It was five years ago in May 2018 when I dedicated a column to the influence and contributions of broadcast icon Dick Biondi and how Chicagoland filmmaker Pam Pulice is helping Biondi’s legacy and reputation reach new generations with her new documentary, which is now completed in 2023 after nine years.
Her new documentary titled “The Voice that Rocked America: The Dick Biondi Story” is about this pioneer radio personality and back in May 2018, she even screened a portion of it at an event at the Michigan City Library.
Finally, the entire documentary is completed, but not licensed yet for a wide release, which takes some serious funding.
Biondi’s longtime pal and Chicagoland theatre mogul Ron Onesti hosted a screening of the full documentary last month with producer Pulice attending on May 21 at Des Plaines Theatre and proceeds raised directed to help finance the national distribution of the documentary.
At 2 p.m. Sunday, June 25 the documentary will be shown yet again, this time at The Art Theater, 230 Main St. in Hobart, with Pulice once again in attendance for a question-and-answer session hosted by WIMS Radio and media personality Tom Lounges. Tickets are $20 or $100 for a VIP table which seats four by calling 219-942-1670 or www.brickartlive.com.
Originally from Villa Park, Illinois, Pulice, 75, considers herself semiretired and has lived in LaPorte since 2009.
Her Biondi documentary not only includes interviews and recent day-in-the-life footage of Biondi, but also on-camera interviews with Frankie Valli, Tony Orlando, Bobby Rydell and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, as well as Biondi’s career contemporaries such as fellow radio personality John “Records” Landecker.
Pulice first met radio idol Biondi in 1961 and even served as the president of his fan club for a time.
Most of all, I’m hoping for an update on the man himself, Mr. Biondi, who seems to have disappeared during these recent years of roller coaster health concerns. His milestone 90th birthday last September came and went without much notice or media attention.
Biondi has logged more than 65 years on the airwaves, with much of his career spent broadcasting from Chicago. One of his first on-air assignments was in the early 1950s at WINR in New York where he worked with the young writer Rod Serling years before Serling became famous as the creator to the TV series “The Twilight Zone.”
As Biondi’s voice and influence over the airwaves reached greater volume, he became an early advocate of the songs and talent of major music names including Elvis Presley and the Beatles.
When he arrived in Chicago in 1960 as the newest name with his own show on WLS, the radio station boasted 50,000 watts reaching listeners throughout the Midwest and beyond. He said the first record he ever played on WLS was Presley’s “Teddy Bear.” Biondi’s larger-than-life distinct voice and entertaining personality is still credited today as one of the first on-air identities to create the now popular image of radio DJs as loud and animated as a characteristic to hold listeners’ attention.
After a dispute with WLS, he hopped to Los Angeles to KRLA to join Casey Kasem and other A-list radio vocals before returning to Chicago in the 1980s as part of the launch of “oldies” station WJMK 104.3 FM, where he stayed until 2006, when the station changed its format. This prompted his return to WLS 94.7 FM where he remained as his “return radio home.”
In May 2017, Biondi announced to WLS-FM listeners he would be on hiatus from his weekend morning radio shows due to required hospitalization due to a leg ailment, and he was never able to return to the airwaves.
In 2018 media columnist Robert Feder reported a column update, when he learned WLS and Biondi had terminated their contract in late 2017. Marv Nyren, vice president and market manager at Cumulus Chicago also confirmed the parting of ways to the Chicago Tribune, and explained Biondi’s employment with WLS ended in late 2017.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at [email protected].