ENTERTAINMENT

I GOING PLACES I

Like Father, Like

WEEK OF
DEC.15-DEC.21

JEWISH EVENTS

HII ,EL
FOUNDATION
Hill Street Cinema, 1429
Hill St., University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Split, Dec. 15 and Dec. 16;
When Harry Met Sally,
Dec. 15; Festival of
Animation, through Dec.
23; Wizard of Oz, through
Dec. 23; Wuthering
Heights, through Dec. 17,
admission, 769-0500.

From the 21st floor of the Fisher
Building, FM's Fogel on the radio
soars through the air (waves).

STEVE HARTZ

Special to The Jewish News

D

ave Fogel was 5 when
he made his radio
broadcasting debut,
wishing everybody happy
holidays, from WBBF in
Rochester, N.Y.
His father, Jerry, was the
station's morning disc jockey
and a local celebrity at the
time, 1965.
Months later, Fogel's fami-
ly moved to Los Angeles, and
his father transformed into a
TV star, first appearing on
an episode of "Big Valley,"
then starring as Jerry, Kay
Ballard's son and Eve
Arden's son-in-law, in "The
Mothers-in-Law." By the
late 1970s, Fogel's dad
starred as another in-law,
Ken Howard's brother-in-
law, in "The White Shad-
ow."
Today, Jerry Fogel is back
on the air waves, hosting a
radio talk show at KCMO in
Kansas City, while his son is
piloting "The Afternoon
Drive" on 96.3 FM, WHYT
in Detroit, from 2 to 6 p.m.
Since Dave Fogel's broad-
casting premiere 25 years
ago, he has traveled the long
and winding radio road, fly-
ing first class on frequency
air waves.
As a child, Fogel enjoyed
watching his dad work on
radio and television.
During "The White Shad-
ow" years, he attended
Granada Hills High School
in Los Angeles. There, Fogel
had two interests: football,
where he and now-Denver
Nuggets quarterback John
Elway were teammates, and
math, where he and "One
Day at a. Time" TV star
Valerie Bertinelli were
classmates.
"I didn't do any radio," he
said of his high school days.
"Back then, I wanted to be a
sportscaster."
When Fogel graduated in
1978, he attended Ithaca
College in New York, played
on the school's football team

and majored in sports com-
munications. After his
freshman yeart .Fogel's in-
terests changed.
"I had a lousy season play-
ing football," he said. "I also
got bored with sportscasting.
One day as I was reading
sports scores on the radio, a
disc jockey asked me, 'What
do you think about that,
Dave?' The interruption
scared me; I laughed, and I
guess I said something
funny, and he thought it was
great. The next thing I knew
I was a disc jockey."
He soon transferred to the
University of Missouri and
received a degree in
speech/communications.
While in college, Fogel got a
job as a professional disc
jockey.
"I worked at KJMO in Jef-
ferson City and was on from
midnight until 6 a.m.," he
said. "By summer 1980, I
was working weekends at
KJLA radio in Kansas City
and nights in Jefferson City.
That kept me really busy."
When he graduated from
the University of Missouri in
1982, he was hired by KBEQ
in Kansas City.
After 2 1/2 years of work-
ing the graveyard shift, 2-6
a.m., Fogel married his col-

Jerry Fogel hosts the morning
show at KCMO in Kansas City.

lege sweetheart, Melanie,
and returned to California.
DJ destination: KSDO FM,
San Diego.
Two years later, Fogel's

SPECIAL EVENTS

GREENFIELD
VILLAGE
"Power in Motion,"
through January; "Fifty
Years of TV," through
Jan. 2, admission,
271-1620.

COMEDY

MOUNTAIN JACKS

24275 Sinacola Ct.,
Farmington Hills, The
Ron Coden Show, throug
Dec. 31, free, 476-5333.

THEATER

DJ Dave Fogel pilots 96.3's "Afternoon Drive."

6-10 p.m show hit number
one in the city. The following
year, he took his act to
Washington, D.C., the
number nine radio market
in the country. And by May
1989: "Welcome to Detroit;
96.3 FM, WHYT. Hi, every-
body; it's good to be here" —
those were the words Fogel
first spoke to the Motor City,
the country's number six
radio market.
Although he said San
Diego was paradise, Fogel
loves Detroit and has ad-
justed well since his arrival.
"I recently bought a four-
wheel-drive pick up (truck)
for the winters, and I even
started listening to country
music," he said. "I figured,
`Hey, you got a truck; you
gotta listen to country
music."
Raised in a Conservative
Jewish home, Fogel is now
Reform and belongs to Tem-
ple Beth El in Birmingham.
"My dad teases me about
`converting,' he said.
Like his father, Fogel also

is a joker. "I'm not really
good at being serious. I goof
around too much. The only
time I was ever serious was
at my bar mitzvah, and
that's because I had to; the
cantor was a big man."
His parents have been
divorced since he was 8.
Fogel's mother, Brenda,
lives in New York, but he
remains in touch on a week-
ly basis, calling her every
Friday afternoon — while
he's on the air.
"My mom is kind of a ham,
so I put her on 'Big Mama
Fogel's Football Picks,"' he
said. "She's good at pidking
the winners. She gets about
75 percent correct. She's
right up there with Bernie
Smilovitz."
Fogel first put his mother
on the air when he was in
San Diego. "The morning DJ
had his mother on the air,
and she was boring. So, I
thought that I should get my
mother on the air because
she's funny," he said. "Last
year, there was an outbreak

ATTIC THEATER
2990 W. Grand Blvd.,
Detroit, Sand Mountain,
through Dec. 23,
admission, 875-8285.
MARQUIS THEATER
135 E. Main, Northville,
Cinderella, through Dec.
30, admission, 349-8110.
PEANUT BUTTER
PLAYERS
New Center One
Building, The Atrium
(across from Fisher
Theater), Detroit,
Miracles, through Dec. 23,
admission, 559-6PBP.
SOMERSET
2801 W. Big Beaver, Troy,
Somerset Dinner Theater
at Sebastians, Fridays
and Saturdays, through
Dec. 31, admission,
643-6360.
WAYNE STATE
UNIVERSITY
Detroit, Hilberry Theater,
The Winter's Tale,
through Feb. 17;
Bonstelle Theater,
Cinderella, Dec. 15-17,
admission, 577-2972.
FISHER THEATER
3011 W. Grand Blvd.,
Detroit, Les Miserables,
through Dec. 31,
admission, 872-1000.

Continued on page 91

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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