RIP: The Real Johnny D

John P. Dempster passed away of natural causes in Spokane on June 19, 2025. He was 74 years old. Baby boomers in Whatcom County might remember John from KPUG radio in the late 1960s and early ‘70s — where he was the teenage deejay known as the Real Johnny D or Johnny Dee (it sounded the same either way, but he spelled it both ways).

John and I lived in the same neighborhood. His dad, John Sr., was a gregarious and popular driver for city transit. His big sister, Shelley, was 8 years old when John was born in late 1950. Avis was the mom of the Dempster household. Their house was across the alley from the home of Johnny Westford, Bellingham’s mayor from 1956-1968. The mayor’s son, Mike, was John’s friend. In that neighborhood we went to Parkview Elementary. Originally, Dempster was only one grade ahead of me. That changed: Bright and not challenged by the curriculum for his grade level, he goofed-off in class. After 5th grade, in an attempt to hold John’s attention, school officials advanced him one grade ahead of his fellow classmates. After that, as he went through junior high and high school he was almost always the youngest student in his class.

In the early-’60s, I was a lowly 7th grader at Whatcom Junior High School. I was also developing an interest in radio broadcasting. Meanwhile, at Shuksan Junior High School, Dempster was in 9th grade. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he was interested in a different brand of radio: In 1964, at age 13, he earned his “novice” ham radio operator’s license. His first ham transmitter (25 watts) came in the mail as a ready-to-assemble kit from Heathkit. He soldered it together and soon John was ticking out Morse code and communicating with other amateur radio operators from around the world.

John was always a fan of Morse code. Sixty years after he got his start, he preferred coding with other amateurs vs. keying his mic. His final call sign, W7OE, was custom. As a veteran ham radio operator, in 1996 he’d specifically and successfully requested that call sign from the FCC. A recording from 2024 had Dempster, cranking 1000 watts on his ham transmitter, in contact with an amateur radio operator in Mozambique, Africa. Since most of us don’t know Morse code, this audio clip was selected because John is keying his mic instead of his usual ticking out dots and dashes. That said, even though they are speaking in English, ham radio jargon is not all that easy to decipher.

Audio: John Dempster on his ham radio in the summer of 2024. Running time :46

Baby boomers, raised in the mid-’60s, probably loved the era. Except for the Vietnam war, it was a great time to be young. We didn’t have cell phones, video games or GPS, but we had Pee-Chee folders, school spirit, transistor radios, 45 and 33 RPM records and the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark 5, Elvis, Petula Clark, Cher, and Napoleon XIV and Mrs. Elva Miller (look them up if you forgot about those two).

Most teens in Whatcom County were glued to Bellingham’s top-40 radio station KPUG. It was late 1966 or early ‘67 when John Dempster decided he ought to become a radio announcer. He kept showing up at KPUG and applying for a deejay job. This happened often enough that the program director, Bob O’Neil, hoped to nicely discourage the kid. O’Neil and station manager, Jim Tincker, suggested that he come back only if he acquired a First Class FCC Radio Operator’s License. They thought that was the end of it: Passing the First Class License test required knowledge of complex math, electronic theory and a fair amount of rote memorization that they assumed was above Dempster’s budget and interest level.

Six weeks after that heart to heart talk from the bosses at KPUG, John Dempster showed up at the station with his brand new First Class FCC License. He’d passed the test on his own, studying for it with text books he’d bought and borrowed. The young ham operator, unlike many others in radio, hadn’t required classes in electronics or costly license-prep cram courses. Dempster’s persistence paid off: Bob O’Neil hired him as a part-timer and a weekend deejay. Mainly, he did Sunday mornings.

The Real Johnny D, at age 16, went on-the-air at KPUG during the school district’s 1967 summer vacation. (Yes, he’d heard of the famous deejay Real Don Steele in L.A.) That fall John Dempster would be a senior (class of ‘68) at Bellingham High School. Other deejays at KPUG in that summer of 1967 were Bob O’Neil, Norm Gregory, Scott Campbell, Steve West, Marc Taylor, George Ruggles and Lyle Wallace with news and Dick Stark with sports.

There are no known recordings of Johnny D’s radio show, but as someone who heard it many times, I can say that the following audio clip is representative of his off-the-wall wackiness and the odd sense of humor he displayed nearly 50 years before on KPUG. His voice sounds almost the same as it did in 1968. Listen to this 2016 recording as John was driving toward the mighty Columbia River and, all along the way, he was singing (not so well) and describing what was going on.

Audio: John Dempster, nearly 50 years later, sounding much like his younger 1960’s self. This bit was later posted to his Facebook page. Running time :60

After graduating high school, come 1969 John enrolled at Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University) in Bellingham. To pay his way through college, he worked as a deejay at KPUG, and later he did the same at radio station KBFW. Awarded his B.A. in psychology in 1972; Dempster chose to go on to graduate school. He moved to Eastern Washington to attend Washington State University (WSU). There he wrapped up a masters in science degree in 1973 and his doctorate in psychology followed in 1976.

With schooling in the rear view mirror, Dempster packed up and moved back to Bellingham. Accompanying him were his then wife, Barbara, who was pregnant with his soon-to-be-born daughter. From 1976-1978 John and I got better acquainted with one another. His transition from academia to the working world took place at KBFW radio. I had been at KBFW for four years, and I was soon to become the station’s operations manager. Dempster began late in 1976 as a part-time deejay and in ad sales. Then he went into sales full time and before long he was promoted to sales manager. John was at KBFW for about two years, until late in 1978. His departure came about after he and the station’s general manager had a disagreement. I was sorry to see him go. He was strong-willed and a character for sure, but one thing about John…he was never boring.

After leaving KBFW, John Dempster landed a sales job at Georgia Pacific Building Materials in Bellingham. The store was a lumber yard and much more, offering appliances and almost everything for the home. That position was his introduction to a new career path: selling wholesale building materials (mostly lumber and plywood). That journey began in 1978 and it lasted 42 years. It took him from Bellingham, to Woodinville, and eventually to Spokane where he retired in 2020.

He had a PhD, but John Dempster never seriously explored career opportunities in academia. While he was employed at KBFW, he served as a part-time lecturer at Western for one year. Before that, as a graduate student at WSU, he’d taught some classes and served as a research assistant. Also, at a lull between jobs, he’d briefly worked in the marine industry. John Dempster’s chosen career was sales: first selling radio airtime and then wholesale building materials.

Although he never viewed academia as a major source of income, one can only wonder if his insight into psychology and the workings of the human mind didn’t give him a leg up that helped him succeed in the hard knocks world of competitive sales. In recent years, John and I have communicated through Facebook. I will miss those conversations and I am sorry that he is no longer out there.

Epilogue: John was predeceased by his parents and his sister. He was married only once. He and his wife Barbara divorced in 2007. Surviving is his adult daughter, Jennifer.

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