“Little Walter” DeVenne
There aren’t many disc jockeys who’ve achieved “legendary” status, but Little Walter DeVenne was certainly one of them. He was an enormously important figure in the oldies community and got to know virtually all the stars from the ‘50s and ‘60s during his nearly 50-year on-air tenure.
Born Walter Alexander DeVenne on January 16, 1948, DeVenne’s passion for rock ‘n’ roll began at a very young age when his mother bought him a Little Richard 78 rpm disc, “Ain’t Nothing Happening,” along with another one by Fats Domino. That’s all it took. DeVenne was hooked forever and would go on to spend a lifetime involved with the first generation of rock ‘n’ roll, including his legendary radio show, Little Walter’s Time Machine, which at one point was syndicated in 62 markets around the US.
WHIL, Becoming “Little Walter,” Record xhops, WTBS
DeVenne started out as a gopher at Medford radio station WHIL where Big John, who had a record store called Big John’s Oldies But Goodies Land, was a popular deejay. So, in an amusing contrast “Big John,” 15-year-old DeVenne became “Little Walter.” He started out working in record shops when he was in third grade, working through his teens at Medford Music, Vera Music, Big John’s and Skippy White’s His first gig as a deejay was with WTBS, MIT’s educational radio station, from 1968 to 1970. His show aired on Saturday nights at midnight.
Little Walter’s Time Machine, WBCN, Jackie Wilson, Chuck Berry
His role at WTBS was the beginning of Little Walter’s Time Machine, which eventually was broadcast on five other local stations, WDLW, WCGY, WFNX, WMRE and WBOQ. Almost immediately, the show was a huge hit and Walter was hired at WBCN, often sharing the air with Peter Wolf, the station’s first all-night jock. DeVenne was at WBCN from 1968 to 1978 and for a while he spun wax at both ‘BCN and at ‘TBS.
It was not uncommon for performers in Boston for a gig to give DeVenne an interview live on the air during one of his shows. For example, whenever Jackie Wilson was in town for a show, he’d visit the WTBS studios and appear on DeVenne’s show, which DeVenne would tape and edit to be played on WBCN the next night. He did the same thing with Chuck Berry interviews.
Wolfman Jack, Record hops, Remastering business, Death
After leading ‘TBS and ‘BCN in 1978, DeVenne worked at WROR until 1980. During that time, Wolfman Jack – the legendary deejay who appeared in the classic film American Graffiti – had a syndicated show that aired on station. On occasion, the Wolfman would show up in Boston and he and DeVenne would do shows together.
As much as he enjoyed his work with Wolfman Jack, Devenne also loved doing events at clubs all around New England and he often broadcast from them live. At one point he was doing eight record hops per week. As a side gig, he built a very successful remastering business, producing countless compilations for artists, radio stations and record labels including Relic, La Grande, Specialty, Collectibles, Old Town, Roulette, Imperial, Vee Jay, Sun and others.
In 2005, DeVenne was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent surgery. This took him out of circulation but his good friend Dion (DiMucci) encouraged him to get back into the business, which he did for another 10 years. He retired in 2016 and passed away on January 16, 2021 – his 73rd birthday – from Covid-19 in Brooksville, Florida.
(by Fred Bramante)
Fred Bramante was the founder and chief executive of the Daddy’s Junky Music retail chain.
