficult times during my childhood. Growing up in Moorhead, Minnesota, I first listened to “American Top 40” with my family on our way home from spending weekends at the lake. In 1978 I started writing down the Top 40 every Sunday plus recording snippets of Casey’s show with my Panasonic tape recorder. My mother got annoyed because I listened to Casey’s commentaries more than the actual songs. Eventually, I made weekly trips to music stores that subscribed to Billboard magazine whose record charts AT40 were based upon. I jotted down the Top 40 in advance but still followed along with Casey’s countdown.

In October 1979, I was furious when local radio station KVOX-AM dropped “American Top 40” from their programming (ironically I briefly worked as an announcer at that station five years later). For the next few months, I heard AT40 on a station from Wahpeton, North Dakota despite the poor reception. Next, I occasionally watched Casey’s similarly-styled TV program “America’s Top 10.” In 1985, I resumed regular listening of “American Top 40” during my active duty time in the Army National Guard and then when I moved to Minneapolis. 

Casey Kasem was born to Lebanese immigrants and has identified himself as a Druze, a political and religious sect of Islamic origin. Nevertheless, it was through Casey when I first learned of a Biblical truth during an “AT40 Sunday school lesson.” Before playing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band, Casey pointed out Lucifer was an archangel cast out of heaven “long before Adam and Eve saw the Garden of Eden.” I was never taught that at the Lutheran church I attended as a boy. 

Casey concluded his broadcasts with the tagline, “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.” My prayer is that Casey reaches for the Morning Star before he dies (if he hasn't already).

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” - Revelation 22:16