# Dick Hugg > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dick_Hugg > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dick_Hugg.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Hugg > Source revision: 1354086530 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American disc jockey}} {{Infobox person | name = Dick 'Huggy Boy' Hugg | image = | caption = | birth_name = Richard James Hugg | birth_date = June 9, 1928 | birth_place = [Canton, Ohio](/source/Canton%2C_Ohio) | death_date = August 30, 2006 (aged 78) | death_place = [Long Beach, California](/source/Long_Beach%2C_California) | occupation = [disc jockey](/source/disc_jockey) | years_active = 1950s–2006 | website = }} '''Richard James "Dick" Hugg''' (also known as "Huggy Boy") (June 9, 1928 – August 30, 2006) was a [radio](/source/radio) [disc jockey](/source/disc_jockey) in [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles), [California](/source/California).{{cite web|url=http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=715866&an=0&page=0|title=Soul Strut - World Famous Forums |access-date=2007-10-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927004443/http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=715866&an=0&page=0|archive-date=2007-09-27|url-status=dead}}{{cite news |last1=Miller |first1=Martin |title=Dick 'Huggy Boy' Hugg, 78; DJ Introduced White L.A. Listeners to Rhythm & Blues |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-01-me-hugg1-story.html |agency=Los Angeles Times |date=2006-09-01}} ==Rock and Roll== Hugg was the first white disc jockey to broadcast (on station KRKD) from the front window of [John Dolphin's](/source/John_Dolphin_(music_producer)) popular all-night record store, Dolphin's of Hollywood, at the corner of Central and Vernon Avenues. He also co-produced several artists, such as vocalist [Jesse Belvin](/source/Jesse_Belvin) and saxophonist [Joe Houston](/source/Joe_Houston), on Dolphin's various record labels, including Cash and Money. With his own record label, Caddy Records, Hugg recorded local favorites [Jim Balcom](/source/Jim_Balcom), [Jeanette Baker](/source/Jeanette_Baker), [Chuck Higgins](/source/Chuck_Higgins) and [Johnny Flamingo](/source/Johnny_Flamingo). Hugg later promoted bands like [The Jaguars](/source/The_Jaguars), the Village Callers, [Thee Midniters](/source/Thee_Midniters) and [The Champs](/source/The_Champs); these groups were part of what was later known as the [Chicano rock](/source/Chicano_rock) movement.{{Cite web |title=THE STORY-TELLERS |url=http://www.wilkman.com/LTD/LTD3.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927224425/http://www.wilkman.com/LTD/LTD3.htm |archive-date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2007-10-10}} Though originally an R&B disc jockey, Hugg gradually aimed his radio and television shows at Los Angeles' burgeoning Latino population and featured almost every young [Chicano](/source/Chicano) group coming out of [East Los Angeles](/source/East_Los_Angeles_(region)), the [San Gabriel Valley](/source/San_Gabriel_Valley), the [Pomona Valley](/source/Pomona_Valley), and the [San Fernando Valley](/source/San_Fernando_Valley). He promoted dances and shows in the [barrio](/source/barrio) and was important to the growth of the city's so-called ''Eastside Sound''. He also brought to East Los Angeles groups such as [Them](/source/Them_(band)), [Sonny and Cher](/source/Sonny_and_Cher), [The Righteous Brothers](/source/The_Righteous_Brothers) and [Dusty Springfield](/source/Dusty_Springfield), acts that may otherwise have not been accessible to [Mexican-American](/source/Mexican-American) audiences. Hugg was on [KRKD](/source/KEIB), 1951–55; [KWKW](/source/KWKW), 1954; [KALI](/source/KMRB); [KGFJ](/source/KYPA), 1955; [KBLA](/source/KROQ_(1500_AM)), 1965;"[https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1965/Billboard%201965-02-27.pdf KBLA Hikes Power; Bows New Personnel]", ''[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))''. February 27, 1965. pp. 50, 51. Retrieved May 14, 2019. KRKD, 1965–66; [KRTH](/source/KRTH), 1975; [XPRS](/source/XEPRS), 1981–82; [KRLA](/source/KWVE_(AM)), 1983–98; KRTH, 1998–2002.{{Cite web |title=~Los Angeles Radio People, Where Are They Now?h |url=http://www.laradio.com/whereh.htm |website=www.laradio.com}} He hosted an oldies show on KRLA and for a time, a dance program, "The Huggie Boy Show", which aired weekly on [KWHY-TV](/source/KSCN-TV) channel 22. His popularity continued to increase long after the show went off the air. Hugg was one of the [masters of ceremonies](/source/Master_of_ceremonies) for the fourteenth [Cavalcade of Jazz](/source/Cavalcade_of_Jazz) concerts being produced by [Leon Hefflin Sr](/source/Leon_Hefflin_Sr.). held at that year at the [Shrine Auditorium](/source/Shrine_Auditorium) on August 3, 1958. The last Cavalcade of Jazz concert was a tribute to the city's most prominent r&b disc jockeys - Charles Trammel, [Hunter Hancock](/source/Hunter_Hancock) and Jim Randolph teamed up with Hugg. [Lionel Hampton](/source/Lionel_Hampton), [Big Jay McNeely](/source/Big_Jay_McNeely), [Dinah Washington](/source/Dinah_Washington), [Betty Carter](/source/Betty_Carter), [Billy Eckstine](/source/Billy_Eckstine), [Jimmy Witherspoon](/source/Jimmy_Witherspoon), [Louis Jordan](/source/Louis_Jordan), [Nat "King" Cole](/source/Nat_King_Cole), [Louis Armstrong](/source/Louis_Armstrong), [Count Basie](/source/Count_Basie), [Sam Cooke](/source/Sam_Cooke) were just a few of the numerous artists that performed over the years.{{Cite book |author1=Peter Guralnick| url=https://archive.org/details/dreamboogietrium00gura |title=Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke |date=2005 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=0316377945 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=57393650 |url-access=registration|page=250}}"Disc Jockeys Working Mike At Cavalcade" Article The California Eagle July 10, 1958."Top Deejays to Emcee Cavalcade Of Jazz Aug. 3" Los Angeles Sentinel July 10, 1958. ==Personal life== Hugg was married to Emily Hugg for 25 years and had three girls: Darlene, Lisa, and Tiffany. He was later in a relationship for 17 years with Sandy Flores with whom he had a son, Richard Hugg Jr.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} He had seven grandchildren. Dick Hugg died of [cardiac arrest](/source/cardiac_arrest) on August 30, 2006, at age 78.{{cite news |title='That's All' for former DJ 'Huggy Boy' |url=https://www.dailynews.com/2006/09/01/thats-all-for-former-dj-huggy-boy |work=Daily News |agency=Associated Press |date=2006-09-01}} He is interred at [Rose Hills](/source/Rose_Hills_Memorial_Park) Memorial Park in [Whittier, California](/source/Whittier%2C_California). ==In popular culture== Hugg is referenced in Season 2, Episode 14 of [The Rockford Files](/source/The_Rockford_Files), "The Hammer of C Block." [Isaac Hayes](/source/Isaac_Hayes)'s character, Gandolph Fitch, while searching for a radio station says, "Nobody's playing music anymore? Where's Huggy Boy or [Hunter Hancock](/source/Hunter_Hancock)?" At the beginning of the 1987 comedy ''[Born in East L.A.](/source/Born_in_East_L.A._(film))'', Hugg can be heard doing a radio aircheck. He is also featured in the introduction of the music video for [On a Sunday Afternoon](/source/On_a_Sunday_Afternoon) by the Chicano rap group [Lighter Shade of Brown](/source/Lighter_Shade_of_Brown). In the '80s, Hugg had frequently hosted live shows at the former Red Mill Theatre in East Los Angeles, then known as the Boulevard Theatre, which had been operating as a movie house showing Spanish language films and Spanish-dubbed or subtitled versions of English-language films. In 2004, while the theatre had been converted into a church, the name "Boulevard" on the vertical blade marquee were replaced with the words "Huggy Boy" in tribute to him. The theatre continues as a church today, and the "Huggy Boy" marquee still remains.{{cn|date=May 2024}} ==External links== *{{YouTube|zeJDDXJpe5A|Huggy Boy at KRLA radio}} * {{cite web | url = http://www.electricearl.com/dws/huggyboy.html | title = Doo wop Society}} * {{cite book | url = https://www.allmusic.com/album/huggy-boy-presents-rare-r-b-oldies-mw0000042211/releases | title = Huggy Boy Presents Rare R&B Oldies |publisher = Aries Music Entertainment Inc. | format = CD}} * {{cite web | url = https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106734279/richard-james-hugg | title = Richard James "Huggy Boy" Hugg | work = findagrave.com}} ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hugg, Dick}} Category:American radio personalities Category:1928 births Category:2006 deaths Category:20th-century American musicians --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dick Hugg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Hugg) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Hugg?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.