Don Bleu: Fifty Years Behind the Microphone

From “True Don Bleu” to Bay Area Legend

There are radio personalities who become successful, and then there are those who become part of their listeners’ daily lives. Don Bleu belongs firmly in the latter category.

For nearly half a century, his unmistakable voice, infectious humor, and genuine warmth entertained millions of listeners from the Upper Midwest to Los Angeles and ultimately the San Francisco Bay Area. Whether audiences knew him as “True Don Bleu” or later as “Bleu in the Morning,” he built one of the longest and most respected careers in American radio.

“I was actually in radio almost exactly fifty years—from 1966 until 2016,” Bleu recalled with a smile during our conversation for the USA Radio Museum.

A Career That Began With a Friend

Like many broadcasting careers, Don’s began with someone opening a door.

Born Rick Kelleher, he was attending the University of North Dakota while working at Kenny Shoes when fraternity brother Terry Ingstad—better known to radio fans as Shadoe Stevens—suggested he visit local station KILO.

That invitation changed his life.

When Stevens left for another station, Don inherited his shift. Then Stevens moved again to Fargo—and Don once again succeeded him. Eventually Stevens recommended him for one of the country’s premier Top 40 stations, KDWBin Minneapolis.

“I owe it all to Shadoe,” Bleu says without hesitation.

Becoming “True Don Bleu”

At KDWB, where he remained for a decade, management created the on-air persona that would become famous.

Inspired by KHJ superstar The Real Don Steele, they christened him “True Don Bleu.”

The name stuck.

Those ten years in Minneapolis established him as one of the Midwest’s leading personalities and prepared him for the next challenge—Los Angeles.

KHJ: The Big Leagues

When program director John Sebastian left KDWB for legendary KHJ in Los Angeles, he brought Don with him.

KHJ was one of America’s most influential Top 40 stations, and Don suddenly found himself replacing another legend—Charlie Tuna.

“It was probably a little sooner than I was ready for,” Don admits today.

His stories from KHJ reveal the humor that would define his career.

When management finally informed him he was being replaced by Rick Dees, program director Chuck Martin reportedly stood on a chair so he could “look him in the eye” before delivering the news.

Don still laughs telling the story decades later.

He also remembers discovering that television personalities parked in the KHJ lot while radio people walked in from outside—until Rick Dees arrived and was promptly given a parking space near the front door.

Reinvention in San Francisco

Like many broadcasters, Don suddenly found himself unemployed.

With two children, a mortgage, and few Los Angeles connections, he searched newspaper listings for radio jobs before learning about a promising Adult Contemporary station in San Francisco called KYUU.

The move would define the rest of his career.

Initially hired for afternoons, Don soon moved into mornings and began building something far more ambitious than simply another morning show.

The Birth of the “Bleupers”

At KYUU, Don developed what became one of radio’s most beloved features—the famous “Bleuper” prank calls.

Unlike many prank-call programs, Don insisted they remain good-natured.

Listeners would nominate friends or relatives for practical jokes, but every call required permission before it aired.

“We always got their approval,” Don explains. “We wanted friendly pranks—not humiliation.”

Whether convincing a bride her wedding flowers had been changed or confronting an honest woman who quietly admitted she’d taken a decorative plate from a bed-and-breakfast, the humor came from authentic human moments rather than cruelty.

The “Bleupers” became a Bay Area institution.

A Morning Companion

Radio’s greatest compliment rarely comes in ratings.

It comes from listeners.

Years after the September 11 attacks, one woman thanked Don for helping her get through that terrible day.

The irony?

He wasn’t even on the air.

He had actually been vacationing in Rome.

Yet in her memory, Don Bleu was still the familiar companion who had guided her through life’s biggest moments.

That’s the kind of relationship only radio can create.

Success Beyond Radio

While dominating Bay Area mornings, Don also built an impressive television career.

He hosted the revived Gong Show, appeared on Evening Magazine, won a Northern California Emmy Award, and nearly became the host of a new Monopoly television game show after personally auditioning with entertainment icon Merv Griffin.

His broadcasting talents also extended into nationally syndicated radio specials and television projects—including work we shared together producing programs for the ABC Radio Network and Hilton Hotels.Watching Radio Change

Although retired, Don remains passionate about broadcasting.

He believes radio still attracts listeners—but faces unprecedented competition from digital media, streaming, podcasts, and social platforms.

“The audience is still there,” he says. “The revenue isn’t.”

Voice tracking, shrinking staffs, and corporate consolidation have transformed the business he entered in 1966.

When asked whether a young Don Bleu would pursue radio today, his answer was thoughtful.

Probably not.

Today’s creative young broadcaster, he suggests, might build a career through YouTube, podcasts, or social media instead.

A Lasting Legacy

Few broadcasters spend nearly four decades in one market.

Even fewer become trusted members of the family.

Don Bleu accomplished both.

His career earned induction into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, honors recognizing not just longevity, but excellence, including 5 Emmys.

Yet perhaps his greatest accomplishment can’t be displayed in a museum.

For generations of listeners, Don Bleu wasn’t simply a radio host.

He was the familiar voice waiting every morning, bringing laughter, companionship, and comfort through life’s ordinary days—and sometimes its most extraordinary ones.

That is the magic of great radio.

And few practiced that magic better than True Don Bleu.