Its sad, but longtime DJ Dave Herman died with the taint of scandal and criminality. IF THERES a sadder final hour in New York radio than Dave Hermans, I dont want to hear it. Herman died Thursday of a heart attack, seven months after being arrested on charges of soliciting a sexual encounter with a 6-year-old girl.
Herman was 78.
Up until last October, Herman was known as a cornerstone of WNEW-FM, the most important and influential rock radio station ever in New York.
With a few interruptions, he was the morning man from the early 70s to the late 90s. He woke up people who liked to start the day with the Beatles and the Stones - or, more importantly, liked the days first voice to be a kindred spirit, someone who understood that rock n roll made everything else a little better. Now Dave Herman will be remembered for something that made life feel a little clammier, a little worse.
Herman was never convicted, only charged. Still, enough evidence had leaked that even an acquittal at trial was unlikely to ever make him just the WNEW-FM morning guy again. His lawyer asked everyone to remember that music was the greater part of Hermans legacy, and it would be great to buy that. You think of those long-ago mornings when Dave made waking up easier and more promising and you want to. But you cant. Its like saying O.J. Simpson should be remembered as a 2,000-yard rusher. Not going to happen. Its true that since Hermans case was a sting, nothing actually happened, praise the Lord. Thats not enough to remove the taint of pedophilia, the creepiest and most loathsome crime the rest of us can imagine.
Saddest signoff ever.
