True Don Bleu

True Don Bleu

Induction Date: 01/01/2005

Host of “Don Bleu in the Morning” on Star 101.3 FM in San Francisco, Don Bleu (real name Rick Kelleher) is one of the most popular personalities in Bay Area radio, but Twin Cities listeners remember him as “True Don Bleu” from KDWB in the glory days of Top 40 AM radio.

A native of East Grand Forks, Minnesota, Bleu began his career in 1966 when his University of North Dakota classmate Shadoe Stevens encouraged him to give radio a try. He signed on at KILO in Grand Forks, and soon became the night-time disc jockey. After a term at KQWB Fargo, he moved to the Twin Cities and KDWB in 1968, where for the next ten years he was one of the top jocks in the region, even touring the state with his own group, True Don Bleu and the Upper Division Back to the ’50s Rock and Roll Revue. His Minnesota success earned him a spot at KHJ Radio in Los Angeles. In 1980 he moved to San Francisco, where he became a star in the adult contemporary format, twice named National Adult Contemporary Air Personality of the Year by Radio & Records Magazine. He’s also enjoyed success in television, having hosted “The Gong Show” for a season, as well as shows for the Discovery Channel and Home and Garden TV.

In 2007, he was inducted into San Francisco’s Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.

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