Radio great Richard Blade honored with Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony
Los Angeles radio legend, Richard Blade, was honored with the unveiling of his star in a Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony Thursday, as he attributed his success as a DJ to just loving the music and groups that he plays.
Blade was nominated for the Hollywood star by his fans, and the Richard Blade Fan Club coordinator, Oscar E. Alvarez Jr., spoke at Thursday's ceremony, holding a cassette tape, saying recording Blade's set list back in the day made for the coolest 1980s mixed tape.
"We would set the dial to 106.7 KROQ, a little radio station in Pasadena, and a real cool DJ would come on, with a really cool British accent, and he would say 'Richard Blade here, coming up next,' Depeche Mode, Morrissey, New Order, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Culture Club, Dramarama, The English Beat and all the rest, The Cure," Alvarez said.
Beginning in 1982, Blade started his career at KROQ. He worked alongside industry greats such as Rick Carroll, Kevin Weatherly, Dusty Street, Larry Groves, Mike Evans, Freddie Snakeskin, Rodney on the ROQ, Jed the Fish, Swedish Egil, Kevin & Bean, Rockin' Fig, Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, Carson Daly, and Dr. Drew.
TV show host Jimmy Kimmel hosted Thursday's ceremony and explained how Richard Blade got his name, which for a time was shortened to "The Blade," during his run at KROQ in the 1980s.
Kimmel, known as "Jimmy the Sports Guy" early in his career on KROQ, revealed Blade's real name is Richard Sheppard.
"He settled on the new name in 1982, live on the air. He saw a newspaper ad for the movie 'Blade Runner' and from that point on, he was Richard Blade Runner, which he shortened just to 'Blade,'" Kimmel said.
The Blade helped to usher in the new era of alternative music on the Rock of the 80s, also known as The World Famous KROQ.
Rocker Billy Idol spoke at Thursday's ceremony, calling the 1980s a "fantastically crazy time."
"It was fantastic for us back in the 80s to have someone like Richard on KROQ, super, you know, supporting new music that was coming out of England, and America. Cause we were getting a lot of blow-back from the people of the 60s and 70s who just didn't want to believe that there was anything good about the 80s, so you needed mates, you really did," Idol said.
At the end of his speech, Idol embraced Blade and shouted with a fist pump, "I love Richard Blade, yeah!"
Blade has been on the airwaves for decades. He was born in England but started his music career as a DJ at Oxford University. After touring Europe for two years as a DJ, he moved to the United States, and through much effort, he finally landed at KROQ in Los Angeles.
His rise to success in the States began with plenty of rejection. Blade said he was told he would never work in Los Angeles with his accent. He finally got a call to work for two weeks, a 9 a.m. to noon shift at KROQ, unpaid. He had to quit his current paid radio job to do it.
"So I took the risk and at the end of my first shift, they hired me for KROQ, and suddenly it was like the locomotive took off, and just went," Blade said.
"I was just privileged to play that music," Blade said. "You like listening to it, I like playing it."
While Blade was the top-rated morning-drive DJ on KROQ, he also hosted and directed numerous TV shows and series including Video One, MV3, and VideoBeat.
He has won numerous awards, including The Golden Microphone, California's Best DJ, the Brit-of-the-Year, and the American DJ Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Blade was awarded for his contributions to music and entertainment last year when the Los Angeles City Council proclaimed June 9 Richard Blade Day in Los Angeles
Blade has also appeared in many Network TV series and starred or co-starred in several feature films, including Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Spellcaster, and Long Lost Son, which he also wrote.
Blade is also the best-selling author of "World In My Eyes", his autobiography, published in 2017, and four novels: "SPQR", "Birthright", "Imposters", and "Ghosts of the Congo."
He also has two non-fiction music books, "The Lockdown Interviews" and "The Unlocked Interviews", which feature conversations with music's biggest stars during the pandemic.
Blade's latest novel, "Slapton Sands", which was released June 6, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and is inspired by the true story of the disaster that befell the American soldiers training in England for D-Day.
He currently hosts a daily radio show on both SiriusXM 1st Wave and KCBS and continues to DJ live.
