Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray the roadie for the rock and roll Chicago podcast. What's happening, Paul? Well, I tell you a lot is going on. Really? Do tell.

Well, well, do you remember, do you remember listening to the radio back in, well, a long time ago? I do. I do. We don't want to reveal your age here.

Nothing. No, no, no. However, there was radios.

Yes, there was. There were transistor radios, transistor radio, little transistor radios, and I used to listen to them with them under my pillow late at night. And you probably remember a guy named Dick Biondi.

I do remember Dick Biondi, the wild Italian. Yes, he was. Yes, he was.

Well, is he joining us? No, no, no, no. Dick is not joining us. Dick is retired.

And and but we are there is a there is a documentary coming out about his life and about his life is his entire life, I guess, is the story. Very cool. And who will be telling us about this life of his? Pam Entzweiler, police, who she had a fan club of Dick Biondi back in the 60s.

Remember? No, no, no. I don't know. You know, I might have been.

I don't remember. But I remember. I remember.

I remember, though, that they used to tell us to drop some some candle wax on your train, just transistor radio and lock in that station. So. Oh, really? Yeah.

That's new to me. Yeah. I hear that.

I just thought of that. Wow. I mean, I remember that, you know, but but that's how the DJs, you know, got us to listen to their stations.

Exactly. But but but there was nobody like Dick Biondi and she's doing a documentary about him. And as soon to be soon to be released, hopefully this year and coming up here soon, hopefully on PBS, maybe catch on WTTW, Windows to the World.

That's right. So let's let's get to it and see what she has to say. Let's go and do it.

We're meeting today with Pam Entzweiler, police, the the director and the producer of the Dick Biondi film documentary. Is it a documentary? It's a documentary. Yes.

Dick Biondi documentary. How are you doing today, Pam? I'm doing great. I'm so excited to be here, guys.

Thanks for thanks for joining us. Thanks for coming out. Yeah.

So. So tell us. Tell us how.

How did you get into doing this and then why did you do this and and what's the story behind it? Well, if you grew up in the 60s like I did and you did as well. Yeah. You know what a big, huge guy Dick Biondi was to all of us teenagers.

I mean, he was the voice and, you know, he kind of connected all of us to each other and to all the artists and all the music and the excitement of sock hops, everything growing up. You know, you were a teenager. You listen to Dick Biondi.

Right. And I was one of those kids and I was a big fan. And one day I met Dick at a local shopping center.

And once I met him, I realized not only was he extremely big talent, you know, just a magnet for teenagers, but he was the nicest guy you ever want to meet. And I was drawn to that as kind of a lost kid, you know, trying to find something to hang on to, you know, and I I found it, you know, Dick was it. I started a fan club for him out in the western suburbs and it was just a little grassroots fan club, you know, because he had quite a few fan clubs around the city and actually around the whole Midwest.

And so I got to know Dick through the fan club. You know, I'd write a little newsletter about all the activities that Dick was involved in and I would go to his sock hops. I would go down to WLS Studios on Saturdays.

They open it up for all the kids to come in. And it was a big deal. And Dick was always so warm and welcoming.

And just he made everybody feel special. And I needed that pretty badly when I was a kid. So Dick really touched my life in a very positive way.

He was like a mentor and a role model. And I think that always stayed with me. And, you know, I lost track of him after he got fired from WLS in sixty three.

He was only there three years. But boy, did he leave his mark. Yeah, I sure did.

Yes. Yeah. And then he went on out west to Carolee and well, actually, Pasadena.

And he was out there and then he went to New York City and he did some things. He was all over the country and he is known all over the country. A lot of people don't know that about him, but he's a national treasure.

So I had lost track of him for many years. And Bob Surratt and he he did a TV show called Where Are They Now? This was in 1983. Dick had been gone from Chicago for 20 years.

Was he gone that long? Really? Well, well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Excuse me.

In my life, he was gone for 20 years. He was actually back and he came back to WCFL in 67 and he was here for five years. But during that time, I didn't really I wasn't in touch with Dick because I was kind of a wild child running around, you know, and I and I just it wasn't the same, you know, it was like I was growing up and I I wasn't, you know, you found your place.

Well, no, I still look. But anyway, for me, it seemed like 20 years because the WLS years were so integral. You know, they were like and that was Dick's heyday, actually.

He was number one disc jockey for two years out of those three years at WLS. And that was his dream when he was a kid. He he read a commercial on the air when he was eight years old and he wanted to be a priest up until that point.

Well, when he read that commercial, everybody said, we heard you on the radio. And I think something clicked. And he that was it for him from then on.

He wanted to be on the on the radio. So all through school, he was working at the local station and so forth. And so his dream was to be the most listened to disc jockey in America.

And that happened at WLS in Chicago. Oh, yeah. So that was his heyday.

And it was kind of like my, you know, that's when I had my fan club. So to me, 20 years went by. And I heard that Bob Stratt was doing this show.

You know, it was on TV. And I thought, oh, my gosh, Dixit down in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This little town down there, you know, I called him up.

Was he doing radio? Yes, he was. He was doing a morning show down there. And he had been down there for 10 years and nobody in Chicago knew where he was.

So it ended up that everybody in Chicago wanted Dick back. It was such a successful show. And so they brought him back to WBBM and he was there for a year.

But at that time, it wasn't quite a good fit for him because that was like the newest, hottest music, you know. And Dick was kind of he the oldies phase was coming in. So a year later, he was on an oldie station and he's been here ever since.

You know, Chicago was kind of his mainstay now, obviously. Oh, absolutely. It's a second home.

He loves it. Yes. So he was the wild Italian.

Yes. Now, how did that do you have any clue how that name came about? He made it name up himself. He did, I think he was called the screamer, the big spaghetti slurper.

You name it. He was always trying to figure out something goofy, you know, Dick. So, yeah, that was his.

That was it. So he first came to Chicago in 1960, correct? Yes. In 1960.

And worked for only three years at WLS. Yes, he did. But I can remember I can remember listening to him and having a transistor radio under my pillow.

And as a matter of fact, my grandparents lived in in down in Cincinnati, near Cincinnati. And we'd go down and I could listen to WLS at night and and because it would take you, it would travel that far. That's right.

And I'd be able to listen to WLS. And but WLS really meant a lot to a lot of bands, too, didn't it? Oh, it did. Because of that huge signal that went all across the country.

Right. They actually were. You know, Dick was heard and WLS was heard at night all across the country, up into Canada.

In fact, Paul Schaefer from The David Letterman Show grew up listening to Dick Biondi up in Canada. And he's in our movie. Oh, is he? Yes, he is.

And he just talked about that voice. You know, you heard it. You had to go back.

Right. Was that right? It was so different. So so when he came back in the 80s, then he worked.

He worked. Where did he work at then? WBBM. And then he went to the oldies station WJMK.

Oh, OK. And he was there for many, many years. Right.

So a lot of people grew up listening to him on JMK. Right. But he was playing the oldies and playing.

Yes, he was. And there was such a resurgence of the oldies. This was 20 years, 20 some years later.

That's right. There's such a resurgence of the oldies or the 60s music, I should say. Yes.

I mean, it's and Dick was still playing it like it was yesterday and people were loving it. Right. Yeah.

And even though even those stations are gone now. Yes. Yes, they are.

So so and that tells a little bit about he was the person to play the Beatles, I understand. That's right. When he was at WLS in February of 1963, a year, almost a year before the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, Dick was handed a record from a guy that was a promoter for VJ Records here in Chicago.

And it was called Please Please Me. And he he said, you know, maybe you want to play this. So Dick did.

He played it on his show and he kept playing it. It got on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey for two weeks in a row, I guess. Maybe it was longer.

But anyway, he got on it. I have two surveys that have the Beatles on it. Right.

And but the you know, it just wasn't taken off. That was before before. I want to hold your hand and before their appearance on the show.

Yes. Oh, yes. This was a year.

A year before. So anyway, he gets fired in May of 63 and he takes the record out to L.A. and he plays it the second night he's on the air. And the kids, the phones are ringing.

The kids are saying, take that crap off and play the Beach Boys. And that story's in the movie. So, yeah.

So, you know, Dick was ahead of his time. He heard something. He kept playing that song.

And, you know, he he just had a good year. Frankie Valli is in our movie, too. And he said Dick had a great year.

He knew music. So back in those days, the disc jockeys got to play their own music and they carried their own albums with them to work. You know, there wasn't just all on a computer or anything.

That's right. Yeah. And so Dick was known as a hit maker.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, we talked to Cryin' Shames, of course. And it was an interview with Jim Peterick and both of them. I mean, just tell us about especially WLS and what it meant to them.

The Cryin' Shames had a story where they they recorded a song and their manager took it up WLS. But at the time they were leaving the recording studio, it was already playing. That's right.

Yeah. And they are in our movie, too. All of the Chicago bands are.

Right. Yeah. It's a march.

The Buckinghams, the Cryin' Shames, the Shadows of Night, the New Colony Six and the band Chicago. Right. So we were lucky to have all those guys.

We talked to Ronnie Rice, too. And Ronnie Rice said the same thing. Yeah.

Same thing. Right. Great guys.

You know, I got to know I get you know, I got to know all these guys because I got to interview them. And and of course, I see them every now and then at different events and stuff. They're really wonderful people.

They love Dick so much because Dick really promoted them. I mean, he and he did that for everybody. He's everybody whose music he loved.

And he Dick pretty much loves rock and roll music. I mean, it's you know, he's one of the founders of rock and roll music. Let's face it.

He would go out and do a sock up and take them with. Right. Right.

Introduce the bands and emcee the show and whatever. Sure. Yeah.

Right up until the end of his career, he did that. Right. Yeah.

Well, I mentioned it before. Before I went out, I saw him about five years ago, maybe six at CD and me where he he he emcee the show with with my band, the Dancing Noodles and and the Buckinghams. Yeah.

Oh, that's great. Yeah. Nobody puts on a show like Dick.

Boy, he gets people excited. I we have footage of him at his sock hops and he gets out there. And one minute people are just sitting there around the edge of the, you know, room and the next minute that floor is packed.

He's got everybody out there. It's incredible. He just he knows what to do.

You know, I understand he got mauled, though. I read somewhere where he got mauled because he had Elvis's autograph on a shirt or something. Yeah, we've got that in the documentary, too.

Yeah. Uh, Dick went he met Elvis at the Cleveland Arena and it was the first time Elvis came north. So he goes backstage and he's wearing a white shirt and he says, would you sign my shirt? And he goes, Elvis says, why? And he says, I'm having a sock hop and I'm going to I'm going to wear it and I'm going to jump into the crowd and whoever gets it gets the shirt.

Your autograph. Yeah. And he goes, you're crazy.

So he signed it twice. So the next week there's Dick stage diving into the crowd. He said the women came running at him.

The fingernails are scratching. He said the whole shirt was shredded. And he ended up in the emergency room and nobody got the autograph.

It was completely obliterated. Wow. Oh, boy.

It's good. It's good. That's it.

That's a beyond the story. You know, he's such a nut. So tell us a little bit about the documentary.

When is it going to air? Is it is it out now? No, we're still working on it. OK, it's been a labor of love since March of 2014 when Dick gave me the green light to go for it. Wow.

And, you know, it's been we've interviewed a lot of people traveled around. We went out to L.A. and we went to NAMM and we went we interviewed Dennis Tufano out there, the original voice of the Buckingham's Tom Driessen, the comedian, oh, just a whole bunch of people. But and of course, luckily, we we have a connection with Ron Onesti at the Arcata Theater.

He's been a great help to us. And he's gotten us backstage. We got to interview.

Well, my teen idol, Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Tony Rolando. I mean, just all kinds of people. So anyway, we we've been working on this for it's going to be six years in March.

Wow. And it's time. And I think this is the year it's finally going to happen.

So, yeah, it's been you know, when when you make a documentary film, people don't, I think, realize it's not just a video. I mean, this is we're talking broadcast quality and you have to have a lot of clearances for every single image, every single frame of that movie you have to account for. And you have to get either permission or you have to pay for it.

And it's not cheap. So this has been the big, you know, and this is my first documentary film. So I'm learning as I'm going.

And it's been really a great adventure, I can tell you. But really, the funding is what kind of holds everything up. Sure.

But we're getting there. We've got we had a big fundraiser last year called the Good Times Rock and Roll Fundraiser for the Dick Biondi film. And it was a real good it was just great.

Everybody was talking about it and asking, when are we having another one? We're not having another Good Times, but we are having a big fundraiser coming up. And I don't have any information on it yet. But if anybody wants to know more about this film and follow the progress of us, just go on our website, DickBiondiFilm.com. And there's a button there, a contact button.

You can sign up and we send out emails every once in a while. And we keep everybody updated. So so now who else is involved with this? I mean, you've you're are you doing this all on your own? Well, it's my project.

Luckily, you know, it's just amazing how the universe sends angels your way because I have so many of them that have come this way to help me. I can't even tell you how many people have come out of the woodwork and just wanted to get this film done, including Jim Peterick, who's, you know, he's on the board here at the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. Bob Surratt's another guy that loves Dick Biondi.

He's been helping us, Ron Onesti. We now have a new guy coming forward, a man named Bill Miravitz, who owns the Carnival Restaurant downtown. Oh, sure.

That's that's going to be the site of our next big fundraiser. So but we've also got like we just had a gal named Lynn Stephan, who just became our latest sponsor. Her and her husband, Doug.

And I mean, we are so grateful because, you know, that's what keeps us going. Yeah. And so we're able to keep editing.

We're almost done. We have we're on Act three. There's three acts and we're on the third one.

And we're just real excited because all we have to do now is I think we're going to have this thing pulled together in about, you know, maybe in the next month or two. Then we can start going after all those visuals that I told you about, the B-roll, you know, that makes it brings it all to life. Right.

Footage and pictures and music. So so now where where will this air? PBS is interested. OK.

And we have four stations who've written letters that want to run it, including WTTW in Chicago. Very good. So, yeah, that'd be great.

Real excited about that. Right. They do.

They do a nice job with their their other documentaries that they do. Yes. So, yes, that's awesome.

Might as well start it at home. That's right. We're all started for him.

For sure. This is Chicago. You know, Dick was king of Chicago radio back in the day.

Let's face it. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. Radio is not like it used to be. No, it's changed quite a bit.

Very, very much so. Now, now, especially with the satellite radios and online streaming and stuff. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. The the person, the personalities are gone. That's that's one thing I miss with the on the radio.

I think you're not alone. Let's face it. You know, I think people love personalities and, you know, John Landecker.

There's another guy, this guy. He's another person that's helped tremendously with this film. He called himself the ambassador of the Dick Biondi film.

I was actually living, you know, not far from John. I was I when I retired, I moved. I grew up in the Chicago area, Phillip Park, and I moved over to La Porte, Indiana to retire, so-called.

And John lives in Michigan City, which is the next town over. Right. So he was on the air in Michigan City with his partner, Mike, his buddy, Mike, and they put on the show every Saturday.

And oh, what's his last name? It'll come to me. It's a boomer moment. I get a lot of those these days.

Welcome to the club. But yeah, and they invited me on the show many times. And it was so much fun.

John is just a riot. So, yeah, I lost my train of thought. What were you asking me about radio? Oh, we're just talking about personalities.

Oh, yeah. Personalities. You're you're absolutely right.

Personality radio is just not the way it used to be. I mean, you've got eight second rule. I think that you you can only talk eight seconds now.

DJs. Yeah. It's just it's a whole different world.

Definitely as well. Like Paul mentioned, he used to carry his little transistor around. So did I. You know, and it's almost like having a friend with you all the time listening to exactly whether it's Dick Bionni or Clark Webber or whoever was on at the time.

It's like you felt you really knew these people. You did. You really did.

And you took them everywhere you went with your transistor. That was the coolest. There's a song that is a little off track.

But but by Tommy Castro, who is a guitarist and he has a band called the Painkillers, he's got a band called My Big Sister's Radio, which he talks about listening to transistor radio. And it's a great it's a great tune. Oh, I want to hear that.

Yeah, that sounds great. Yeah, it is. It's very cool.

But but so speaking of songs, tell me about the pizza song, the pizza. I remember seeing this. I used to walk around, see my dad and go, OK, enough with the pizza.

So I guess that's what the meatball song used to say. Yeah, yeah. Well, apparently we did talks about this in the film.

We interviewed Dick twice and he told us a lot of his stories and growing up and so forth. And one of the stories is about the pizza song. Apparently, all the kids would offer lines, you know, to put this thing together.

It started out as just a little on air thing and then it kind of grew and grew. And so he ended up recording it and it sold 11000 copies. Yeah.

So and nobody sings like Dick, you know. He says, for some of the worst singing you ever heard in your life. And if you get company and you want, it's time for them to go.

Just put it on the pizza. So on top of a pizza all covered with cheese, I saw my first meatball till somebody's knees he'd roll off the table and knock to the floor. And he also had the knock-knock song, too, as well.

Yeah, that was on the flip side. Now, he did he did something with Ray Stephens out of Nashville, didn't he? When when he left Chicago the first time, right? I brought this album along and I'll take a picture and we can put it on your website or whatever. It's called Dick Biondi and the Teenagers.

And he recorded this down in Nashville or Memphis. Was it? I think it was. Oh, yeah.

Nashville Teenagers recorded in live in Nashville, Tennessee with Ray Stephens, Wayne Moss, Ken Buttrey, Henry Strzelecki. And it's really quite an unusual album because it's it's really not like music. It's Dick talking in these little stories, these little vignettes about, you know, he recorded this after he got fired from WLS.

Right. Right. After after 63 or whatever.

That's right. When he first went down, he went down there and he did this. And it was a tribute to the teenagers because, you know, he really appreciated Dick had such an appreciation for his audience.

He loved them. He would just he would, you know, he lived for his audience. So he was thanking people and he was talking about what it was like to be a disc jockey and so forth in this album.

So it's quite an unusual album. Very personal. Now, it's called Dick Biondi's Favorites.

Oh, yeah. Is he played some is there some of his favorite songs on there? I know there's no music on it, except for him. You know, there's a little music backup to all these tracks.

Right. But it's him talking. It's pretty much him talking.

Well, that's wild. And you know what? You see that sweater there on the front. Right.

Well, my girlfriend, my sister and I bought him that sweater. Really? Oh, that's my claim to fame. He loved it, as you can see.

Yeah. Is that a wild sweater? It is. It's kind of it's kind of loud.

Very loud. And I said when I saw that hanging in the store, I said that sweater was made for Dick Biondi. And he really wore it on the album cover.

And of course, my mother, when she saw it, she rolled her eyes. She said, Are you kidding me? He's never going to wear that. Was she surprised? Yeah.

Now, Dick's got many awards to his career, too, doesn't he? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Dick is in the National Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

He's in the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and many other Hall of Fames around the country. And now he's in the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Right.

Right. He's just announced he's going to be given a lifetime achievement award. Right.

Lifetime Achievement Award coming up on May 29th. That's right. We are so excited and honored to be part of this.

Ron Romero, the founder of the museum and the induction ceremony, has invited us to be part of it. And he wants us to get up and talk about the film just a little bit and show our little trailer, our two minute trailer, which is also on our website, if anybody would like to see it at DickBiondiFilm.com. OK. And so and we're going to be there with I think we're going to have a silent auction there and do some sell some T-shirts and stuff like that.

But we're so excited about this. And and Dick is certainly, you know, worthy of this award. I mean, he's up there with all the guys he promoted, you know.

Oh, sure. It's just a natural. Sure.

We're so happy for him. Yeah. The Buckingham's, New Colony Six, all the bands we mentioned earlier.

Chicago. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. Very cool. It is very cool.

Now, that's going to be March 29th at the Renaissance Center, which is kind of right behind us here at the we're at the museum right now. Yes. And as our listeners, our good listeners know that.

But but we're here at the museum now. And it's right behind us. I don't know what street that is, what the address is.

I think it's Chicago, Chicago Avenue right over here. Right. That's right.

Just like a block north. OK. But but that'll be the 29th.

And I think tickets are still available. So, yes, they are. So it'll not only be Dick Biondi's ceremony, but it'll be the whole rock and roll induction.

The inaugural induction ceremony. Right. For the Hall of Fame.

That's right. And the museum is going to be opening this summer. Right.

And I'm really excited about it. This place is going to be awesome. Yes.

I've seen the plans and Ron is just doing a tremendous. It's coming together little by little. Yeah.

It's a great space. Yes. So anybody that's interested in getting their tickets to be there for this big event, there's going to be a lot of excitement there.

So you just go on the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website. I don't know what it is. It's Road to Rock dot org.

Oh, good. Road to Rock dot org. Or you can find them on Facebook.

Yes. They're on there, too. So there's quite a few, quite a few inductees.

That's the first the first year they've done this. And they took nominations from all the charter members of the museum and then narrowed down those those nominations to a few. And then charter members got to vote on it.

That just that ended last Friday. That's right. And they just announced all the winners.

It's it's very exciting. It's very exciting. Very exciting.

Going to be some big names there. Yes. Chicago, Chicago wise or Illinois wise, I should say.

Not just Chicago. Yeah. No, it's great that you guys will be there, too.

I know. I'm really excited about it. Get to see the trailer.

Like I said, you can watch it online also. Yes. I think I think tickets are available for out there.

I think they're $50. I believe it includes a little finger food or something and some entertainment. Great.

It's going to be a fun night. Yes, it will. Afternoon, I should say two to six.

I think it is. Right. Two o'clock.

I believe it's right. I believe it's two to six, something like that. I wish I'd know.

Go on the website and find out. It's a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Sure.

Yeah. So so now I understand that Joe Freed is involved with this, too. Joe Farina, who is the son of Dennis, right? That's right.

Actor Dennis Farina. Right. We all remember him.

Right. And Dennis. Sorry, Joe is just one of those angels I told you about.

Honest to God, I met Joe at a Dennis Stefano concert. Oh, my friend Phyllis Bazzieri and I were at and Joe got my phone number, called me up and asked, you know, he said he was so interested in the project. He loves 60s music.

And, you know, he's younger than than we are. You know, he's yeah, I think he's 40 something. But he grew up on this in this music.

He loves it and loves Dick Biondi. Grew up on Dick Biondi and JMK oldies. Right.

So he was just offered he offered to help me. And he's been helping me all along. He's helping me get sponsors.

He actually ran our silent auction for the Good Times event I told you about. And the guy is unbelievable. He even got us on Windy City Live.

Nice. He is sensational. You know, I can't I just can't even say enough good things about Joe Farina.

And he's an actor, too, by the way. Is he? Yeah, even though he's not really acting right now, he's got two little kids that he's he's a proud dad. He's a hands on dad.

And so that's his kind of is he does work. But this is his main project in life is his children. Right.

You know, what could be better than that? Right. Well, it shows you where his heart is. Yes.

Yes. And now you're going to be on the rock and roll podcast from Chicago, Chicago. But I guess you forget the name of the show, forget the name of the show.

That's OK. People throughout the whole world know of it. Cool.

Dick worked with Casey Kasem as well. And another well known DJ. Yes.

Yeah. Actually, Dick worked with Casey out at KRLA in Pasadena. But Casey had told him, you know, when Dick went to KRLA the first time, right after he got fired from WLS, he worked out there for six months or so.

But he was planning this big new project. And what it was, he flew out to New York and he started a show called it was on the Mutual Network. And it was it went nationwide.

It was broadcast nationwide. And it was the first rock and roll show, from my understanding, of its kind like that. And Casey Kasem used to listen to him.

And so when Dick met him out in KRLA later, he told him, he said, you know, I, I get some ideas from you. Because, you know, Casey did that show. What was the name of it? America's top America's top ten or top 40 or something like that.

It was a countdown. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It was every Saturday. Yeah.

And it's it's still floating around. Right. I mean, it's still on the air.

You can get it and you can hear it on the Sirius radio. I believe Sirius XM. OK.

They'll tell you, you know, from whatever year it was, you know, from February of 1968 or whatever it was. Yeah. I think Ryan Seacrest took that over for a little while, too.

I think you're right. He took over. So why was Dick called the wild Italian? Well, he was Italian, right? Yes, he was.

And, you know, back in those days, actually, now that I think about this, a lot of diss trackies didn't use their real names, especially Italian names like that. They would change them. They would shorten them.

Dean Martin, you know. Right. I don't know.

His name is probably Martino. Right. I don't know.

But everybody did that. The hand never did that. He always kept his own name and he was always, you know, let everybody know that he's Italian.

You know, and he was always so proud of his heritage. It was very cool. But anyway, that's yeah.

So the wild Italian, Dick was a wild Italian. He was so different, so unique. His personality was so unlike anything we'd ever heard.

He was a real trendsetter and he inspired a lot of disc jockeys over the years. I mean, you talked. We interviewed a lot of disc jockeys for the film.

Well, he set the standard. He really did. He really did for personality, radio personalities.

You got it. Well, he actually was a personality. He wasn't just a director.

Yeah, I mean, he he made himself. That's right. Well, he made himself the attraction.

And he was just so crazy. We loved him. He slurped his coffee on the air, literally, you know, hold it up to the microphone and do this long, slow slurp.

Who does that? Yeah, I mean, especially back in those days, when you think about it, when he came to Chicago in 1960, who was on the air? But what's his name? Howard Miller. Howard Miller. And, you know, they were doing time and temperature.

Right. I mean, they were polite disc jockeys. They weren't doing any of this kind of stuff.

And when Biondi came on, it was all like all hell broke loose. And of course, our parents were telling us, shut that Dick Biondi off. Now, let's see what some of the people that came after him.

I mean, they were basically the same way. You know, your Larry Lou Jack, you know, not too long after Dick was around. And then, you know, your Steve Dahls, your Johnny Brand Meyers.

I mean, they're they're all crazy. And then Howard Stern and Howard Stern, even though he's not Chicago. Oh, yeah.

Well, absolutely. I guess I say Dick set the set the standard. Yes, I believe he did.

And, you know, Steve Dahl used to live out in California. He was a kid when he heard Dick Biondi on the radio out there. Right.

So he inspired Steve in a way. Sure. Yeah.

Sure. And I think Steve was the one who inspired Howard Stern. As a matter of fact, I've read about that.

So it kind of you know how it is. It goes to another to another. But Dick was the original guy.

Yes, he was. Yes, he was. So so tell us where we can find some information about the about the your website.

I know you mentioned it earlier, but go ahead and mention again. Do you have a do you have a Facebook page or anything? Oh, yes, absolutely. The Facebook page is called the Dick Biondi film.

But the website is actually just Dick Biondi film. OK, dot com. So and if you go on our website, there's buttons right there for our Twitter feed and our Facebook page and our YouTube channel has all kinds of little interviews on there with some of the people we've interviewed in the film.

So there's some real interesting stuff on there. And people can donate there, too. Oh, yeah.

There's a big donate button right on the page. That should be the first thing that opens up. It is.

And it's tax deductible through our fiscal sponsor, Chicago Filmmakers. Oh, nice. Yes.

And if anybody is out there that has a small business or any business or anything, I mean, our last sponsors weren't even really in business. They just wanted to sponsor us. We have a page on there for sponsors and it tells us it tells all the different levels.

And and if you're a sponsor, you get to come to the big premiere of the movie and and hobnob with all these wonderful artists. And, you know, there's a lot of. Have you got a spot for that for the premiere or no? We think it's going to be at the Gene Siskel Center.

Oh, OK. But we don't we haven't gotten that far. We're pretty sure that's what's going to happen.

It's going to be a big red carpet premiere and it's going to be very exciting. A lot of stuff's going to be happening. So anybody listening out there wants to give us a hand.

We could sure use it. So I'm sure that as soon as this film is complete, you're going to be starting another one, right? I want to go on a world trip. No, I know.

I'm just not. Yeah, I hope so. Because, you know, she's going to be doing the story behind the rock world, Chicago podcast.

That's right. I could handle that. That would be a piece of cake.

Yeah, I was just going through here. Sure. Because he's had quite a Dick's had quite a career.

And that's been fired 25 times. Well, he's been all over the country and we've tried to, you know, capture, you know, his his whole legacy here. We've gone around to all these places and we've got, you know, the documentary focuses on a lot on Chicago, of course, because that's where I met him.

It's actually it's my story about Dick Biondi and my little stories in there. So, you know, how Dick affected me and how he affected his fans and so forth. So, yeah.

And but, you know, it includes Dick growing up in Endicott, New York, where his dream was born, and then how he went down to Alexandria, Louisiana, and was playing race records before anybody was doing that sort of thing. Black, that's Raymond Blues. And for those who aren't sure.

And then he came north to Youngstown, Ohio, just as rock and roll was coming. And he's right there on the cusp of the whole thing. And, you know, he used to work with Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, all those guys.

So, yeah. So we've covered his whole career and it's been a big, big project. Right.

Well, we hope we can see Dick out at the Renaissance Center, but there's no guarantee that there's no guarantee. Dick is in retirement now. He left he left the airwaves in April 2017.

Right. So, yeah. Very good.

Well, thank you very much, Pam, for for all your info. Well, thank you for doing it, for doing this, this documentary about Dick Pan. Thanks.

I'm really it's been really quite a journey. Paul and I are available for another documentary if you're interested. OK, thank you so much.

Thanks for having me, guys. This has really been fun. Thanks.

OK. That was Pam Ensweiler Police, the producer and director of the Dick Biondi film. Very cool sounding film.

I can't wait to see it. Yeah, it's going to be going to be so it's going to be great. Yeah, she she's been working on this for quite some time.

Yes, she is. Talk to a lot of people, did a lot of traveling to put this thing together. I think it's going to be fantastic.

Yes, I'm sure it will. I'm sure it will. And got a lot of stars in there, a lot of people that have that have remembrance of Dick Biondi.

Definitely. Definitely. I mean, he's he set the he set the, you know, that thing.

He set that thing standard. He set the standard. That's right.

He set the standard for, you know, I think he actually went beyond the standard. He was the standard. He just before him, people didn't act like him.

He was crazy. Yes. Yes, they were.

Yes, he was. And it was made it fun. But, you know, that's why people listen to him.

So so be sure and keep an ear out for that. You can find out more, I think, beyond the film that cam and on Facebook at the Dick Biondi film. Yes, on Facebook.

And as always, as I like to thank the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 for providing us this beautiful studio space to do our podcasts. And don't forget, you can catch us on Road to Rock Radio every Monday at 6 p.m. when they feature one of our podcasts. So make sure you guys are sharing our podcasts and subscribing so you never miss an episode.

OK. All right. Sounds great.

Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll see you next week. See you next week.

Bye bye.