Dic Youngs Died

I don't know that Dic Youngs -- Youngsie, the Old Youngster -- was well known outside of central Iowa. But at least there, Des Moines and environs, he was a legendary disk jockey, and everyone knew him on KIOA.

He died.

As far as I was concerned, Dic was the voice of the rock 'n' roll in the '60s, since it was his channel that played the hits (along with KSO) and his voice and style was perfect for it. The perfect DJ voice.

Then later, before KIOA became strictly oldies, he had the Saturday Night Oldies Show, which was a throwback to the glory days. We used to listen to that too, faithfully, with Dic giving lots of shout outs to Des Moines businesses and people. Listening to the oldies was special. And the way he did it, with interviews, calling in favorites, Des Moines history, rock history, etc., it had a lot of texture.

He used to be at the state fair all the time. I talked to him a few times over the years. And saw him at a few concerts, music shows. I'm about 100% sure he was the guy in 1967 who was the DJ at the Monkees' concert.

Last time I heard him -- it's been a few years -- I was fairly far from Des Moines, and could just hear the channel fading in and fading out very badly. He was talking about a health problem he was having. I wondered how long he'd last.