Dan Diamond, born “Oberholtz” was the host of the very popular Sunday morning oldies radio show “The Wax Museum” out of Carrollton, Missouri, KMZU FM-100.7. He was a very longtime radio disc jockey.
Dan was bit by the radio bug at a very young age. As he grew up in Independence, Missouri. He had a normal Midwestern, 1950’s childhood.
But as a teenager, Dan discovered Top 40 radio, a format virtually invented in Kansas City at radio station WHB- AM. This was a radio station broadcast from the basement of the new Blue Ridge Mall where listeners could watch the DJ’s at work through a glass window. Dan was captivated. “I thank he wanted to be a DJ from the moment he saw the others at work”, says his sister, Linda Davis.
After graduating from Raytown High School in 1962 Dan headed for Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri where he quickly found a job at the local AM station, KOKO-1450. He worked there during the week and commuted to Kansas City on the weekends to work at WHB, where he dropped his last name “Oberholtz” for an on the air favorite of the snappier “Diamond.” From then on, he was “Dan Diamond” on the radio waves.
In 1970, Billboard magazine named Dan Diamond one of the leading on-air personalities in the country for his work at KOKO-1450. He took that honor with him to a Denver, Colorado station, KOA-850 AM, where he worked in the 1970’s before returning back to Kansas City. He then worked at several local stations in Kansas City, mostly focusing on Top 40 and country music.
“Dan exuded professionalism in his radio work and listeners could tell’ was a comment of the current radio station owner of KOKO-1450. ‘He had an encyclopedic knowledge of records and the artists and the songs, was a further comment about him.”
It was at WHB that Dan Diamond and his program director, local radio personality Richard Ward Fatherley, developed a show called “The Wax Museum,” which played oldies but goodies, including early country music, rockabilly and rock “n” roll. It was the first of it’s kind in Kansas City radio. Dan later borrowed the format for shows at other stations, most recently KMZU-100.7 in Carrollton, Missouri. Drawing on his collection of vinyl records, Dan took requests from his listeners, recorded the hits at home and played them each Sunday morning on the station, which reached 17 counties around North-Central Missouri.
It was said “There were very few songs that he couldn’t find or he didn’t have.
His record collection was vast. In the late 1970’s Dan Diamond co-founded Club 45, a local organization of record collectors. Members met once a month to buy, trade and listen to the vintage vinyl. Dan always had a presentation prepared and members constantly were astounded by his knowledge. “His records were always the most interesting, and he always had a story to share, was a comment made about Dan Diamond.
At Dan Diamond’s funeral a lot of listeners came to tell him goodbye. He was a powerful radio personality!
He died of Mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer.
From “Find A Grave” – http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=17863279
Comments
Dan Diamond, born "Oberholtz" was the host of the very popular Sunday morning oldies radio show "The Wax Museum" out of Carrollton, Missouri, KMZU FM-100.7. He was a very longtime radio disc jockey.
Dan was bit by the radio bug at a very young age. As he grew up in Independence, Missouri. He had a normal Midwestern, 1950's childhood.
But as a teenager, Dan discovered Top 40 radio, a format virtually invented in Kansas City at radio station WHB- AM. This was a radio station broadcast from the basement of the new Blue Ridge Mall where listeners could watch the DJ's at work through a glass window. Dan was captivated. "I thank he wanted to be a DJ from the moment he saw the others at work", says his sister, Linda Davis.
After graduating from Raytown High School in 1962 Dan headed for Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri where he quickly found a job at the local AM station, KOKO-1450. He worked there during the week and commuted to Kansas City on the weekends to work at WHB, where he dropped his last name "Oberholtz" for an on the air favorite of the snappier "Diamond." From then on, he was "Dan Diamond" on the radio waves.
In 1970, Billboard magazine named Dan Diamond one of the leading on-air personalities in the country for his work at KOKO-1450. He took that honor with him to a Denver, Colorado station, KOA-850 AM, where he worked in the 1970's before returning back to Kansas City. He then worked at several local stations in Kansas City, mostly focusing on Top 40 and country music.
"Dan exuded professionalism in his radio work and listeners could tell' was a comment of the current radio station owner of KOKO-1450. 'He had an encyclopedic knowledge of records and the artists and the songs, was a further comment about him."
It was at WHB that Dan Diamond and his program director, local radio personality Richard Ward Fatherley, developed a show called "The Wax Museum," which played oldies but goodies, including early country music, rockabilly and rock "n" roll. It was the first of it's kind in Kansas City radio. Dan later borrowed the format for shows at other stations, most recently KMZU-100.7 in Carrollton, Missouri. Drawing on his collection of vinyl records, Dan took requests from his listeners, recorded the hits at home and played them each Sunday morning on the station, which reached 17 counties around North-Central Missouri.
It was said "There were very few songs that he couldn't find or he didn't have.
His record collection was vast. In the late 1970's Dan Diamond co-founded Club 45, a local organization of record collectors. Members met once a month to buy, trade and listen to the vintage vinyl. Dan always had a presentation prepared and members constantly were astounded by his knowledge. "His records were always the most interesting, and he always had a story to share, was a comment made about Dan Diamond.
At Dan Diamond's funeral a lot of listeners came to tell him goodbye. He was a powerful radio personality!
He died of Mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer.
From "Find A Grave" - http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=17863279