Joe Donovan

Joe Donovan (Deuth) came to WHAS in 1977 and was part of the air staff for 20 years. Most of those years were spent overnight doing an oldies show that not only was popular in the Louisville area, but across the country thanks to WHAS' 50,000 watt clear channel signal.

On November 11, 2009 we spoke with the retired Donovan about his time at the Big 84, where he worked in radio before and after WHAS, the work that went in to producing a typical Joe Donovan oldies show, whether he'd like to return to doing a regular radio show, and more. That conversation is below:

Joe Donovan Audio Interview
22:51 - 8034 KB

Joe Donovan WHAS JAM Jingle
:11 - 175 KB

DEUTH, JOE M. "JOE DONOVAN," 70, of Louisville, passed away on Sunday, January 19, 2014, at Norton Suburban Hospital.

Joe was born in Forreston, IL, on May 6, 1943 to Milton and Sally Gohlke Deuth.

Joe is survived by his loving wife of 20 years, Doris Weaver Deuth. He is also survived by his brothers Tom Deuth and his wife Judy of Kansas City, KS and Chuck Deuth and his wife Kathy of Sun Lakes, AZ; his sister Julie Mock and her husband Gail of Boulder, CO and several nieces and nephews including his goddaughter Tracy Ackley and her family of Indianapolis, IN; his mother-in-law, Mrs. Leland Weaver, his sister-in-law Ms. Jo Pippin and his brother-in-law Mike Weaver of Bowling Green KY. Joe is also survived by his best friend, Phil Ritz.

Joe's family relocated to Colorado when he was young. He grew up in Loveland, building his first radio station transmitter in his family's basement at age 14. (The FCC came to his parents' home and shut his radio station down). Joe's first love was radio, particularly playing vinyl records. His 45 collection was legendary, consisting of over 30,000 records at one time.

Joe worked as an on-air personality in Loveland (KLOV), Ft. Collins (KCOL) and Denver (KOA, KIMN), Colorado. He was considered a pioneer in the "Oldies" concept before it became a fad. He moved to Louisville in 1977 to go on the air at WHAS 840. His air work reached most states and several other countries that could pick up the 50,000 watt station all night.

Joe continued working for Clear Channel Communications until his retirement in 1998. He produced and announced the weekly radio ministry of Our Savior Lutheran Church from 2003 until 2013.

Joe's beautiful voice, sweet nature and amazing musical knowledge will be sadly missed by all who knew and loved him and by all who listened to his work.

Visitation will be at Arch L. Heady at Resthaven from 2-8 p.m. Thursday, January 23, 2014. Funeral services will on Friday, January 24, 2014 at his church, Our Savior Lutheran Church on Nottingham Parkway at 11 a.m. with visitation at the church beginning at 10 a.m. Friday. Internment will be private.

Memorials may be made in Joe's name to the Our Savior Lutheran Church Organ Fund. He always loved it when the big pipe organ played and when the organist "pulled out all the stops."

Joe brings back the memories on WHAS' "Saturday Night Revival."

Joe Donovan (June 2, 1979)
27:02 - 9509 KB

Joe Donovan's Derby Magazine (May 7, 1983)
56:36 - 26,531 KB

Joe Donovan "Other Side of Midnight" (September 8, 1988)
29:16 - 27,479 KB

Joe Donovan plays the oldies overnight in this scoped aircheck of the
midnight to 4 a.m. hours, recorded from the station's in-house AM stereo air monitor.

Joe Donovan (November 5, 1992)
55:07 - 38,756 KB

Joe Donovan and Leonard Yates (December 27, 1996)
26:36 - 12,470 KB

JAM Creative Productions' Jon Wolfert does a weekly show (Sundays 3p-6p Eastern) on Internet station Rewound Radio. On December 9, 2018 he did a "Jingle Time" segment featuring the jingles of WHAS, including those that contained the name of overnight oldies DJ Joe Donovan.

Rewound Radio WHAS Jingle Spotlight
6:15 - 8840 KB

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