.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
The other day I searched on the Internet for KPTL-FM’s Frank Monroe and “Deeya” just to see what they look like. You can listen to radio personalities for years as faceless voices, and it doesn’t really matter much. But eventually you get curious, and then you have to take a trip to a Web site to find a photo.

And then there’s Dic Youngs. Everybody knows The Old Youngster on sight.

I observed him at the Latin King restaurant last year after he was pushed into retirement by KIOA, and it was quite entertaining. The boss coming over to his table, the people greeting him as he made his way out – we don’t have many real celebrities in this town, so it’s nice to have at least one. And it’s also good that he’s such an unlikely candidate.

Not exactly the slick show-biz type. Not one to put on airs. Still quite comfortable on the East Side.

Youngs looks like a guy who has spent the past four decades focused on two things: sitting at a microphone and eating lots of big Italian meals. And look how he won us over – with low-tech, old-fashioned, hit-factory radio. Treating him like a big shot is like having a parade for the city’s favorite dry cleaner.

But that’s the kind of hero a humble, hard-working town like Des Moines should have.

The only problem is, after all of those happy verses, somebody broke into his song before it was finished. The suits nudged Youngs out before he was ready to go. So last month he filed suit against Saga Communications Inc., owner of KIOA, charging the company with age discrimination and disability discrimination. A jury trial appears to be on the way.

We should know by now that nothing is perfect behind the entertainment curtain. Some of those lovable stars are jerks, money trumps creativity, and nameless studio musicians don’t get the credit they deserve.

But this is just awkward.

On the one hand, no one gets to stay in their dream job forever. Youngs still gets to star one night a week on KRNT Radio and one night at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, which isn’t bad at the age of 66. On the other hand, it doesn’t make much business sense to get rid of a local hero with good ratings.

You can be sure that Youngs didn’t want to file a lawsuit. When you’re a knight in shining armor, it’s best if the public never sees you sitting around after the jousting tournament in your underwear. But it just doesn’t seem right that a corporate owner in Detroit can reach across a couple of states and switch off our spotlight.

So now we have a lawsuit lavishly decorated with career details, snippets that don’t seem to belong on a legal document. Youngsy starred as an East High athlete; he “rocked the teens of Des Moines”; he helped the KIOA High Hoopers basketball team raise a million dollars for charity; and then he “was forced into retirement and terminated.”

When it comes to pop music, we like three-minute songs with a catchy hook, and we don’t want sad endings.

We listen to them over and over until they’re not really songs anymore, they’re passageways to times long gone. Mix well-worn music with the comfort of a really, really familiar voice and you’ve got the equivalent of high-priced therapy.

Read the e-mail tributes Youngs received on the occasion of his final KIOA Saturday night oldies show; you’ll feel the power of radio waves rolling across the countryside and through the small towns. It’s a doomed phenomenon – you do have an iPod, don’t you? – but that just makes the old-timers all the more protective.

The ones who moved away were shocked and delighted when they returned years later and found his voice right where they left it.

What are the odds Frank Monroe and Deeya will still be on the Des Moines airwaves 40 years from now? Approximately zero. They’ll move around, or get moved, or they’ll burn out on bad hours and live remotes and find a better way to make money.

After all, what kind of a sap stays in one town playing the same songs for 40 years?

In this case, a guy who found his niche and loved it so much he can’t let it go.