August 16, 1971 is a long time ago by any standard. Nearly 55 years ago. Richard Nixon was president, and still a couple of years away from his downfall. The U.S. was still immersed in Vietnam. The Apollo 15 mission successfully returned to Earth. 40,000 people attended two benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar at Madison Square Garden to raise funds for refugees from Bangladesh. The Twins were in the midst of a disappointing season that left them 26 games out of first in the AL West. And a young broadcaster began working at WCCO Radio: Denny Long.
The list of legendary broadcasters on WCCO is long: Boone and Erickson, Cannon, Cedric, Hartman, Viken, Lamont, Lee, Shelby and more.
Only one - Sid Hartman (65 years) - had a longer run on WCCO Radio, a testament to the professionalism, the integrity, and the diverse talents of Denny Long.
"I think initially when when I first got hired, I walked through those doors, I was working at a radio station that had maybe 15 people," Long explains. "But it took me two weeks to get introduced to all the staff, 100 and some people at 'CCO Radio back then. And it still amazes me, we had a receptionist 24/7 back then. 247! Just meeting all these people, great people, great voices, and then seeing all the stars, the authors, TV people, you name it, they were coming in and out of that door so often, it was quite impressive."
Despite the incredible career he built, it wasn't always radio for Long, who grew up in "Nordeast," and attended the University of Minnesota. Long spoke to Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News Thursday.
"You know, not really," when asked if radio was always the plan. "As a kid I loved music and when I was in grade school, when I lived across the street from the grade school, I would bring out my sister's little 45 record player. I would play that, and I thought about that years later, I was kind of an early DJ back then."
Initially, Long was interested in law enforcement.
"I ended up a radio, volunteered at the University of Minnesota radio station, and got the bug from there. And the rest, as they say, is history," he recalls.
Long dropped law enforcement studies and enrolled in Brown Institute’s broadcast training program. In 1964, after obtaining his certificate, he was hired by a local radio station in Webster City, Iowa, for his first real broadcast job before moving to an Owatonna, Minnesota, radio station closer to home.
With Vietnam and the Selective Service going on, Long decided to enlist in the Army National Guard for a six-year commitment, allowing him to stay in the U.S. And it also allowed him to continue growing his broadcast career in Minnesota where he returned to the Twin Cities and was hired to work as a DJ for station KRSI in St. Louis Park, where he worked from 1967 to 1971.
At the time, there were two WCCO's - the AM station which in those years was "full-service," meaning along with news, talk, sports and all that listeners are still accustomed to, played music. And WCCO-FM, originally a simulcast of the AM signal, began to transform into an adult-contemporary music station. Long became music director for the two stations, but when they fully split into two separate entities, Long stuck with the AM side.
By the 1990s, radio was changing again. The music slowly disappeared off WCCO-AM and Long transitioned into a different role, and helped pioneer what could be described as "help radio" on the weekends. From gardening, to health, to real estate, to fixing your car, Long and WCCO began to cater towards the do-it-yourself lifestyle, and shows that still exist on the radio three decades later.
A 1972 image showing Denny Long (second from right) after Warner Bros. presented a Gold Record to the staff who helped introduce "Dueling Banjos," the theme music from the movie "Deliverance." WCCO made the recording a hit in the Upper Midwest, and it went on to sell over a million copies. From left: Roger Erickson, unknown, Chuck Lilligren, unknown, Long, Howard Viken.
(Audacy / WCCO Radio)
A few years ago, Long began to step back from a full-time role, and eventually just hosted the Saturday morning programs. This weekend will be that final Saturday show, and Long says how he'll sign-off the air isn't known to him yet.
"It's a little bit overwhelming to think of anything," he said. "Plus, we have shows to do. The show must go on. So we have home improvement, and lawn and garden, and dealing with such great people. But one day, if you ever decide to retire, people are going to respond that you never knew. I'm getting response from listeners that I never knew were out there. It is so gratifying and so surprising. I guess, I don't know what I was going to say. It's just too overwhelming. Too overwhelming."
Retirement comes at different times, and with different circumstances for everyone. For Long, it's his health. He had planned to make it to August so he could cross the 55-year anniversary date.
"But unfortunately, a medical diagnosis made me move it up a little bit," he told Sawkar. "You know what they say, life happens when you're making other plans, and indeed. So, it's unfortunate, but I think, with a little bit of good luck and good medical treatment, we're going to be OK."
For every one of his many colleagues, and the thousands of listeners over five decades at the Good Neighbor, it's good luck and good wishes to a friendly voice, and even friendly person, Denny Long.
"55 years is just - how can you fit that into a few minutes or three or four hours? But we're going to try, and we're going to still have a great time."
