{{short description|American radio personality}} {{Infobox person | name = Dusty Street | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = October 19, 1946 | birth_place = [[Palo Alto, California]], U.S. | death_date = October 21, 2023 (age 77) | death_place = [[Eugene, Oregon]], U.S. | other_names = | occupation = Disc jockey, radio host | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse(s) = | relatives = }}
'''Dustine''' "'''Dusty'''" '''Frances Street''' (October 19, 1946 – October 21, 2023) was an American disc jockey. As one of the first women to work on-air in FM radio on the West Coast,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=De Loera|first=Carlos |date=2023-10-22 |title=Dusty Street, longtime KROQ voice and pioneering female DJ, dies at 77 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-10-22/dusty-street-former-kroq-dj-dead-at-77 |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> she was associated with station [[KROQ]] in Los Angeles in the 1980s, and was inducted into the [[California Historical Radio Society|Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame]] in 2015.
==Early life and education== Street was born in [[Palo Alto, California]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=McDougal |first=Dennis |date=1985-10-13 |title=So Says Dusty Street |pages=423 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-so-says-dusty-stre/136117687/ |access-date=2023-12-01 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> the daughter of Emerson Street, a journalist and labor organizer,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1979-03-09 |title=Former reporter Emerson Street dead at 64 |pages=13 |work=The Press Democrat |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-democrat-former-reporter-emers/136119981/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and Mildred Ruth Sutherland Street, a journalist.<ref name=":1" /> She graduated from [[Ellwood P. Cubberley High School|Cubberley High School]] in 1964; she attended but did not graduate from [[San Francisco State University|San Francisco State College]].<ref name=":2">Ohanesian, Elizabeth. [https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/tt44ps069 "Modern ROQ: The Oral Histories of Former KROQ DJs Dusty Street and 'Swedish' Egil Aalvik"] (2007), master's thesis, California State University, Northridge.</ref> ==Career== Street began her radio career in San Francisco,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graff |first=Amy |date=2023-10-25 |title='She was the Queen': Beloved DJ who started career in SF dies |url=https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/dj-started-career-sf-dies-18446912.php |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> where she worked with [[Tom Donahue (DJ)|Tom Donahue]] at [[KFRC-FM|KMPX]] in the late 1960s and at [[KSAN (FM)|KSAN]] from 1969 to 1979. She worked at KROQ in Los Angeles from 1979 to 1989, with a year away at other stations in the city.<ref name=":0" /> She was credited with being one of the first women DJs on West Coast radio<ref>{{Cite news |last=Seay |first=Davin |date=1980-10-09 |title=Radio Free Rock 'n' Roll: The Incompatibility of Big Business, Danger and Imagination |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/la-weekly-radio-free-rock-n-roll-the/136118055/ 6], 7 |work=LA Weekly |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/la-weekly-radio-free-rock-n-roll-the/136118108/ |access-date=2023-12-01 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and with introducing several major artists and genres to American commercial radio, including [[Billy Idol]] and [[Siouxsie and the Banshees]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Blair |first=Elizabeth |date=October 25, 2023 |title=Remembering pioneering female rock DJ Dusty Street |work=NPR: All Things Considered |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/10/25/1208577462/remembering-pioneering-female-rock-dj-dusty-street |access-date=December 1, 2023}}</ref> "Nobody in the country was playing what we were playing when we started," she recalled, in an oral history interview about her time at KROQ, conducted by [[Liz Ohanesian]] in 2007.<ref name=":2" /> "It was all about the freedom. It was never about the money, it was never about the acclaim, it was all about the freedom."<ref name=":3" /> She was known for her sign-off slogan, "Fly low and avoid the radar."<ref name=":1" />
From 2002 to 2022, Street hosted on [[Deep Tracks]] and [[Classic Vinyl]], channels on [[Sirius XM]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Kevin |date=2023-10-22 |title=Remembering Dusty Street |url=https://ramp247.com/formats/classic-rock/remembering-dusty-street/ |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=RAMP - Radio and Music Pros |language=en-US}}</ref> from her home in Cleveland. She and her longtime colleague [[Raechel Donahue]]<ref name=":2" /> were part of the Moonlight Groove Highway radio project of the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] in 2004,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2004-08-11 |title=New National Radio Network: Moonlight Groove Highway |pages=37 |work=The News-Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-star-new-national-radio-network/136118368/ |access-date=2023-12-01 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and part of [[NPR]]'s Airplay documentary project in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fong-Torres |first=Ben |date=2011-09-04 |title=PBS' 'Airplay' gets free-form radio juices flowing |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/radiowaves/article/pbs-airplay-gets-free-form-radio-juices-flowing-2310842.php |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> She also had a podcast, the ''Fly Low Show''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Trickey |first=Erick |date=December 16, 2010 |title=Most Interesting People 2011: Dusty Street |url=https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/people/articles/most-interesting-people-2011-dusty-street |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=Cleveland Magazine |language=en}}</ref> In 2023, she appeared in the documentary ''San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Minsker |first=Evan |date=2023-10-24 |title=Dusty Street, KROQ DJ and Radio Pioneer, Dies at 77 |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/dusty-street-kroq-dj-and-radio-pioneer-dies-at-77/ |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref> She was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nordyke |first=Kimberly |date=2023-10-23 |title=Dusty Street, Pioneering Female DJ for Los Angeles Radio Station KROQ, Dies at 77 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/dusty-street-dead-veteran-dj-los-angeles-radio-station-kroq-dies-1235624488/ |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Personal life== Street died in 2023, at the age of 77, in [[Eugene, Oregon]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Willman |first=Chris |date=2023-10-23 |title=Dusty Street, Seminal Voice for KROQ and a Pioneering DJ in San Francisco Scene, Dies at 77 |url=https://variety.com/2023/music/news/dusty-street-dead-kroq-dj-siriusxm-1235764948/ |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwb2VA8Ly_w A 2023 interview with Dusty Street], from the Jake Feinberg Show, on YouTube {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Street, Dusty}} [[Category:1946 births]] [[Category:2023 deaths]] [[Category:American radio DJs]] [[Category:American women radio personalities]] [[Category:Mass media people from Palo Alto, California]]