I had been listening to Pete’s station, WNEW-FM, for two years prior. I knew who Jonathan Schwartz, Alison Steele, Rosco, and Scott Muni were. How cool to be 9 and know their voices! In fact, I knew their voices so well that I came home from school with a note from my teacher who was deeply troubled because I brought the Beatles, “White Album” in for Show and Tell. “Hooked at Nine”! Sounds like a name for a substance abuse book

It was in the weeks leading up to Woodstock when I first heard Pete on my radio. He was new, just starting on July 26th. Pete was reading a commercial about Woodstock, and I came to find out years later that it was the first commercial he ever read on WNEW-FM. Just as Jonathan, Alison, Rosco, and Scott were different from one another, Pete was also unique. After listening to 77′ W A “Beatle” C on a transistor radio under my pillow at night, I found the sound coming out of the staff at WNEW-FM far more soothing. They were talking to me, not at me.

Keep in mind that while most kids from that era were listening to the Cowsills and the Monkees, I was on a mission from the Universe! Every chance he got, Pete made fun of me when I used that term.

Because all the jocks at WNEW-FM had their own individual tastes in music, and because the musical boundaries of AM and FM radio had not yet been established, it was not unusual for me to feel like a sponge, soaking up the great music of course, but just as important, being educated by the best teachers a kid could have. Screw math class! I had a date with The Moody Blues! Pete brought yet another style and grace to the music he played on the radio. In those days, Country-Folk-Rock music was beginning to emerge.

I had heard all three of these genres of music played on WNEW-FM, but all in one song? It was during that summer of 1969, as I stood frozen in front of my radio by some “Oh WOW”! moment coming from Pete’s show, that I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I created FM Odyssey in 1991 (so it took me a while!) and got the chance to do radio on my own terms, modeled after the best. Talk about “Oh WOW”!

Just like Pete, I have interviewed hundreds of the legends of rock and folk music, and everything in between. When I was fifteen years old, stoned under the black lights in my room, listening to my favorite rock stars on my headphones, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get the opportunity to ask David Crosby why he wrote “Long Time Gone” for the first CSN album!

As wonderful as those experiences have been, there is another one that rises far above all of them, and that was the privilege of becoming really good friends with Pete for over 17 years. When your hero, your mentor, and inspiration for most of your life becomes your best friend, there is nothing in the world that compares with that, and there never will be.

Sadly though, that is a lot to lose all at once.

At the time of this writing I am still in shock. Pete’s influence and friendship have been with me for over 40 years. My head is jam-packed with music and I hear songs all the time; it’s like having a radio strapped to your ear. As I am filled with deep emotion over the loss of Pete, I keep hearing two lyrics over and over: “The day the music died” from Don McLean’s song “American Pie”, and “Carry On” from CSNY. Those are two very strong but opposing sentiments, don’t you think?

Sometimes when people that you love die, there is a lesson they are teaching us by their departure. The lesson I am learning from this tragedy (or gift?) is that I feel the passion and love for doing great radio being reignited in me all over again. I feel like I am 11 years old again, saying, “I want to be like Pete when I grow up”. And it’s become clearer than ever that as long as I am still here, I must continue to bring passion and respectability to this forum of radio that Pete believed in and will forever love.

Listen now to Fred’s tribute to Pete:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Listen to Fred’s Tribute to Pete Fornatale
this Sunday May 20 ~ 10 AM EST

Song about trains. Take a ride with Fred as he takes a journey on the rails.

Set back, listen and enjoy!

Click on the arrow to hear the first hour.

Take a break then set back and enjoy the second hour of great music.

Take a listen.
As Fred says, “We need the poets and you know it.”

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Yaktivate.com Global Podcast Network, and by:

Now Available – A Retrospective Interview with Dan Fogelberg2 CD set for $29.95 / now on sale at discounted price – exclusively on FMOdyssey.com – click on the album cover to order your set now! MP3 Clip – DF on “Same Old Lang Syne” $3 from each package sold goes to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in Dan Fogelberg’s name.

Song about telephones. Who would have thought there were so many songs about telephones?

Make the call!

Set back, listen and enjoy!

Click on the arrow to hear the first hour.

Take a break then set back and enjoy the second hour of great music.

Take a listen.
As Fred says, “We need the poets and you know it.”

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Yaktivate.com Global Podcast Network, and by:

Now Available – A Retrospective Interview with Dan Fogelberg2 CD set for $29.95 / now on sale at discounted price – exclusively on FMOdyssey.com – click on the album cover to order your set now! MP3 Clip – DF on “Same Old Lang Syne” $3 from each package sold goes to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in Dan Fogelberg’s name.

Fred opens with Phoebe Snow and then goes on to play some great music like he always does.

Set back, listen and enjoy!

Click on the arrow to hear the first hour.

Take a break then set back and enjoy the second hour of great music.

Take a listen.
As Fred says, “We need the poets and you know it.”

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Yaktivate.com Global Podcast Network, and by:

Now Available – A Retrospective Interview with Dan Fogelberg2 CD set for $29.95 / now on sale at discounted price – exclusively on FMOdyssey.com – click on the album cover to order your set now! MP3 Clip – DF on “Same Old Lang Syne” $3 from each package sold goes to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in Dan Fogelberg’s name.

This week a little brass a little Bob Rafkin, some film scores and songs about the oceans. The little of everything for everyone.

Set back, listen and enjoy!

Click on the arrow to hear the first hour.

Take a break then set back and enjoy the second hour of great music.

Take a listen.
As Fred says, “We need the poets and you know it.”

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Yaktivate.com Global Podcast Network, and by:

Now Available – A Retrospective Interview with Dan Fogelberg2 CD set for $29.95 / now on sale at discounted price – exclusively on FMOdyssey.com – click on the album cover to order your set now! MP3 Clip – DF on “Same Old Lang Syne” $3 from each package sold goes to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in Dan Fogelberg’s name.

Remebering Peter Bergman for the Firesign Theater.

Set back, listen and enjoy!

Click on the arrow to hear the first hour.

Take a break then set back and enjoy the second hour of great music.

Take a listen.
As Fred says, “We need the poets and you know it.”

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Yaktivate.com Global Podcast Network, and by:

Now Available – A Retrospective Interview with Dan Fogelberg2 CD set for $29.95 / now on sale at discounted price – exclusively on FMOdyssey.com – click on the album cover to order your set now! MP3 Clip – DF on “Same Old Lang Syne” $3 from each package sold goes to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in Dan Fogelberg’s name.

Love is in the air, it must be Spring.

Set back, listen and enjoy!

Click on the arrow to hear the first hour.

Take a break then set back and enjoy the second hour of great music.

Take a listen.
As Fred says, “We need the poets and you know it.”

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Yaktivate.com Global Podcast Network, and by:

Now Available – A Retrospective Interview with Dan Fogelberg2 CD set for $29.95 / now on sale at discounted price – exclusively on FMOdyssey.com – click on the album cover to order your set now! MP3 Clip – DF on “Same Old Lang Syne” $3 from each package sold goes to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in Dan Fogelberg’s name.

This week show is filled with diversity and depth.

Set back, listen and enjoy!

Click on the arrow to hear the first hour.

Take a break then set back and enjoy the second hour of great music.

Take a listen.
As Fred says, “We need the poets and you know it.”

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Yaktivate.com Global Podcast Network, and by:

Now Available – A Retrospective Interview with Dan Fogelberg2 CD set for $29.95 / now on sale at discounted price – exclusively on FMOdyssey.com – click on the album cover to order your set now! MP3 Clip – DF on “Same Old Lang Syne” $3 from each package sold goes to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in Dan Fogelberg’s name.

Songs to help you get through mid winter with a smile.

Set back, listen and enjoy!

Click on the arrow to hear the first hour.

Take a break then set back and enjoy the second hour of great music.

Take a listen.
As Fred says, “We need the poets and you know it.”

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Yaktivate.com Global Podcast Network, and by:

Now Available – A Retrospective Interview with Dan Fogelberg2 CD set for $29.95 / now on sale at discounted price – exclusively on FMOdyssey.com – click on the album cover to order your set now! MP3 Clip – DF on “Same Old Lang Syne” $3 from each package sold goes to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in Dan Fogelberg’s name.