Holiday Time

By LESLIE MORIARTY Herald Writer

SEATTLE -- It's a few minutes before 7 p.m. and KSBG FM radio disc jockey Danny Holiday is in the studio, checking his playlist and getting ready to go on the air.

His producer intern is doing time checks across the hall and his studio intern is stacking carts, the prerecorded songs in the format the station uses.

It seems like a typical day for the well-known Seattle radio personality. But the bouquets of flowers and the special guests give hints that this day is not just like any other.

After more than 42 years in the radio and music business, today is his last on the air. At 55, Holiday is retiring.

"Mr. Holiday's going to take a holiday," he quips as he signs on for his last show.

Born Danny Thygesen, the Everett native decided as a teen-ager that he liked the radio business. He would ride his bicycle to the KRKO radio station and hang around outside watching the DJs do their thing.

"After awhile, they'd let me come in to watch a couple of nights a week," he said.

At 14, when his family moved to Anacortes, he persuaded a station manager to allow him to run errands for the DJs.

But his interest in music wasn't limited to radio.

"I wanted to be a rock star too," he said. "I did play in a band called the Swags for a while, until we figured out we weren't really meant to become famous."

It was at his first paid gig with the Swags in Burlington that he came up with his stage name.

"We were playing at the Holiday Ballroom," he said. "The name just stuck."

By 1960, Holiday was an announcer for an Anacortes station, playing religious music, which he said didn't really fit him. But it gave him experience.

Moves took him from Anacortes to Bellingham to Seattle, where he landed a job with KOL, a big name, top 40 station. He was there three years until Uncle Sam called him to serve his country.

When his military service was over, he went back into radio in Spokane and Seattle. But he was lured away from it to record promotion.

"When I was at the stations, I kept seeing these record promoters coming in all the time," Holiday said. "They had the big expense accounts and women just hung on them."

He worked for several promoters, including ABC Records, A&M, CBS-Columbia and 20th Century Fox. He arranged tours and promoted the Carpenters, Chicago, the Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and even Andy Williams.

Following that, he and a friend began their own promotions company, Holiday Walker Marketing, selling local small label artists.

The venture was short lived and in January 1979 he was offered a job in the printing industry and he took it. Eight years later, he came back to radio with an oldies show on KZOK.

Just as he was gaining prominence, the station was sold and his program was cut. That's when KSBG hired him on a trial run to see what he could do.

In his seven years at KBSG, Holiday has been the night guy, working from 7 p.m. to midnight. Most of the time, he has been one of the top three nighttime DJs in the Seattle market ratings.

His fans also have heard a weekly three-hour show, "Rock 'n' Roll Time Machine," during which he picks his favorite songs and tells his own stories of the artists and the music industry.

His last show takes that format.

"It's all Danny Request Night," he tells listeners. "The station has given me the go-ahead to play whatever I want to. So I'm going to play some of my favorites."

He plays the original version of "Suzy Q" by Dale Hawkins to start off the night.

In quieter moments, Holiday admits he can't believe that he actually has received a paycheck to play music.

"What an ideal job," he says. "There have been days when I've said to myself, I can't believe that I get paid to do this. I mean I'm having so much fun."

And there are other benefits.

When he serves as master of ceremonies for events, women in their 30s and 40s show up wearing sweat shirts emblazoned with "Danny, Danny" in big black letters.

"It's good for the ego," he says.

During his last night on the air, Holiday's two mentors take the time to call.

Buddy Knox, who sang Holiday's favorite song, "Party Doll," calls to say goodbye.

"He (Knox) was a major player in my career," Holiday tells listeners.

Later, Red Robinson, a DJ from CISL AM in Vancouver, British Columbia, calls.

"I don't think Seattle will ever be the same without you," Robinson tells Holiday. "I put you right up there with Pat O'Day (a former Seattle DJ). You both are in the tradition of the true old-time rock 'n' roll DJs."

During the show, a crew from a local television station shows up to do a segment on his retirement.

While he has never considered himself a celebrity, he has fought many of the demons they often do. His first and only marriage ended because of his drinking and drug addiction.

He took on both and has been drug-free for more than 20 years. In 1995, when he found out he was diabetic, he quit smoking and began eating better.

"In both situations, with the alcoholism and the diabetes, the choice was clear. It was either quit or die. It wasn't just a matter of quality of life. It was 'follow the rules or lose your life.' "

Today, he is healthy and his retirement is his choice, to give him time to write his book.

"The station has always been supportive of me," he says. "It's a great place to work and in no way is my leaving any reflection on the people I work with or work for."

Holiday says the music of the 1950s and early 1960s will live forever.

"But it will take on new meaning once all of us who experience it die off," he says. "Our kids, and their kids, will study it like they study history. It won't have the same meaning."

Another listener calls to say goodbye.

"Danny, this is Heidi. Remember me? You came to play music at my 40th birthday party at my house about 10 1/2 years ago."

He listens and responds immediately.

"Oh, Heidi of Bob and Heidi," he says. "I remember, I blew your speakers out."

Holiday plans to spend his time at his summer home on Tucker Ranch near Stanwood and to write a book, "Rock 'n' Roll: Fact and Fiction." It will be in three parts, he says: stories; a "songography" or list of 1,000 songs detailing when each was recorded, who recorded it and if it was a hit; and a calendar with significant dates in pop music history.

He will retain e-mail and voice mail at KBSG, and as chapters are written, parts of them will appear on the station's Web site, www.KBSG.com.

His last hours on the air go by fast. It's a quarter to midnight and Holiday is expressing a few last thank-yous. He also thanks his listeners.

With that, he plays his signature walk-off, in imitation of how Elvis ended his concerts.

"Danny," it says, "has left the building."