Rick Dees

In the early 1980s, as radio became increasingly competitive—with every major music format fragmented to serve more and more specific groups of listeners—stations in large markets were content when they drew 3 or 4 percent of the total listening audience. Led by Rick Dees, a fresh-faced deejay out of Memphis, Tennessee, KIIS-FM garnered 10 percent and more of the Los Angeles audience. Dees, who arrived at the station in 1981, parlayed a friendly, versatile voice,...