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Danny Bonaduce
ormer Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce had an extremely memorable run on Chicago radio during the mid-90s . Still , since his time here , Danny has done radio in Detroit , New York , Philadelphia , Los Angeles , and now for the last decade , he ’ s been the morning man in Seattle at KZOK ( 102.5FM ).
“ I think this is my longest run at any one place ,” he says . “ I really do like it here . They have a thing called the Seattle Freeze . Nobody is really over the top friendly , but you ’ ll be walking at an intersection , and the light will be red , and even if there are no cars coming from any direction , everybody still waits for the light to turn . That ’ s Seattle .”
By Rick Kaempfer
He may really like Seattle , but Chicago is still very special to him too . After all …“ I still have the Loop ( WLUP ) Logo and ( Loop GM ) Mr . Wert ’ s name tattooed on my butt ,” explains Bonaduce .
That sentence perfectly encapsulates the mayhem of Danny ’ s time in Chicago . “ The Loop is really the place that started it all for me ,” he says . “ I ’ ve really had to scale it back since then . I was so crazy . I remember doing a broadcast with ( Loop Morning Man Jonathon ) Brandmeier at some bar or something , and people kept coming up and giving me drugs all night . Brandmeier looked at me , and said ‘ Are you going to die ?’ And I said , ‘ Not tonight !’”
Brandmeier was instrumental in bringing Danny back into the spotlight , and that ’ s what eventually launched his radio career . Once Danny got his own show on the Loop , he did almost all of the time slots at one time or another . Brandmeier also provided one of the most memorable moments .
“ One of my all-time favorite stories ,” Danny says , revving up with his trademark smoky enthusiasm . “ I used to do a bit called “ CAR-ioke .” I used to get in my car at the top of an 8-story spiral parking ramp , and I would go as fast as I could down this spiral , and if you didn ’ t scream , you won . Nobody won . Everybody screamed . Brandmeier called me up and said that he could do it . I said , OK , let me see you try . So we ’ re holding a mic , and I ’ m going down the ramp fast , but not fast enough to make him scream . And he was under the impression he was going to win , but when we made the last turn , there was a lady with a baby carriage , and I ran over the baby carriage . And Brandmeier screamed like a little girl .”
Danny cackled at the memory . “ Of course , the lady was my wife , and the baby was a doll , and it was a set-up !” If that sounds like a different time in radio , you would be correct . Danny was working at a radio station that essentially had no rules . “ You gotta remember ,” he explains . “ It was my first real radio gig , and I wasn ’ t getting fired for my behavior . I was getting promoted . One day I fell asleep at the control board , and there was dead air , nothing coming out of the speakers , and they sent an ambulance for me , and I thought , ‘ That ’ s it . I ’ m getting fired now .’ And ( Loop boss ) Larry Wert said , ‘ I ’ ve never seen anyone pass out from drugs on the radio before . Try not to do that again .’ And that was it .”
When people remind Bonaduce about his time in Chicago radio , they are most likely to bring up one big event : his boxing match with Donny Osmond .
“ I was driving to work , and I think I did middays at that time , and Jonathan Brandmeier was interviewing Donny Osmond . And they were talking about child stars , and Johnny asks him , ‘ What about Bonaduce ? Do you think you could beat up Danny Bonaduce ?’ And Donny said , ‘ Yeah , I think I could .’ And I was thinking , ‘ Oh boy , he doesn ’ t know me at all . I ’ d go over there and burn his house down .’ By the time I got to work , this thing was on .” “ I want to be very clear about this . Donny did a real good job . He feels like he won that fight . It wasn ’ t a clear enough victory for me to say that wasn ’ t the case , but the judges gave the belt to me . I thought he did great . But here ’ s the thing . I should have killed him . I was really drunk , and I walked into the ring smoking a cigarette , and I had these girls taking the cigarette in and out of my mouth because I had boxing gloves on . I walked in talking tough , but Donny did really well . So , after that , I started training like a boxer . I didn ’ t get money for fighting Donny , but everyone started calling , offering me thousands to fight , like , the weatherman in Nebraska . I was 10-0 in those ‘ celebrity ’ fights .”
One of those fights was nationally televised . “ I beat Greg Brady ( Barry Williams ) on Fox . That poor guy . It wasn ’ t a sanctioned fight , so they kept throwing him in there for more . By the end of that fight , he didn ’ t know where he was anymore .”
Danny may have settled down a bit in laid back Seattle , but Chicago will always be in his heart . “ I would come back to Chicago in an instant ! They really adopted me . I consider it my hometown . I had the best years of my life in Chicago .” You can hear Danny Bonaduce and Sarah show on KZOK 92.5 FM , online on demand
16 illinoisentertainer . com february 2021