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Dr. Demento, Madcap Radio DJ Who Launched Weird Al’s Career, Announces Retirement

After 55 years, the Dr. Demento show - which launched the career of "Weird Al" Yankovic - is going off the air.

The pop culture universe became significantly less demented on Friday when Barret Hansen, aka Dr. Demento, announced his retirement after 55 years of playing novelty songs on the airwaves. But his greatest achievement took place in 1976 when he dug out a cassette mailed into him by a 16-year-old high school student named Alfred Yankovic, and played his homemade song “Belvedere Cruisin'” on the national airwaves. Early classics like “My Bologna” and “Another One Rides The Bus” were first heard on the Dr. Demento show, and Yankovic has often credited the DJ with not only launching his entire career, but inspiring him to record parody songs in the first place.

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