| Shadoe Stevens' Biography... (Shadoe's bio is taken from his website at rhythmradio.com) |
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Declared one of the original “Rough Riders,” he was born and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota. A self-proclaimed radio prodigy, he built a radio station in his home at the age of 10, and began broadcasting for a mile in every direction. The audacious whippersnapper - driven by sheer enthusiasm - went on to create a "viral marketing campaign" which led to his being hired as host of his own rock radio show on local commercial station KEYJ. He was 11 years old and was promoted as “The World’s Youngest DJ.”
Majoring in Commercial Art and Radio/TV Journalism at the University of North Dakota and the University of Arizona, he put himself through college working in radio at KILO in Grand Forks, North Dakota, KQWB in Fargo, North Dakota, and KIKX in Tucson, Arizona. Even then, described as a workaholic and overachiever, while going to school he worked full-time at the stations and appeared in university plays on weekends. As a radio personality hosting an evening program (6:00pm - 9:00pm) at WRKO in Boston, his program gained some of the highest ratings in the history of Boston radio (33% of listeners aged 12 and over). He was then recruited away from Boston by the number one radio station in the country, KHJ in Los Angeles. He was enormously successful in Los Angeles. Not only was he regularly rated as a number one radio personality, he created two of the most commercially successful music formats in radio - both of which have been copied, adapted, and built upon throughout the world. As program director at KRLA, he created the first financially successful Album Oriented format for AM radio. As both director of programming and drive time on-air personality, he created a distinctive "attitude". Within 6 months from the introduction of his new programming format, the station shot to #1. As program director at KMET-FM, he created the first commercially successful Album Oriented Rock format for FM radio. Again, as the PD and on-air personality, he created a musical approach and an "attitude" for the format and, again, within 6 months, the station shot to #1. KMET became the most financially successful rock station in the country. As program director for KROQ-FM, he created another new music format that consisted of only "cutting edge new music." Later this format came to be known as "Alternative Rock." Again, as before, as both PD and on-air personality, the "attitude" he developed, combined with this new musical "niche," resulted in astonishing acceptance in a very short time. Within 6 months, it too, became a number one station. As a radio personality, he won the Billboard Personality of the Year Award. After leaving radio for the worlds of television and film, in 1988, he was offered the position of hosting American Top Forty. Casey Kasem left the show, and Shadoe became the new host for the next 6 years. During this time, it became the most successful and widely syndicated radio show in the world. It was broadcast in 120 countries to an estimated 1 billion listeners every week. His voice became one of the most recognizable voices in the world. TELEVISION AND FILM Shadoe began his television career as Steve Allen's announcer/side-kick on the nationally syndicated Steve Allen Show. He appeared on Midnight Special where he was a correspondent, giving artist backgrounds and doing celebrity interviews with major rock groups. He appeared in the movies: The Kentucky Fried Movie, TRAXX, Mr. Saturday Night, and the much revered "Bucket of Blood," for Roger Corman. He appeared on Hollywood Squares, which for three years was a top 5 syndicated show. As a regular on the show, he became a household name. The show continued in successful syndication for another three years. He starred in two network series for CBS, the Fred Silverman production "Loose Cannon," and for four years the Top 20 series "Dave's World" with Harry Anderson, Meshach Tayler, and DeLane Matthews. He has frequently been a guest star on a wide range of hit series including: Beverly Hills 90210, Baywatch, The Larry Sanders Show, Clueless, Burke's Law, Fast Track, Caroline in the City, and Sonny Spoon (w/Mario Van Peebles). As a voice-over artist, he has been the voice of Hollywood Squares, Comic Relief, the Grammy Awards, the Emmy Awards, and innumerable commercials. In the "special skills" department, he has been a student of martial arts, and kickboxing for 18 years and says quote, "I know enough to really hurt myself." ADVERTISING AND TELEVISION PRODUCTION Shadoe created the production company "ShadoeVision," which produced radio campaigns for almost every major artist (e.g. Elton John, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, and the Rolling Stones). The company also created advertising campaigns for major concert tours for artists like Rod Stewart, Queen, and Fleetwood Mac. In the 1980's, his company was retained to devise a television advertising strategy and campaign for a 14 store electronics chain known as the Federated Group. He created and played a character named Fred Rated in a series of commercials that were a mix of Saturday Night Live and Monty Python. Over a period of six years, he and a small team of artists: Chris Culverhouse, Chuck Cirino, Michael Hill, Dave Nichols, and Ed Freeman, created over 1,200 different commercials. After the first weekend of the campaign, sales increased 500%. In four years, the group grew from 14 local stores to 78 superstores in 5 states. The success of the Federated advertising campaign was extraordinary. It was the first regional advertising campaign ever to have received a 2 page spread in Time magazine. Fred Rated's huge exposure resulted in Shadoe's invitation to join Hollywood Squares in 1987 and to host American Top 40 the next year. His company also created, produced and sold to HBO, an experimental comedy show named "Shadoevision." Again, he created cutting edge production design utilizing multi-media exploration, and a complex, intricate, hyperactive editing style. Many of the techniques implemented in this show were later adopted by MTV and others. His awards in advertising include Cleo Awards and the Big Apple Award. |
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