Radio legend Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins, one of the most wildly imaginative jazz
disc jockeys in the country, passed away from cancer on September 30, 1997. He
was 78.
Al's colorful career--his studio was always the "Purple Grotto"--spanned 56
years, 11 U.S. presidencies and both coasts, and included stints at Bay Area
radio stations KGO, KSFO, KMPX, KTIM, KZST, and KAPX.
Prior to his passing, he was host of a Saturday night weekly show on KCSM, a
public station at the College of San Mateo.
Wherever Al went in the radio world, so went the Purple Grotto. He invented the
imaginary subterranean studio one night in New York in 1950, when he looked
around at the violet paint job in the announcer's booth at station WNEW and
began telling his listeners about a glowing grotto with stalactites and
mushrooms.
Soon Al and his nightowl audience invented a cavern filled with imaginary
friends like Harrison, the 176-year old purple Tasmanian owl with bright orange
eyes, named after onetime "Talk of the Town" columnist Harrison Kinney of the
New Yorker.
In New York, Al did dog food ads by speaking directly to the dogs. "It's all
theater of the mind," he used to say.
"I always admired his laid-back style," Conte said. "He was definitely a
one-of-a-kind character. He also said that Al never wanted to hear anything
negative. "His thing was about being positive all the time. I think that's what
kept him going for so long."
Al was such a wild character that Mad Magazine once did a cartoon spread on him
and his imaginary characters in the 1960's.
He loved purple, once had a Porsche covered with purple velveteen and topped
with a faucet, and liked to wear jumpsuits made by his wife Patti, along with
little hats.
Born in Rochester, N.Y., he started as a disc jockey in the early 1940s while
attending the University of Miami on a swimming scholarship. His first radio job
was at a small station in West Virginia. It paid $18 a week.
"He was the epitome of the cool, urban beatnik," the Chronicle once said.
Between records, he talked to callers and visitors about music, food, cars,
flying saucers--"anything," he said, "as long as it's fun."
He was also the host of television's "The Tonight Show" for a few weeks after
Steve Allen abruptly quit the program.
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Dick
Conte, music director and midday host at KCSM who was a disc jockey at KJAZ for
more than 20 years, said he started listening to Jazzbeaux as a teenager.
After
several stops across the country, he landed the overnight shift at New York's
independent powerhouse WNEW in 1950. He was also on the air in Utah, Pittsburgh
and Los Angeles. After ten years of making his WNEW Purple Grotto a hipster's
haven in New York, he came to San Francisco in 1960 and became part of the
fabled air staff of KSFO. Al was also one of the first disc jockeys to use an
informal, conversational tone on the air. He would improvise, much like a jazz
musician, often over background music.
The Bay Area Radio Museum presents
