Richard Blade
| Richard Blade | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Richard Sheppard May 23, 1956[1] England, UK |
| Occupation | DJ |
Richard Blade (born Richard Sheppard; 23 May 1956) is a popular Los Angeles radio, television, and film personality from Torquay, England. He is best known for his radio programs that feature new wave and Popular music from the 1980s. He has stated that Depeche Mode is his favourite band.
Biography
Blade worked as a DJ known as "The Young Dick Sheppard" in the United Kingdom and Europe before moving to Los Angeles and starting work as a DJ at KROQ-FM in 1982, briefly working at KNAC before a music format change.[2] He took a new name from the Sci-Fi film, Blade Runner. Within a few months of working in Los Angeles, Blade had become the #1 Arbitron-rated radio personality on the West Coast, and in 1982, he began to host a daily television program on KCAL-TV called "MV3," which later became Video One.
In 1984, he created, produced and hosted "VideoBeat" for KTLA. The weekly series ran for two years. Blade appeared in Square Pegs, Hunter, Divorce Court, and appeared as a contestant (as "Dick Sheppard") on Card Sharks among other shows. He appeared in the 1985 film Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
Between 1991 and 2003, Blade hosted several music-related television programs, including "America's Top Ten", which he took over from Casey Kasem. He hosted several "Flashback" radio programs on KROQ-FM, and was a frequent host at Los Angeles dance clubs on their KROQ Nights, including the famous Palace Theatre in Hollywood. He appeared on the cover of a six-volume set of 1980s music compilations called Richard Blade's Flashback Favorites. In 1998, he wrote for the UPN TV Sci-Fi series "7 Days" including writing the second season's finale, "The Cure".
In April 2000, Blade moved to St Maarten in the Caribbean and took a two-year break from the industry to work on several writing projects.[3]
Returning to Los Angeles in 2002, Blade returned to his career in radio and television. In June 2003, he consulted for MTV Networks on the television program "Bands Reunited", then worked for VH1 as a writer and producer on both seasons of the series. In 2004, he returned to radio on Los Angeles station KYSR (Star 98.7), originally as host of a Saturday night "Totally 80's" program and short features in the afternoon drive-time period. In 2006, when the station became more 90s and current-based, the Saturday night program ended.
Today he has gained a national audience in North America where he is a host for the Sirius Satellite Radio channel First Wave, a 1980s new wave music channel. He hosts his own signature show "First Wave Rewind". He also hosts a twice-daily short feature on Sirius' The Big 80's channel called "Behind The Big '80s". Recently, Blade has taken over for Ray Rossi on The Pulse on weekends.
In April 2006 Richard co-starred with Gabrielle Anwar and Craig Sheffer in a film he wrote, Long Lost Son. The film, which was shot on location in the Caribbean, premiered on Lifetime in August 2006. In August 2007, Blade made an appearance on the reality show, Rock of Love. Blade has made regular cameo appearances on Glory Daze, set at a college frat house in 1986. Blade plays the DJ at the College Radio station known as "The Voice".
Currently, Richard Blade also serves up 80’s music on “Flashback Lunch” every weekday at noon on Jack-FM (KCBS) in Los Angeles.
Film appearances
Blade appeared in several films, including Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1985), Depeche Mode 101, (1989), Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever (1990), and Spellcaster (1991).
References
- ↑ "imdb.com". Retrieved Nov 10, 2016.
- ↑ Richard Blade's website
- ↑ "Where Are They Now at laradio.com". Ontario Empblog. 2003-11-27. Retrieved 2006-08-17.