Richard Blade

I was born in England and grew up in a lovely coastal town in the south-west called Torquay. I worked as a DJ in the United Kingdom before moving to the States and starting work as a DJ here in 1980.



I worked in Barkersfield at KMGN "The Rock Of The Valley", then KZOZ San Luis Obispo "Z93 FM" then off to KNAC. I quickly moved to KROQ just as the 'British Invasion' was starting and within a few months became the 1 Arbitron-rated radio personality on the West Coast! I started hosting a daily dance TV show called MV3, which in 1984 became "Video One".



I was lucky in being one of the first DJs to play a number of acts that later grew to stardom, including Duran Duran, Berlin, Culture Club, Tears For Fears, The English Beat, Depeche Mode and Billy Idol. In addition I appeared in a number of films during the 80s including "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" with Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt and Shannon Doherty, and "101" with a little band that played a concert at the Rosebowl in 1988.



Between 1991 and 2003, I continued to host several music-related television programs, including "America's Top Ten", which I took over from Casey Kasem. I also hosted several "Flashback" radio programs on KROQ, and was a frequent DJ at Los Angeles dance clubs on their KROQ Nights, including the famous Palace Theatre in Hollywood. I put out - on Oglio Records - a six-volume set of 80's music compilations called Richard Blade's Flashback Favorites.



In 2000, I quit everything to move to the Caribbean and teach diving - a long time passion of mine. I dove three times a day, certified hundreds of people and dove with Dolphins and sharks on a regular basis - we did a daily shark feed, just chum not tourists!!!



I thought that was going to be my life, living on a small island, but as they say, if you want to make God laugh tell him you've made a plan. A couple of family tragedies hit and I returned 'temporarily' to Los Angeles to help out. Then VH1 contacted me to produce a show "Bands Reunited". At the same time Sirius Satellite Radio offered me a daily show and Star 98.7 approached me about doing an 80s feature for them - so suddenly I was back in the big city and off the island paradise! But I have zero complaints, life is good and I've just had a movie made that I wrote - and co-starred in - called "Long Lost Son" which aired on Lifetime. Yup, I like to write as well. So check me out on Sirius 22 First Wave - and I'll play you some D'Mode!!!